Azores – Bigeye Tuna off Sao Miguel

[:en]The Azores: Among environmentally conscious alternative vacationers, these Atlantic Islands are increasingly gaining popularity as a choice destination by virtue of their unique flora and fauna. In addition, Sao Miguel offers a delightful blend of volcanic lakes for freshwater fishing and hiking – or an opportunity to let one relax and unwind from it all.

Amongst us big game anglers, these islands are best known for their magnificent blue marlin. Swordfish, bigeye and bluefin tuna also adorn the list of fish surrounding the Azores. Together with my friend Peter, I was able to release several blue marlin in the 600-700 lb class and even managed to land a superior swordfish weighing more than 300 kg during the summers of 2011 and 2012.

What was missing, however, was a decent sized tuna. Peter, who has been living on Sao Miguel for many years now and who together with his 22 ft Arvor that was christened the „MEA“ knows his territory very well, continuously presenting bigeye tuna up to 90 kg year after year. But just as I had intended to follow suit, the weather conditions weren’t right or the swarms had moved on. Not an easy territory, especially in the spring, but a lot can happen when the conditions are met.

This spring, all of the previously mentioned criteria fit just perfectly and we had our first strike after a mere 30 minutes. We were ecstatic – right up to the point that we all began to fool around with the controversial „Banana on Board“.

Poseidon was less than amused with our behavior and as a result, we lost a bigeye weighing an estimated 70-80 kg. We all had a notoriously bad conscience until we got that second, redeeming strike of the day. Not a giant at 45 kg, but I was still perfectly happy with the catch.

Two double strikes highlighted the days to follow. What I found particularly interesting was that the first and last of the five lures were taken simultaneously each and every time. Beautiful bigeye's, weighing between 40 and 60 kg.

It was time to get down to business, conquering the bigeyes with a stationary reel. Very much impressed with the inexpensive „Powerdrive XL“, I was eager to see how it would perform. I might add that the 10.00 Stella performed flawlessly last year while fighting a 35-40 kg white marlin.

But fishing is, by no means, a bowl of cherries: The next strike landed on our one and only 50 multiroll. That's ok, though:

Even on this rugged masterpiece, the hook and crook fight lasted for more than two hours. The exalted bigeye that then broke the surface of the water could never have been defeated with a mere spinning rod… 1.90 meters in length at an estimated weight of 140 kg!

For me, the Azores represent a brilliant big game fishing territory, as they can be reached in less than 4.5 hours by air. Fishing on the MEA together with Peter also means doing it all yourself – including leaders and gaffing. I'll be back…

No sunset on the horizon in closing this time around 😉