Mar 20-April 3, 2010 - Black Marlin, Blue Marlin, Roosterfish, Cubera Snapper, Dorado

I’ve often wondered what makes Piñas Bay such a special fishing hole. Is it because of the abundance of bait, or is it because there’s such little fishing pressure here? Whatever the case I’m glad to be here right now to witness yet another gathering of big marlin on the reef. These last two weeks have been a wonderful experience both offshore and inshore. Acres upon acres of bonitos and yellowfin tunas were feeding voraciously on tiny baitfish and squid. Black Marlin and a few Blue Marlin were in the mix picking off the injured.

Ryan Atkinson and hid dad David were here at Piñas Bay. During the first hour of the first day out, Ryan hooked up on a big BLACK MARLIN. After three hours he finally got the monster to the boat for a release. The skipper estimated this one at 700 lbs. His dad scored his first BLACK MARLIN on the next day, an estimated 350 lb fish. The balance of the trip the father and son team chased Yellowfin Tunas, Dorados and Cubera Snappers. They caught an amazing 15 snappers.

Margot Vincent returned to the lodge with her grandson Kyle. They came with a mission; records…

On the morning out, only minutes after putting out the baits, Kyle hooked a giant ROOSTERFISH and returned to the lodge for a weigh in. Voila, a new pending Junior IGFA Record (70.6 lbs). On day two he returned to the dock again with yet another fish, this time it was a PACIFIC JACK CREVALLE. This one tipped the scales at 26.4 lbs, another pending Junior IGFA Record.

Lennart Lindahl brought his wife Leslie, son Lenny and daughter Lauren down to Piñas Bay for their Easter vacation. Lennart released his first BLACK MARLIN estimated at 350 lbs. Lauren had good luck on the next bite. She hooked into a grande BLACK MARLIN which unfortunately got tail wrapped and died on the line. After one and a half hours the crew managed to get the fish in the boat and headed to the dock. The BLACK MARLIN weighed an impressive 508 lbs. Leslie also released a nice ROOSTERFISH on the last day.

Mike Minadeo II released his first BLACK MARLIN estimated at 450 lbs. His dad Michael released his first PACIFIC BLUE MARLIN around 400 lbs. William Andreoni also released his first BLACK MARLIN in the 200 lb range. Walter Moss released his first BLACK MARLIN estimated at 400 lbs. Justin Young released his first BLACK MARLIN around 400 lbs, and Russell Swann also scored his first BLACK MARLIN at 400 lbs. John Woravka released his first BLACK MARLIN around 350 lbs. His buddy Richard Karr also got his first BLACK MARLIN estimated at 200 lbs.

Twenty years ago, an Australian Captain by the name of Laurie Wright and his girlfriend Julie, were married at Tropic Star Lodge.  It was the first wedding held here, to our knowledge, and set the stage for Mike and Terri Andrews to be wed next, one year later.  Last week the Aussies, and a large group of friends, came back to TSL to celebrate their 20th Anniversary in style.  A shindig by the pool with all of our guests in attendance made the evening quite special.  The bonus was having Guy Harvey fly in to surprise Laurie and Julie as he has fished with them in Australia many times. The guys did well offshore too, releasing 6 BLACK MARLIN and 1 PACIFIC BLUE. What a week!!!

Tight Lines,
Albert Battoo

DOCKMASTER