All told there were some 83 500+-pound billfish caught around the world in August.  Some headlines…

Return of the black marlin.  Much larger numbers of large blacks were caught in August.

Fifth straight month with a grander caught, when none were caught prior to those months.  Only one however – Ocean City’s.

Kona finally got hot, with 36 – almost half – of the large billfish caught around the world.  Late bite this year.

As expected, the Azores saw a number of large blues, as did Madeira.

And lastly, Cairns saw a stray large female black – very early for fish of size on the reef, and we sure hope a sign of great things to come.

The roundup of large billfish catches from around the world in August…

Ocean City, MD – 1,010 blue, 790 blue

Madeira – 990 blue, 800 blue, 800 blue, 700 blue, 600 blue, 500 blue, 500 blue

Canaries - 700 blue, 700 blue

Azores - 800 blue, 800 blue, 750 blue, 700 blue, 700 blue, 600 blue, 550 blue, 500 blue

Kona - 800 blue, 779 blue, 707 blue, 700 blue, 690 blue, 690 blue, 687 blue, 681 blue, 650 blue, 648 blue, 600 blue, 600 blue, 600 blue, 600 blue, 600 blue, 600 blue, 592 blue, 590 blue, 567 blue, 557 blue, 550 blue, 550 blue, 546 blue, 532 blue, 531 blue, 525 blue, 517 blue, 513 blue, 510 blue, 506 blue, 500 blue, 500 blue, 500 blue, 500 blue, 500 blue, 500 blue

Bahamas - 790 blue

Portugal - 750 blue, 600 blue, 600 blue

Maui - 706 blue

Puerto Vallarta – 700 black, 500 black

Port Aransas – 670 blue, 442 sword

Cabo - 600 black, 500 black, 500 black, 500 blue, 478 black

Panama - 600 black, 600 black, 600 black, 600 black, 500 black, 500 black, 500 black, 500 blue

Cape Verde – 600 blue, 600 blue, 600 blue

Cairns - 550 black

South Florida – 515 sword, 456 sword

Ecuador Striped Marlin

Manta, Ecuador – There has been an excellent Blue Marlin bite going on. Capt. Luis Gomez at the Blue Marlin Lodge (www.bluemarlinmanta.com) has been averaging four blue marlin bites a day. There have been a few striped marlin around as well, but blues have been the main attraction. Fish have been mostly in the 200 to 300 lbs range but one fish was estimated at 850+ lbs. Capt. Gomez writes….

“The cold mass of water of the Pacific Ocean which is right in front of Manta and Salinas is ramming into the warm mass of water coming from the Caribbean for several weeks now, causing several changes, not only at sea but in land too with constant rains and low temperatures with water temperatures at 79F and fish all over the place!!”

Madeira - The boat Hawk Eye with Capt. Miguel Gavina, weighed a 990 lbs Blue Marlin. Unfortunately the fish died in the fight and was injured by the props. If the fish had not been injured, it would have gone over the mark. Congrats to the crew of the Hawk Eye for a great catch.

* We are purposely not posting pictures due to the injuries on the fish.

Ocean City, MD – There have been a number of reports of boats getting 20+ White Marlin. The report of all reports is from a boat called the Billfisher. The low number we have heard is 56 White Marlin in a day. Waiting for confirmation, but we have now heard that number or higher from five sources……

UPDATE – Capt. John Duffie has confirmed catching 57 White Marlin. They lost count, but the bite total was 80+.

We are hoping to have more on this story..

1.  Cairns

2.  Kona

3.  Madeira

4.  Tahiti

5.  Bermuda

6.  Brazil

Honorable mention: Rodrigues Island, Mauritius, Azores, Cape Verde, Vanuatu, Ivory Coast, Ascension Island.

http://www.marlinmag.com/travel/international/the-worlds-best-grander-spots-1000084949-page-1.html

We might reorder some of the honorable mentions, and might ask for more evidence on Tahiti (beyond the legend of the 2000+-pound fish), but would largely call this a good list and well-ordered.  Year-to-date counts on granders as follows…

Cape Verde – 3 granders

Bermuda – 3 granders

Mexico – 1 grander

Ivory Coast – 1 grander

Portugal – 1 grander

Kona – 1 grander

Ocean City – 1 grander

Panama – 1 grander

This should, of course, change quickly with the season on the reef about to kick off.  Granderwatch.com will follow it all.

Jumping White Marlin

North Carolina – There has been a GREAT white marlin bite up and down the coast. Boats are getting anywhere from 5-15 shots a day. Most recently, we saw the Hunter out of Monteo, NC release 14 White Marlin. Typically this time a year starts a good Fall run. Last year we saw boats with 20+ fish at the peak of the season. Here are the numbers on a few other boats over the last couple days.

Hog Wild – 8 White Marlin

Sea Toy – 8 White Marlin

Qualifier – 7 White Marlin

Right Hook – 7 White Marlin

Obsession – 6 White Marlin

Bi-Op-Sea – 5 White Marlin

Here’s a link to the content of this landmark legislation…which explicitly prohibits trade of billfish…

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h5804ih.txt.pdf

What we ask you to do…

Please contact your Congressman and urge his/her support of this bill.  If you don’t know your Congressman or his/her contact information, go to http://www.contactingthecongress.org/ where you can find out exactly how to reach your Congressman.

We also encourage you to contact the bill’s sponsor, the great and Honorable John Shadegg (R-AZ), who introduced this legislation on July 21.  Cosponsors of the bill are Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), and Anh Cao (R-LA).

Rep. Shadegg’s email:

http://johnshadegg.house.gov/Contact/ContactForm.htm

Crucial legislation that can really make a difference…if only the world would adopt the same stance that these great legislators are promoting.

St Thomas, USVI - (Unofficial) Therapy went into the last day with 8 Blue Marlin, which was a 2 Marlin lead over Big Oh. In St Thomas, that is not a safe lead, but 2 blue marlin is still 2 blue marlin. Now, with stop fishing announced, it appears two boats , not one, have overcame Therapy.  Both Sandman and Big Oh had great days of fishing. Sandman caught 4 fish today and Big-Oh released 3 to make the impossible, well…possible. St Thomas has proven again why it is one of the top blue marlin fisheries in the world. In the event of a tie, time of catch rules, thus Sandman WINS the 2010 Boy Scout. Congratulations to Capt. Neil Orange for putting them on the fish.

33 Blue Marlin caught today on the North Drop.

Notable Boats for Day 4

Sandman – 4 Blue Marlin

Ohana – 4 Blue Marlin

Big Oh – 3 Blue Marlin

Hook N Bull – 3 Blue Marlin

Free Enterprise – 3 Blue Marlin

St Thomas, USVI – 40 Blue Marlin caught today on the 3rd Day of the Boy Scout. Top Boat of the day was Therapy with 5 Blue Marlin released. Big Oh and Sandman also had great days, releasing 3 Blue Marlin each.

Here are the numbers through DAY 3.

Standings – Day 3

1. Therapy – 8 Blue Marlin

2. Big Oh – 6 Blue Marlin

3. Chach – 5 Blue Marlin

Daily Species Count

Day 1 – 29 Blue Marlin

Day 2 – 35 Blue Marlin

Day 3 – 40 Blue Marlin

500 lbs Blue Marlin for Picante 29

Cabo San Lucas, MX - There has been  a flurry of activity down in Cabo over the last month with a number of blues and blacks over 500 lbs. On average these are much larger fish than we see typically in these waters. The striped marlin have bee around, but their bigger brothers have stolen the show. Here are some of the larger fish we are aware of in August.

C-Rod – 800 lbs Blue Marlin

Picante 29 – 500 lbs Blue Marlin

El Guapo – 500 lbs Black Marlin

Shambala – 600 lbs Black Marlin

Picante Express – 500 lbs Black Marlin

Cisco – 600 lbs Black Marlin

Dream Weaver – 581 lbs Black Marlin

Big Blue Takes to the Air

From the Picante Fleet (www.picantesportfishing.com) we got these great shots above of an estimated 500 lbs Blue Marlin. The 29′ Blackfin “Picante 29” with Captain Alex Collins at the helm and deckhand Jesus “Charro” working the deck, put angler Angel Gomez on this Blue Marlin and also released 2 Striped Marlin in the same day.

"Blue Shark" off Portugal

Vialmoura, Portugal – We are a little late on this, but we have the 12th Grander caught of the year(a Blue Marlin), but not in chronological order. We got the message by carrier pigeon just today, that on July 8th, 2010, Capt. Thiago Palma on the Blue Shark released a blue that was 1,000+ lbs. We are awaiting a video from Gerhard Drescher, who also happens to be the guy who made the lure, the fish was caught on.

Check back with us and we should have that video up soon……

Cabo is one to watch, as it’s now in the runup to the biggest money tournaments billfishing see – the Bisbee’s in October.  They’ve been seeing a really good run at black and blue marlin lately, mostly around 200 pounds but up to 500 or so, with a steady if unspectacular striped marlin bite as well.

US East Coast, especially Virginia Beach, the Outer Banks, Ocean City on white marlin.  They won’t be there too long but this time of year can see huge numbers of whiteys off the coast.  We’re right now in the midst of the Mid-Atlantic 500, with huge numbers of white marlin being caught.

The Azores are seeing some fish of size – boats seem to be running across at least a big one a day.  We’ve had reports of fish to 800 pounds so far – and it’s right in the middle of their season.

Panama is seeing a really strong run at black marlin with some blues mixed in, with fish running to almost 600 pounds.

And of course we’re keeping our eyes on Australia, as its season will be getting into full swing in about a month or so.  That should also see our grander count (granderwatch.com) go up quickly – as there were almost 40 granders caught on the reef last year alone.

A lot of action still in the billfish world – we’ll be keeping you posted on it all.

Monkey Biz II

Kona, HI – There have been some big blue marlin around, so going into the the last day, this is anybody’s Tournament. Capt. Chip Van Mols on the Monkey Biz II holds on to a narrow lead with 765 points (565 Weighed and 1 Tagged Fish). Topshape is holding on to 2nd Place with 600 points (3 Tagged Fish).

There have been some big fish around however, so this can be anyone’s tournament. In Non-Tournament Action – Linda Sue 3 landed a 690 lbs Blue Marlin and Miss Mojo landed a 687.

Good luck to all teams going into the final day.

Some highlights…FIVE granders caught in July, including the World Cup winner in Cape Verde…THREE granders in Bermuda, including the bizarre coincidence of two 1,005-pound marlin in two days…and fisheries like French Polynesia and Puerto Rico submitting reports of huge billfish.

The July fish count…

Cape Verde – 1097 blue, 750 blue, 550 blue, 511 blue

Bermuda – 1012 blue, 1005 blue, 1005 blue, 800 blue, 750 blue, 691 blue, 560 blue, 500 blue

Madeira – 950 blue, 850 blue, 750 blue, 600 blue, 600 blue, 600 blue, 600 blue, 550 blue, 546 blue

Oahu – 800 blue

Kona – 725 blue, 718 blue, 700 blue, 607 blue, 600 blue, 597 blue, 566 blue, 564 blue, 530 blue, 511 blue, 500 blue, 500 blue, 500 blue

US East Coast – 800 blue, 700 blue,

French Polynesia – 700 black

Texas – 670 blue

Canaries – 700 blue, 650 blue, 600 blue, 500 blue

Panama – 600 black, 600 black, 600 black, 600 black, 500 black,

St. Thomas – 600 blue

Cabo – 581 black, 500 blue

Puerto Rico – 550 blue, 550 blue, 500 blue, 500 blue

Puerto Vallarta – 500 black, 500 black, 500 blue