The Rare Sighting of the Dogtooth

April 5, 2011

Madagascar - Day 6

We fished with George again today and will for the next couple days. George filled us in on pirates to start the morning. Everyone knows about the Somali pirates tormenting parts of the Indian Ocean these days and they do come as far south as Madagascar. Luckily George assured us there’s nothing to worry about with a boat of dirt bag anglers.

Fishing was flat out slow today. We tried to go way out to sea for a reef George knows about but the weather was a little threatening with wind and dark clouds. So we headed back closer in and went north to where we fished yesterday. The entire way George and his mate dragged two billfish trolling rigs but like yesterday afternoon we didn’t get a strike. Once we got to yesterdays fishing grounds the wind started to calm some and it was quite nice. We drifted a favorite reef several times. I chucked my 12-weight with the 700 grain SA Bluewater Express until my shoulder went numb without a bite. It was so surprising to me I asked George to disassemble one of his trolling rigs and dredge some bait along the bottom. If there were fish down there surely that would catch them, however he only caught three little strange looking fish. The fish just weren’t active.

By mid afternoon seas around Nosy Be were as calm as a small lake. With great visibility for any disturbances on the water, George said it was time to chase birds and tuna. Fishless to this point, Granny and I were all about the move. But once again it quickly became apparent today was a different day. There were no birds at all. The ones we saw were doing the same as us, searching for the odd bait crashing tuna. At last we stumbled into one cooperative school and lucked into skipjack tuna and frigate tuna. One, George called the blue is one I have never caught before. He was more elongated like a bonito and colored with an unusual blue, however I think this one also was the frigate. Just incase you’ve never caught a tuna before, even though these tuna are small, they gave us plenty of fight on the 8-weight. Pound for pound the power of any tuna is amazing.

Despite uncooperative fish today, every day in blue water offers some sort of thrill. In a previous blog I gave mention to the dogtooth tuna. I said one would be a real goal to catch. But what I didn’t say was that my chance of catching one on the fly is about as good as the Cubs winning the World Series this year. If you did not read about this specie in the link I provided earlier, do it now. Dogtooth tuna are one of the fiercest fish in the ocean. If you hook one at the surface while in 200 feet deep water, he’ll get to bottom and break you on the rocks in seconds. If you hook one at the surface in 400 feet of water, he’ll get to the bottom and break you in the rocks in seconds. From what I have heard, and with further confirmation from George, dogtooth tuna are the strongest fish on Earth. They also reach an amazing 300lbs and swim to speeds of at least 40 mph! Then you throw in the teeth they have that are four times the length of a barracudas, and you have little chance. In fact I’d start being concerned about a hooked dogtooth eating the boat!

But nothing is impossible, and tonight we chased a school of dogtooth. It’s rare that they feed on the surface but they were there and they were eating skipjack tuna over 20lbs each! They were simply shredding them in mid air! The doggies (as George calls them) were all easily 60lbs and leaving 6 feet from the water. It looked like they were in slow motion but we could barely keep up to these feeding beasts even with both engines running full throttle.

Its bedtime now and I’m absolutely stuffed with skipjack Carpaccio. All I can think about is those leaping dogtooths. So much that an hour ago I peeled the line off my Momentum #8 reel that I use for striped marlin in Baja. I checked every knot connection thoroughly and combed over my Scientific Angler 700 grain fly line for dings. Everything is as strong and ready as can be. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll hook a doggie!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing Website

A Miracle Mackerel

April 4, 2011

Fly Fishing in Madagascar - Day 5

Americans and some Europeans are about the only cultures that follow tight schedules. Anywhere else on the planet being on time is of little importance. That’s why when George was approaching the hour late mark I still had confidence he was on the way. Sure enough at 8:30 AM he arrived as if he was on time.

George’s boat is decent. It certainly has some mileage on it. It’s about a 16 foot center console panga type boat with two 25 horse engines. One engine died on us several times today. Luckily George brought along a mate who constantly worked on the motor while attending other odd jobs as well. He also had along four worn out big game trolling rigs. This is never a good sign as often it’s an indication that the guide really doesn’t have a clue about fly fishing or that the guide has no confidence in the method.

We were headed north to fish the islands above the island of Nosy Be. It’s literally the end of a long Madagascar rainy season and the views along the way were simply green like you can’t imagine. It did not take long before we saw a heard of dolphin and a huge sea turtle.

Our fishing began with a school of charging bonito. George spotted them and with excitement shouted get ready. I grabbed my 8-weight Ross rigged with a Scientific Anglers Tropic Express 250 grain line and started stripping it off the reel. Bait was scattering everywhere and when we got close George cut the engines and we coasted in to the action. I launched off several casts and stripped at the speed of lightning but got nothing. We did this several times without success before George insisted we continue north for bigger fish.

It took over an hour before the next cast. We were well out to sea and we could see the distant silhouette of the mountains of northern Madagascar. Our fishing area consisted of a jagged rock island with a ton of submerged reefs. Although the wind was light, large ocean swells tossed us around which is the norm for saltwater fly fishing. George simply said prepare for big fish, and looking like a kid on Christmas, I fumbled through my rods for my 12-weight. This would be a blind casting situation. My line on this rod was a SA 700 grain Bluewater Express – talk about heavy-sink.

On about my 10th cast disaster struck. I heaved back in my backstroke and my reel crashed to the bottom of the boat. At first I thought I simply didn’t attach it to the rod well enough, but when I picked it up the screws that hold the reel to the reel seat were gone. I’ve used this set up a bunch in Baja the last year so I was dumbfounded! The airlines I thought! Then the stress took over my body as here I was 10,000 miles from home at a place I may never have a chance to cast too again having equipment failure! I was losing time! Then without saying a word I stripped the 700 grain line off the reel carefully laying it in my handy stripping basket. Then I took the floating line off my 10-weight set up and reeled the 700 grain on it. Then as not to wreck the floater I reeled it back on the busted reel. And within ten minutes I’m proud to say I was casting again. A bit disgruntled, but casting again.

To make a long story short, I pounded the water for the next five hours without anything. George put me on many more gorgeous reef areas. We chased busting tuna and mackerel and dredged strong current lines where he frequently catches sailfish and marlin. But I got nothing. This was not appearing to be my day. By now it was about 95° and I can tell you such heat didn’t help much. Granny was bored and I was losing confidence. Miraculously however, George was still full of energy and seemed fully behind the fly fishing. When I stopped casting, he’d say change flies or say no resting with a smile. I couldn’t tell if he was trying to break me so I’d troll or if he really knew something.

For those of you that know me, breaking me wasn’t an option, so although I was in some ways going through the motions, I kept on going. Sure enough, we got close enough to a school of skipjack tuna and I got one. Then another. And another and before I knew it I landed eight skipjack tuna. Soon Granny realized fishing was worth it so I handed her the rod and she caught a few while I took my first rest of the day.

We chased and caught skipjack tuna for at least a couple hours. There are many species of these smallest of the tuna family. These look like ones I’ve caught at Christmas Island but it will take some photo studying to really tell. Every one we caught was on a small light colored Puglisi type baitfish pattern I had in my box. You didn’t even have time to strip the fly if you could reach the busting fish. They just destroyed the bait pattern when it hit the water.

It was about 3 PM and it was time to at least start heading the direction back to Sakatia Island. George’s friend put two big trolling rods out with sailfish rigs made with some of the skipjacks we caught. Granny and I relaxed as we began the fast troll. We saw plenty of busting tuna and trolled through them hoping the billfish were below but each frenzy went without a strike.

I thought I was done fly fishing for the day when I saw what I thought was a barracuda explode from a distant tuna school. George saw it too and the boat sped up towards that direction. Again a long narrow bodied fish scattered all kinds of baitfish. It was still too far to identify the species but then it sky rocketed (I’m not kidding) 12 feet in the air! It was the unique specie of king mackerel only found in the Indian Ocean and the very western part of the Pacific Ocean.

My heart pumped wildly and I pulled out my 12-weight as we bounced our way to the action. Praying it wouldn’t tangle, I stripped my line to the bottom of the boat. I was trembling with excitement. When the engines cut I launched my first cast. We were coasting so fast that my cast was quickly dragged and never had time to sink. I stripped the heavy sink line back and made another cast. This time my angle and sink was perfect, however, the feeding frenzy was already over. As I stood in the bow I gazed the horizon looking for the action to reappear. Then I stripped fast from the depths. That’s when I got jolted.

Catching one of these Indian Ocean king mackerel on any type of tackle is an accomplishment. To be lucky enough to have one of size eat your fly is a near miracle. And to land him even more so. These were the thoughts racing through my head. Furthermore, as my Ross Momentum #6 spun uncontrollably my final thought was that I must have a tuna rather than the mackerel. George, who has no idea what my experience is, was very concerned that I was over pressuring the fish. But the truth is, you can let a blue water fish like a tuna fight you or you can fight them. I fight them. I practically point my rod to the fish and pull the second their first run is done. I bend down with my legs, reeling my rod tip into the water as I bend, and then I stand up and pull. I repeat it over and over until I win. Only when the fish really pulls or feels like he is going crazy do I let him go far. The fish rarely breaks off because there is so much stretch in your backing, fly line and even your leader if made with Bimi twists.

I followed this process for about five minutes and there was my fish, a gorgeous narrow-barred king mackerel. I couldn’t believe it! Granny fired off some photos as the fish came to boat side. George was frantic. Not only was he a bit surprised we got this fish on the fly but he was rightfully scared of it. All king mackerel have razor sharp teeth. One careless move and you could end up with a severe gash or even lose a finger.

Now we were at a time of debate. Granny and I had made it very clear to George that we wanted to release all fish except a few for dinner. We already had a few skipjack tuna. George reluctantly asked if we had to let it go. I know how delicious a wahoo tastes and this fish looked every bit like a wahoo. “George, we will eat him too”, I shouted. George was relieved and on the next pass George sunk the gaff. I’d landed what will probably be the fish of the trip, and perhaps 2011, a gorgeous narrow-barred king mackerel!

Day one with George was fantastic. Sure, I caught a great fish and we got into numerous tuna on the fly, but what was best is that George is a fun guy that knows his stuff. George showed up with a plan and he stuck to it. He said he’s only seen a fly rod two other times but he kept the confidence even though our morning was slow. George is very cool and we should have a great next three days.

As you can imagine, tonight Granny and I as well as our Sakatia Tower staff ate big. We had tuna Carpaccio for appetizers and mackerel steaks for dinner. This should be a great trip! I can’t wait to see what tomorrow will bring.

(Remember, it may take a few days for the next entry. But April 5 will come. Internet is hard to find here in Madagascar.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing Website

No Naps, There's a Marlin Out Here

November 4, 2009

Today was Sammy’s and my last attempt at a marlin on the fly with Grant Hartman. As planned we left Cabo Harbor early and traveled up the Pacific side of Baja for over an hour. Then we pointed our bow out to sea and started dragging our hookless teasers. We expected a weather change of wind and clouds today, but instead it was exactly like the previous two days, calm rolling seas with hardly a cloud in sight. Figuring a change in weather was needed to get the marlin feeding meant to me that we would not find our prize.

Unfortunately I was correct and in fact, even the dorado didn’t show up. It was simply a brutal day and at 3pm the hum of the motors and lack of action had us all borderline insane. What such a day does to me is make me eat excessively and take numerous naps. Thank God we didn’t have a case of beer or I’d of probably drank it all!

In order not to go crazy Grant, Sammy and I were swapping stories. I was well into my “tiger story” when while gazing out to sea over Grants shoulder I saw just the tip of a marlin tail 50ft away. As I jumped up to confirm my sighting a wave rolled just right that I could see the whole magnificent fish beneath the surface, it was indeed a marlin. It took the boys a few more waves to get the view I had, but when everyone confirmed we had a marlin in range they jumped into action. Let me make this clear, this was not an active marlin in our teasers, but rather a sleeping marlin on the surface. While Grant began to circle the great fish with the boat hoping he would charge a teaser, our mate Arturo launched a live bridled hookless skipjack the marlins direction attached to a large spin rod. He let it sink, but the marlin ignored the treat. After several attempts the marlin sank from sight. Sure enough within seconds a tug of war was on as the marlin tried to take the live skipjack from Arturo.

This marlin was by no means the aggressive one we needed. Arturo easily pulled the skipjack away several times before at last he was behind the boat. I was fully ready and launched the 8” tandom-hooked 6/0 popper at the marlin. By now he was fully identified as a striped marlin of about 130 pounds, a perfect candidate to test my new Ross Momentum LT #8 reel. By now Arturo had yanked the skipjack out of the water and we hoped the marlin would think my fly was it. Unfortunately, this billfish was smart and expressed little interest. He false charged my fly twice before disappearing to the deep.

My heart was pounding as Arturo tossed the skipjack back out several times with no response. Then suddenly the marlin appeared on the surface again. We motored his direction and Arturo cast the skipjack right at him. The problem was it was over the marlin and the line crossed his back. This evidently scared the living crap out of that marlin and he took off gray-hounding as if he was hooked. That was it. That big boy was a mile deep after that. We dragged the teasers through the area for two more hours but nothing. No marlin this trip.

Global Fly Fishing Web Site