Our Big Game season began in earnest in the last week of May when the first big eye tuna and Atlantic blue marlin showed up on the Madeira fishing grounds. The first week of June saw some good-sized blues popping up, with the fleet reporting at least three fish estimated at 800 lbs or better. At the moment we are seeing a mix of smaller fish in the 250 to 300 lb class alongside the large blue marlin that Madeira is known for. Some other gamefish are also being encountered. The last few days have seen the occasional blind strike from large bigeye tuna and there have been some nice dorado lurking around along with a scattering of small billfish. On the 10th June, in addition to a blue marlin release, Captain Anibal and Nick Bayntun found a longbill spearfish that weighed in at 31 kgs. This fish comfortably beats the European record for 80 lb line class.

At press time conditions look to be settling into our normal summer trade wind pattern after a little spell of wind from the W/NW. Ocean temperatures are close to perfect. With abundant bait on the grounds, along with other ocean life such as turtles, dolphins and Corey shearwaters, we hope that our summer big game season will continue in the same vein as what has been a pretty good start. Visit Madeira Marlin here!