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.

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.