Big marlin double in Cape Verde Islands

[UKChris]

Just a quick word for Zak's weight estimations:

One of the very few fish I have seen Zak keep (this was 2006 and the fish was a real "gonner" having reversed into the prop on the leader) was weighted on an accurate electronic scale after we had estimated the weight in the water and lying on the deck. There was a beer in it for the nearest!

In the water Zak had said "Maybe 350, perhaps a bit less". On the deck it was "OK, 350". It weighed in at 385lb.

Of course, like any true fisherman, I overestimated and also believed the scales were lying (hehehe).

So, I know one example proves nothing, but I am happy with his estimates.

Chris

[dustin]

I don't know if I'm particularly "tolerant", but I have been lucky enough to fish in a few different places and in each place the locals had different attitudes to releasing billfish and in each place they have their own reasons for doing what they do. Just as the fishing and living conditions in every place are a little different and make for a different experience both on land and on the water, they also influence the attitudes of the locals.

In a charter fishing situation, release policy is still something that should be made absolutely clear between angler and crew before the boat leaves the dock, or in fact before any deposit is given or taken. If the skipper and angler cannot agree on this it is best for the angler to choose another skipper or fish in another destination. There is no doubt that there are still quite a few places in the world where you can find crews that would be willing to kill a fish of 800+, or 500+, or whatever size you want to hang. But you need to ask yourself: is the fishing in those places good enough, and the experience of killing and hanging a fish of 500+, so important to you that you can feel happy about giving up what could be a higher chance to hook and fight a big fish in a location where it is the normal policy for crews to release fish. Personally the most excitement and awe in fishing for big fish comes from seeing a big fish strike, the fight and seeing the fish come to the boat and swim off after the release. So for me the most important thing is to have as good a chance of hooking one as possible. But that's something that every angler has to decide for himself. If you feel that the most important thing about blue marlin fishing is to see a needle on a scale go past 500, or 800, or whatever number, you can certainly find crews that are happy to try and accomplish that for you. But by doing so you're also going to rule out some crews and locations that give you a really good chance of finding a big fish.

Regarding weight estimates, there is no doubt that there is an element of overestimation in many (but not all) weight estimates of released fish. Peter B Wright is probably correct when he says that most fish released as granders probably weigh around 800. This sort of thing does not reflect well on the credibility of either the skipper or the fishery. However, it's also true that many skippers are very good at estimating weights and some of the best fishermen I know are very cautious about calling a fish of 1000 lbs and above. In some cases refusing to give a figure of more than 950+ for any released fish. To be honest, I also think it is not a bad thing at all to estimate released fish simply as small, medium, big or very big (!!!!). This would help avoid some of the ridiculous arguments that have arisen between anglers and sometimes between crews over the accuracy of skipper's estimates. I think I may well do this myself from now on. At any rate I'll try to avoid giving an estimate on weight until I can refer to a photo, as I must admit that seeing a big fish in the water confuses me with just the size of it - I don't know whether it is the effect of the water that magnifies the fish, or the glow of its living power, or simply the effect of the adrenaline that goes through you when you are close to one. I do know that the power and magnificence of a big fish are exactly the same regardless whether the weight is estimated at 700+, 750, 800, 850 or whatever. Only the perception that other people may have of the merit of the catch is different. For some fishermen this does not matter at all. To others, what other people think of a fish that they played no part in catching can be even more important than catching the fish itself.

The question of post release survival is one that I'm sure all of us are concerned about. Thus far I have to say PSAT tag results are quite encouraging, although it must be admitted that the fish chosen to be released with the PSAT tags are likely to have been released in better condition than the average released marlin because of the expense of the tags. It is a complex topic and each location has environmental factors that are a little different. Plus of course the skill of crew and angler makes a huge difference in whether a fish can be released healthy or not. In the fishery I am most familiar with, Madeira, I feel confident about being able to release most of our fish in reasonable condition because of a combination of heavy tackle, competent crew, higher oxygen concentrations in deeper water and the fact there are few predators around. In other places the odds may not be as good but there are probably very few places where if the angler and crew do their job right (fighting them quickly and aggressively), the fish does not at least have a decent chance. Even if the fish had only a 20% chance, if he had the choice he would certainly rather take a 20% chance of survival over the 0% he would have when gaffed and boated, as I'm sure you would if you were in his place.

Finally

everywhere I met captains and crews who had caught at least one big blue marlin, sometimes a 800 or 900 pounder and rarely even a grander. this fact does mean that from all these thousands of angler who fished that charter boat not even a handful were able to catch their fish of a lifetime!

That simply reflects the reality of most fisheries out there. Don't forget that most of these places offer a lot of variety and action - which many (the great majority) anglers are much more interested in than just the chance of a big fish - and that a much bigger percentage of those anglers probably left with smiles on their faces after each fishing day than in some big fish locations where you could average three or four days fishing for one blue marlin bite. It is hard for even the best crew to catch a fish of 800 lbs in the many places where they are rare or simply do not exist. Whereas if you are lucky enough to fish in a place where big fish are more commonly encountered you may, with a bit of luck, catch more fish of 700 or 800 lbs in one season than others may do in their lifetime. A great angler like Ruben Jaen fished in Venezuela his entire life and caught only one blue marlin over a thousand pounds out of thousands of blues, whites and sails. A great captain like Ronnie Hamlin spent a lot of time fishing in Venezuela and out of thousands of billfish caught only one blue of over a thousand pounds. Yet when he visited Madeira I don't know whether he was able to release a fish estimated at over 1000 lbs on only maybe his fourth or fifth hookup. Whether you consider Venezuela to be a better fishing area than Madeira depends on the type of fishing you like, because Venezuela's fishery offers a lot of things that Madeira's does not. But this is precisely why if catching a very big fish is really important to you, you need to think hard about going to where the big fish are. Going back to what was discussed before, locations where you have a realistic shot at a big fish during a week's fishing are not all that common, so you need to ask yourself whether you really want to reduce that number even further by excluding crews who have a release policy...

Best regards

Dustin

[ingrid]

This isn’t Ingrid writing, this is Capt. Marty Bates from the Amelia in Cape Verde. I don’t know if this thread is still open, but I would like to comment on it. It’s not the first time we have had this problem with this person “Heiko” before. On a number of occasions in Cape Verde other captains have approached Heiko and told him to stop killing smaller fish and fish up to 800 lbs or so. If there is any doubt in this we have got proof.
I myself have had personal issues with Heiko. After fishing with myself and Olaf Grimkowski in Ghana in 2001 Heiko proceeded to a German fishing paper to so-called slag myself and Olaf because we didn’t let him kill a 700 lb’er we have alongside the Harmattan.
By all means this isn’t a personal attack on Heiko, but I do not know any way I can approach this person. It is good that this subject is open on Marlinnut, so we can educate this German big game “fisherman”.

[MarlinNut]

All of our discussions are always open, Marty, and we welcome your participation and opinions!

[plankton]

If this is the Heiko I once met briefly on the back of a boat in La Gomera in about 2000, and who then proceeded to lace his web site with stories, advice and letters written from me to him, the supposedly truthful content of which were mostly false and in some cases libelous, then I suggest Stan does the unthinkable and removes Heiko from this website fast. I've been hoping to discuss some of these issues with Heiko on a distant pontoon, far from viewing eyes, ever since.

If this is the Heiko who I would suggest is Europe's king of dead marlin, leaving a trail of corpses behind him in some of the more remote villages of west Africa and its islands, then Stan should remove him even faster. His grounds for killing fish on some of the more obscure European websites (most of which no longer exist) are pathetic and show a man more concerned with bloodlust than any thought of conservation. One particular episode left something like 8 fish dead in about 6 days fishing, I seem to recall, though I might have the numbers wrong.

If this is the Heiko who I hear most of the Cape Verdean professional crews detest, then he sadly mistaken if he thinks he will be able to post here freely without reply. He may not know it, but there are others he is almost now guaranteed to meet in discussion on distant pontoons next summer, and I wish him luck as these gentlemen are all much larger and broader than me. Indeed one particular gentleman I know, whose name escapes me, has one outstanding issue he wishes to argue with him.

I can't even be bothered to reply to Heiko's comments about conservation or ethics. I'm actually appalled that such a self-centered and self-promoting idiot has even raised his head here on what is a very decent website.

______________________

Oliver, I am much surprised about your comments on Madeira prior to 1997. Did you visit often ?

[plankton]

I found one of the websites I mentioned in the post above is still available through the WayBack machine. The piece below is from 2001, and aptly demonstrates Heiko's admirable conservation ethics ("I personally try to release any marlin under 500 lbs" ) and the similiar conservation ethos of an Austrian captain : I hesitate to even begin to think of the number of fish that must have been killed in this region. Does the camp and its boats still exist ?

**shudders**

Unfortunately Heiko's own website, www.ghanamarlin.de no longer seems to be available. Well, maybe it's fortunate. I'm not sure which. I'm quite confused to be frank. It's all the blood.
_____________________________

Subject: 4 marlin from 368 to 588 lbs in Ghana on one day!

Latest info: 58 marlin weighed in 42 fishing days. Best day this year: 368lbs, 396 lbs, 467 lbs and 588 lbs for one boat!!!!!!

Please find enclose a report about our Marlin Hunting!

Big Game in the Blue Marlin Paradise of Ghana, by Heiko Steinmetz

8 blue marlin between 221 and 554 lbs caught in 6 days

Five years ago, the Austrian fellow Gerhard Hollaus discovered that the Ghanese waters around Takoradi on the Gold Coast held enourmous numbers of blue marlin. He immediately founded the Captain Hooks Fishing Club and has since then caught more than 150 marlin every year in less than 100 days of fishing with only one boat. After a seven-hour flight and one night in Accra, Gerhard picked us up to bring us to Takoradi. When he showed me pictures of his last catches of two big marlin of 821 and 655 lbs., I really got nervous.

The next morning we headed out on the comfortable 28-feet yacht. Shortly after we started fishing we had the first strike and after 40 minutes I had landed the first blue marlin of 330 lbs. Two hours later, I caught the smallest fish of the trip with 221 lbs. On the first day, I had caught 2 blues out of 5 strikes in 11 hours. 4-6 strikes per day are very usual here.

The next three days were very similar. The second day, I caught a marlin of 390 lbs., the third day, two more fish of 366 and 352 lbs., and on day four, a marlin of 440 lbs.

On day 5, I had a double strike of two big marlins. After a couple of missed strikes and a lost big marlin after a 40- minutes fight we replaced our lures by natural bait. Shortly after we put the two skip baits into the water, a huge dorsal fin appeared 150 m behind the boat. First I thought of a whale but seconds later the skipper yelled „Marlin, marlin, over 1,000 pounds". As he turned the boat, I ran down from the flybridge to my reel and the baitfish was already knocked out of the clip. I let her time to eat and when I set the hook, the marlin showed her huge head and then ran fast away from the boat. When I asked my deckie to reel in, the second bait went off, too. I first thought that was the same fish but then saw two different fish jumping behind the boat. Both fish took about 700 yards of line. I started fighting one fish and left the other rod in the rodholder. I was wery excited and really happy that I had come to Captain Hooks to Ghana. After a 20-minutes fight I had gained 300 yards of line back but had to change the rod as the smaller marlin came much closer. I fought him as fast as possible, and after 40 minutes we could gaff a wonderful blue marlin of 554 lbs. Exactly in that moment, the other much bigger marlin pulled the hook and the rod tip went back. What a pity!

After having beaten the 500-pound mark, I went very relaxed into the last day of fishing and again caught a marlin of 378 lbs. Every evening, there was a big party when we came into the harbour with marlin on board. The locals were looking forward to lovely marlinsteaks and helped us carry and weigh our marlin. I also was amazed how well the Captain Hooks Fishing Club was equipped: It has a nice weighing-station, a scoarebord and even a digital scale for up to 1,000 kilos. The tackle is also perfect.

The result of 6 days of fishing:

day 1: marlin of 330 and 221 lbs.
day 2: marlin of 390 lbs.
day 3: marlin of 366 and 352 lbs.
day 4: marlin of 440 lbs.
day 5: marlin of 554 lbs.
day 6: marlin of 378 lbs.

Conclusion:
Although I have travelled a lot and caught marlin in a lot of places, I was really surprised about the quality of fishing in Ghana: The chance for that species and especially for big marlin is much higher here than elsewhere. Even if the charter rate of 650 US$ is twice as much as in Mauritius or the Canary Islands, on average you catch 10 times more marlin in Ghana. But not only the fishing but the service as well was extraordinary. Gerhard is a wonderful cook and served us delicious meals in his restaurant. The accommodation was also excellent - luxurious doble room for only 15 US$ per person. Usually he only fishes on weekends with clubmembers and once a week with his son. The marlin season is all year round. From June till September, Gerhard has caught the biggest fish of up to 1,000 pounds and lost much bigger fish after long battles. Between October and May he has often caught 3 or 4 fish on a single day. It was a great honour to fish with the „great marlin hunter Gerhard Hollaus". I am already planning my next trip to Ghana. Surely, I will then catch even bigger fish.

For further information and bookings, please contact

Heiko Steinmetz
Tel. 0049-6227/819451 (Germany) or visit the website www.ghanamarlin.de

See you soon and regards,

Heiko Steinmetz

[Otoro]

I took a quick look on Facebook and see that the perp in question does indeed have a page. In fact, there are several albums of mid-size marlin hanging vertically.

[RavellingTangler]

By now, I should think there is an "anti-fan" group for his page on FaceBook.

If so, I think I'll join it, if looking at his page convinces me he's as {can't think of the right adjective....maybe just 'bad' will have to do? } as the above extract (and commments from skippers I respect) shows.

It's not (just) that I want to impose my views on him - it is that showing I am not like that might ...perhaps... help slightly reduce some of the ire that FB users who are not already PETA members may feel on seeing his page.

[visitor]

I think this personal defamation started by Marty Bates needs a drastic change to bring back the reality and the truth!! Let me ask you 2 questions first:

1. Which angler released the most marlin in Cape Verde and may be in the whole world again in 2009?

2. Who caught in September 2009 the only grander marlin of the last couple of years in Cape Verde?

Yes, it’s Heiko! Find more about this topic here:

Grander at the Cape Verde Islands - Marlin - Big-Game-Fishing-Board


Now, jealous Mr. Marty Bates?? The only reason I can imagine. You are mentioning that he was your charter guest in Ghana around 10 years ago and didn’t behave like you wanted. Long ago and it should be time to forget, so please wake up and face the reality! Happy 2010!! I met Heiko last year in Mindelo Club Nautico when he was sitting with other boat owners on a table. He is a very nice person and for sure a great fisherman, everybody wanted to hear his story about the 12 marlin released in one day!

And “Otoro” or “RaTa”, the world’s most famous captains and anglers are among Heiko´s friends on his facebook account!

Without any doubt he promoted in the late nineties Takoradi in Ghana for a friend and they braught many marlins to the fishmarket there. As Mr. Legend Lures diged out, this website doesn´t even exist any more and mentalities changed! They all boated marlins in the past: Hemingway, Glasell, Cloostermann, Campbell, etc. but the question is just how far we go back! As I said these things in Ghana happened 10 years ago, may be next you will open a treat against dead marlin of Hemingway, etc. Serious??

Let’s go back to present or the future and by the way Heiko, if you read that, congratulations to your great achievements concerning marlin fishing in Cape Verde and promoting it as a top release destination with some odd monster marlin!

Tight lines

Peter

[plankton]

Peter,

Your support of Heiko is admirable, but misplaced on this forum. As you well say, times have changed, even if the spots on your pet leopard have not.

If, as you suggest, we allow Mr Steinmetz the benefit of the doubt in Ghana 10 years ago, may I ask why he is littering his FaceBook page with the corpses of fish he is still killing ? In Hemingway's time it was acceptable to kill a blue marlin - even expected. Ten years ago in Ghana, in a fishcamp generally unknown outside of German and Austrian circles, it still might have been acceptable (and that is but one place where Heiko has killed fish, by the way). But today, in a world-recognised fishery such as the Cape Verdes which has risen to world prominence without, in my opinion, any help from Heiko whatsoever, I think you will find it is totally unacceptable for a well-known and blatantly self-promoting big-game angler to still kill fish because they happen to be "big".

As a captain who has fished in many places, with crews and anglers of many nationalities, I can normally find a good argument to persuade someone from killing a fish. Exceptions might possibly include a world record or a tournament win (though I dislike and try not to fish kill tournaments), but trophy hunters and first-timers get short shift from me and most professional crews. So for you to condone and admire Heiko for killing fish under the circumstances for which they were slaughtered is poor judgement in my opinion, as I think the Cape Verdes is a fishery that needs all the support it can get - both to safeguard its future in local political circles and to cement its position on the world stage where it is open to attack by opponents of big-game fishing. The importance of its geographical location in terms of breeding grounds and juvenile distribution, should also be carefully considered and safe-guarded.

Your friend Heiko's quest for glory might appeal to a minority of very short-sighted anglers, but I suspect that to the majority of intelligent and educated blue-water devotees it is very much intolerable conduct. This is why you will read the responses here, and why Heiko will continue to draw criticism. It is a fact that he and his attitude are very much unwelcome in the Cape Verdes, and, if you care, we can have a poll from all the Cape Verdean regulars here on SCMO (just for starters), to maybe help you refocus on the danger such an individual poses in the broadest sense of the big-game world.

You, yourself, mention that mentalities change - indeed they do. But I find it sad that Heiko's does not, and I find it sadder that he cannot recognise the antagonism he generates. If he wishes to kill fish, then he can do so, there is nothing illegal about it, even if people do not like it. But it is the way in which he goes about his killing, and the pomposity and chest-beating that follows that really upsets people - many of whom have spent much time and effort over the past 15 years or so in educating both themselves and others towards a positive release mentality.

His excuse for killing fish, amongst the litany of his exploits on his FB page, really does illustrate his greed and stupidity : "Anyway it doesnt make sence to release these huge fish as they came to the boat very exhausted without any chance to survive.". This sort of excuse died a death some years ago. Perhaps you could enlighten Heiko to the benefits of better boat-handling, better angling skills, the understanding and use of release tools and some patience.

Finally, you mention the word defamation. You might like to ask Heiko what it was he wrote as a comment on Ingrid's YouTube account, as a reply to a video of Marty and Ingrid's new baby. In the circumstances, I admire Marty's restraint.

Regards,

Roddy.

PS: may I ask what on earth you think Marty would be jealous of ?