It’s so good to be back on the rock.  I made the short hop from MIA to CUN this afternoon, and made sure I was at the dock at sundown to greet the fleet. I managed to catch the Qualifier pulling in late after a day of decent fishing and 14 releases. Pretty good action the last few days by most of the fleet has me anxious to get out on the bank in the morning. I’ll try and keep the Isla Mujeres fishing reports fresh…

Day 1 – Maiden voyage for the newest Paul Mann boat “Alina” today. The wind was blowing and the sails were biting. Ran about 20 miles to the fleet and set out. Lots of birds in the area, but not the conditions to catch the fish on top. Ended up trolling around until 4:30 with 13 releases for the day. Plenty of other fish seen in the spread and biting. Great day for a shake down cruise.

Day 2 – Today I rode along with Capt. Fin aboard the Qualifier. Breezy conditions this morning. We start fishing about 20 miles out. Did I mention it was rough? Decent action in the morning, gradually slowing down all day. Ended up with 10 released sails.

Day 3 – Back on the Alina today.  Fishing was slow for us today…just one of those days when you wish you could take a mulligan.

Day 4 – Back on the Qualifier today. Still windy and complete cloud cover all day. We ran up to the North this morning to try and find some action. There was some birds and bait on top early, then it scattered and was hard to find. Most of our bites today were on the troll. Ended up catching 18. It wasn’t much better for the rest of the fleet.

It helps the numbers add up quickly when you can catch them four at a time.

Day 5 – Riding aboard the Billy Holten boat Haphazard for today’s action with Capt. Will.  Mate Joey’s dad and some friends are the anglers.  Still blowing and heavy clouds with rain.  Salt spray galore.  We did see some action on top and lots of birds.  Managed to tag most of the fish we released.

Day 6 – Aboard the Keen M with Capt. Arch.  One of the smaller boats in the fleet, but with a single angler it makes for the perfect platform for me to ride along and get some shots.  The winds seems to have let up some at dawn and it continues to drop off all day long.  Heavy sky early with our first hour of fishing spent in the rain.  Once that passed it still looked threatening but somehow cleared out and made for a pretty day.  Not many multiple hookups today, as expected with only one angler, but the action was steady all day.

Almost all our fish were caught under the birds and not trolling between bunches.  What a show.  I could spend hours watching these animals feeding on Sardines.  An amazing display of flight.  We ran well to the North and had plenty of room to work.  The bite today was pretty good for the whole fleet.  We ended up releasing in the low 20’s.

Today was one of those days when very few of the fish we hooked would jump for the camera.  Ended up shooting lots of birds today.  Captured some nice shots of these animals interacting.

 

 

 

Day 8 – One more trip aboard the Qualifier to wrap up this photoshoot.  It’s all coming together as the wind backs off and the sun comes out.  A perfect day to join Ellen Peel of The Billfish Foundation for her first time fishing the Isla Bank.  Fishing and shooting conditions were great, but the clear highlight of the day was seeing and hearing the emotion of Ellen as she reacted to the incredible sights that this fishery offers. We ran up North and found the birds and bait.  Solid non stop action all morning with Sailfish.

 

A surprising number of Wahoo bites today.  On several occasions a pack of them would clean out the spread.  Sadly, one did managed to get lip hooked.

Ellen even found time to do some work.  Here she presents a  vertical wall trophy to local mate Sinapo Sinay for TBF’s Sailfish Top Tagging Mate 2011.

And what could be cooler than having a dock party dinner with Sir Richard Branson. Here he took a moment to pose with Anthony’s daughters and friends.

Doesn’t have nearly the same ring as Blue Water, but it’s fishing just the same. This trip found me peddling a Hobie Kayak thru the Mangrove estuary of Estero Bay on the SW Florida coast. Tackle as light as you dare, since the fish are all pretty small. We stuck with casting artificials and had some pretty good action on top. You can’t beat the variety either – Snook, Ladyfish, SeaTrout, and Red Drum. All that and I didn’t have to deal with any salt spray. You might get to see this stuff more often…

These are the types of blog entries I dread. The Sportfishing community has lost a legend. Capt. Mike Benitez passed away last night. For over sixty years Mike has been involved in our industry. I only knew Mike for the last 15 years as a regular fixture at Club Nautico Marina in San Juan. Every year when I would pass thru, he was kind, helpful, and always had a story to share. A few years ago I had the opportunity to photograph him while he caught a Blue Marlin in the SJIBT. He is one hell of an angler. He will surely be missed. RIP Mike.

Now it all makes sense…yum!

My time on the reef has finally ended. What an amazing place it is. We had some good action, saw lots of cool things, and I made some great new friends on the other side. Over the course of our 13 days on the reef we saw about 30 fish. Of those, 19 made and attempt to bite a bait, and we released 9 of those. The monster Black Marlin remained elusive. Looks like we will have to go back and try again next year. The Tradition was an excellent platform for this live aboard adventure. Capt. Tim, Steve, and Carl could not have worked any harder or made our trip any more comfortable. Thank you for everything. Below are a few last highlight images from the few days. I’ll be adding all of these and hundreds more to my web site soon.
 
UPDATE – I just posted 200+ photos from my Great Barrier Reef trip on my main photo web site AquaPaparazzi.com
 
 
The Tradition at anchor in the lee of Lizard Island.
 
 
The well landscaped uber exclusive lodge overlooking the bay.
 
 
This is what we were looking for…a 1200lb’er from yesteryear.
 
 
Breakfast is served to some curious locals.
 
 
We did get to see the neighbors catch some nice one’s. Here the game boat Top Shot gets the leader on a fish they called 700lb’s.
 
 
 
On the reef, there is always something going on. The food chain never stops turning. Snapper for dinner!

 
 
After some bait catching this morning, Tim put us on some select spots of the reef where the conditions look good for casting. Prime Giant Trevally spots are places where no boater would ever intentionally maneuver their boat. Lucky for us, Tim has mad boat handling skills. And the Tradition handles like a sports car.
 
 
One of the bigger GT’s we’ve seen yet. But still a baby as far as GT’s go.
 
 
Our one bite today really had us all going. Late in the day the big skip bait disappeared and this fish stayed deep and pulled really hard for 30 minutes. It had all the right moves. The crew snapped on the gaffs just in case. About 100′ from the boat the hook pulled. Never did see how big she was.
 
 
Ended our day anchoring down in the tranquil bay of the famous Lizard Island with a few other gameboats. Very cool place. So much fishing history here.
 
 

Times are a changing. The postcard weather that we have been enjoying up to now is officially over. The trades have filled in with a vengeance. Fishing for us remains very frustrating. We aren’t getting many bites, and those few are all small fish. There is still some time however.
 
 
We have been fishing some great areas well to the North, offshore of Lizard Island. One benefit is getting to watch the neighbors catch a nice one.
 
 
So far the rumor has proven it self to be true – all Black Marlin jump at or near the boat.
 
 
Healthy, colorful, but oh so small.
 
 
The edge of patch reef is easy to see in these conditions.
 
 
More bites for the neighbors as they disappear in the trough.
 
 
Another small jumper puts on quite a show near the boat.
 
 

You never know what will take the bait on your morning troll along the reef edge. This small Permit surprised us today.
 
 

Conditions remain calm today. Although, according to Buoyweather, that is about to change to a more typical pattern for October here on the reef – breezy with lots of bites!
 
 

So we made the best of what we were dealt, and caught a few small fish.
 
 
This small Black had a cluster of papasites on his shoulder. Tim says it’s quite common with these fish. Didn’t seem to slow him down at all.
 
 
I love it when they jump in the late afternoon sunlight.
 
 
Everyone enjoys a nice sunset. Especially when there is a Black Marlin blocking your view.
 
 

Another day of incredible weather on the reef. Our day starts out with swim at the Cod Hole. A popular stop for all the boats because of it’s trained abundant life. A bunch of resident Giant Cod, along with a menagerie of Red Bass, reef sharks, and Coral Trout. As soon as you hit the water, everything seems to swim up to greet you as the bubbles clear around your mask. Kinda spooky at first. Later on when the light chumming started, it was time get back in the boat. The natives were starting to get restless…

 
 
Couldn’t resist hand feeding a few of the big boys.
 
 
As we heeded outside the reef for the day, we made some passes along the outer edge. Since photography is my profession, it’s not often I feel that a picture doesn’t do a scene justice. But this is one of those places on earth that reminds me of the truth in that old saying. The beauty and extent of the reef can not be captured in any media.
 
 
Then the poppers hit the water and the Giant Trevalle’s pounced. This one found it’s way into the tail rope for a quick photo.
 
 
Back out in the deep for the afternoon troll. This Queenie rigged on twisted double wire makes for a fine offering. And it doesn’t hurt that it swims like an olympian.
 
 
Carl and Steve make the release part of catch, tag, and release look easy.
 
 

The weather conditions are improving as of today, and so did the fishing. A light SE breeze filled in and stirred up some small Black Marlin. We bait fished this morning and then put the hooks in the water around noon. Ended up getting 4 bites and missing two of those.
 
 
Another Scaley comes to the boat.
 
 
All eyes on the spread.
 
 
The big skipping bait gets lots of attention. Even by the smallest of Black Marlin.
 
 
The swivel and leader pop up quickly around here. It’s all Carl can do to clear the deck and get his gloves on.