Blue Sky Sportfishing

3rd Siargao Fishing Competition April 2010

Steve — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 00:57:39 +0000

26kg Sailfish

We’re just back from Siargao after the Fishing competition. 41 anglers from 11 countries competed in this years tournament despite the unseasonlly unpleasant weather. The last day was virtually a wash-out & the days fishing was abandoned at midday; despite the weather several boats managed to get out for a few hours in the morning & add a few fish to their bag. During the first two days fishing was fairly consistent with several double & triple hook-ups on Sailfish & additional catches of Dorado, Mackerel, Barracuda & a nice Trevaly to make up the bags. Most people seemed fairly happy with the day although there were stories,some absolutely hilarious, of tackle failures, boatmen errors & boat defects. The unsinkable banca which didn’t sink but filled with water, the triple strike where the bancero circled back on & ran over the lines without ever slowing down,a certain local make of swivel which kept breaking, losing the angler several fish on the first day until he managed to beg some others from another angler. I lost count of the fish caught & even the number finally weighed in but would guess at about 40 Sailfish,20 Dorado,15 Mackerel/Wahoo, 1 trevaly & several other fish, total around 100 fish for the 2 1/2 days fishing.Weights were generally down on previous years with the top Sailfish coming in at 27kg (I think last years Sail was 52kg; there was also a Marlin at 58kg). This year 3 or 4 anglers lost what they believed to be Marlin. Overall a good show & lots of fun; one for next years diary.

Mid March

Steve — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 01:56:39 +0000

Well the weather’s been pretty unseasonable at the moment ( something to do with El Nino), with strong breeze out of NE which makes the fishing uncomfortable & so not too much to report. Mid March we had a few fish but Dave who dropped in for the weekend had a bumper couple of days with Sailfish, Wahoo, Dogtooth, lots of Skipjack, Trevally, Barracuda & Dorado. We’ve been back in Cebu for over a week now but plan to head down there again on Monday 5th April for the big 3 day competition which starts on 14th; there’s no category for Sportfishers so we’ll be spectating & doing a bit of fishing. Fishing has tailed off a bit this week (full moon) but had been starting to pick up, with Sails, Dorado & big Yellowfin common in the market.

Next Trip

Steve — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 01:36:05 +0000

We took Bluesky down to Pilar towards the end of February,fished for a few days & then I had to return to Cebu. My next trip is planned for this coming Monday, 8th & we’ll be fishing till Friday. I have a couple of friends coming in on the following weekend & then we’ll be heading down again for another session.Until the weather settles down a little the tactic is trolling rigged Flying fish or Rapalas,Yo-Zuris, etc for Sailfish, Dorado, Dogtooth, Mackerel. We did hear of a small Marlin caught by the local fishermen a couple of weeks ago so I’ll probably take a couple of 50lb stand up outfits (Duels on Melton rods) for use on the Smitty belts we have & run some bigger baits for a few hours to see if anything happens!

Check out /www.siargaofishing.com

Steve — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 23:45:42 +0000

This is our sister site & covers a broader range of topics than Bluesky

February Trip

Steve — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 08:24:34 +0000

Mid Feb & my two daughters joined us from the UK to take Bluesky down to Pilar; a friend, Tony Norman, who runs a Bertram out of La Gomera in the Canary Islands joined us as well. We stopped off at Leyte for the night & the carried on to Surigao to pick up more gas, ice, etc before heading to Siargao; other than some bad fuel & several stops to clear the Racors it was a pleasant run. We stayed at Bong’s place in Pilar & ate at Jun’s which is a great combo. Fishing was disappointing, boating the Barracuda & losing the several Dorado, one at the gaff! A couple of Dogtooth strikes didn’t produce either.

January trip

Steve — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 08:14:50 +0000

We flew down in early January for another looksee & a couple of days fishing. Stephen Lanigan O’Keeffe had a nice Sailfish, approx 60lbs, & Jeff had an 8kg Yellowfin; the Sail was the first of the year. The rest of us caught some Barracuda, a couple of Dogtooth, a small Mackerel & a Dorado.We fished on Junior’s & Glen’s boats which are great value for a days fishing.

Recent Catches

admin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:22:11 +0000

This will be our spot for reporting from time to time on the noteworthy ones we and our guests landed – and the ones we should have landed but didn’t. Let’s be honest; sometimes the ones that get away are the ones that give us the most fun and bang for our buck. It’s just unfortunate that nobody has yet invented a camera that will take pictures of fish we didn’t catch. But who knows; in this wonderful digital age maybe Steve Jobs is working on it. If you get word of the iCam being in the works, lets us know.

Links

admin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:20:55 +0000

Below are links to sites that might be of use or interest to those considering joining us and anyone with an interest in the area. We’ll update this from time to time to keep it current and when interesting sites come to our attention. We’d appreciate it if you’d contact us if you come across a dead link or if you find something you think would fit here well.

Weather Links

Cebu Links

Cebu Gov. Tourist Info

Philippines Links

Wow Philippines

Living In The Philippines

Retire, Live, Explore The Philippines

PI Fishing

ISDA-NET

WWW.Siargaofishing.com

What’s Happening

admin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:18:18 +0000

Siargao may be remote, not populace (150,000) and definitely not particularly affluent, but like almost all Filipinos, Siargaoans do love to party and play. Weddings, baptismals, graduations, national and religious holidays and any other plausible excuse can give rise to public parties, parades, dances, beauty pageants and other manifestations of a disarmingly charming joi de vie.

From to time as such fun local events occur I’ll write a few notes about them here, so drop by and check it out… And come join in! You’ll not fine a more welcoming, hospitable people anywhere.

Big Move

admin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:17:04 +0000

The big news is, of course, the big move.

I came to the Philippines about 9 years ago with the aim of setting up a Sportfishing charter business. The result was Blue Sky – operating for the past 6 years from Cebu City. Good years they were, too, as Cebu is definitely a good place to hang one’s hat. But – big but – I came here to fish, and the truth is that the waters around Cebu are not as productive as they once were, between the local fishermen and commercial operators stocks have become depleted and results are iffy at best. More and more often of late I have found myself dissuading potential customers when I felt the timing was less than promising. Also happening more frequently in the past couple of years were my trips to Siargao to go after the big boys – marlin, swordfish and others – found in the Pacific. The idea for a fishing camp on Siargao Island took hold and I decided to move to the town of Pilar because of its deep water & ready-made infrastructure; it is also the home of Siargao fishing legend, Junior Gonzales & his wife Jean, who run a fishing lodge on the river estuary.