The duck and the ship´s cobold

On the way on “Happy Hooker” direction Sao Nicolao …

We landed after a long journey interrupted by a short sleep stay in Sal, on the island Sao Vicente (Cape Verde). The first night on the island we sleep in the port-city “Mindelo”.

Unfortunately, also this time everything did not go smoothly with the luggage. A suit-case with a 80lb and 50lb reel, a Gimbal, Harness is still is in Lisbon. We don´t want to lose a fishing day, so we (hopefully) get the suit-case from the airline delivered directly to Sao Nicolao.

Due to the very good catch results in Sao Nicolao we decided to try our luck there. And we are not alone, so we heard. The other four boats are too in the area around Sao Nicolao.

The sea is rough and it blows a constant east wind, which decorates the water with white foamcrowns. Due to his seasickness, Uwe lies in the ship-cabin and longs himself after his tablets. But these are, how else, still in the missing suit-case. Hold out is announced. We could catch four Wahoos. They are no giants, but exactly correct for the dinner today in the pension “Tonnecka” booked by us. After five hours of passage we reach the catch area before Sao Nicolao.

On the “Happy Hooker” are five persons. Berno the captain, two crew members and we two anglers, Stephan and Uwe. Our Lures run well and pull despite the high waves a beautiful trace of bubbles. A Bite on the long-current Lure, but the brake does not start. Was the Lure too large or was it a wrong assembly? The Lure on the long line runs, fastened with a rubber on the Flybridge, similarly a “drop Back” assembly. If the fish bites, the rubber tears and the Lure is a short time without course and sinks. The opinions on board in the reference to this assembly go far apart.

The next two Strikes also don´t hang. It seems to be bewitched. Three beautiful Strikes without hookup! Then, a violent Strike on the briefly running Lure. The fish bited beautiful and the break runs… Stephan fights in the chair. Reliably he maneuvers the fish, which shows up briefly. The crew only says “Big Fish”! This especially makes us happy, since the other boats could catch only smaller fish so far. But suddenly the resistance is away. The lure comes back without fish to the boat. With examining the Lures we see that the hook at the thigh is broken. Pitch continues to pursue us.

Simply unbelievable. A four-millimeter steel simply broken. A further Strike, but again no hookup. We drive into the Marina and are disappointed. Over radio we heard the results of the other boats and each boat could catch two marlins. What a failure! After a refreshing shower is the world bright again. A cool beer in the “Delfinho” and interesting discussions with the other anglers helps us to forget the day and rise the pre-joy on the day tomorrow. The tasty dinner (ours caught Wahoos with many supplements) give us new strength for the next day.

The second day begins with an extensive breakfast, whatever contains a tablet for Uwe against seasickness. Combined with a nausea plaster this is to make the day on the sea as pleasant as possible. With glad courage and good feeling we drive into the close convenient catcharea around Sao Nicolao.

The green/black Williamson Lure runs again on the long line. In the morning, the sea is calmer and the first Strike is coming soon. But, how it should be differently…… again none hookup! Berno speaks the first time about a possible ship´s cobold on board.

The sun rises more highly and with it the waves. The sea is rough again and we can observe two enormous turtles during the sunbath. It is a difficult fishing in the rough sea. Uwe cannot imagine that with these high waves a bite is possible, since the Lures does not run optimally. Exactly in this instant the fish proves the opposite. Of the right sight a beautiful Marlin shoots into our field of vision and goes on three different Lures, without remaining hanging. It´s unbelievable….

From the other boats comes the first cathreports. Again, we win courage. The raue sea gnaws at our attention, when suddenly a violent Strike takes place on the long-current Lure “Big Blue Cavitator” from Williamson. We see the fish, which lifted the head out of the water and wildly shakes. An enormous fish. We estimate it on at least 350 kilograms. With fully frightening, we see how the in the rod-holder present rod lifts itself slowly upward, into the direction of the Flybridge. The on the Flybridge fastened rubber stretches very slowly, because the fish swims not away and tears under the enormous, by the drift of the boat finally produced tension with a bang. And with it also the 130lb line. The ship´s cobold slammed shut again. We are speechless.

Berno promises us to search the boat in the evening for the ship´s cobold. This cobold seems to have really something against us. Now we had already altogether nine Strikes and couldn´t get one fish to the boat. That is more than pitch! For Uwe it is a valuable experience. Marlinfishing is evenly not only “sitting in the airplane and fly to a marlin-hotspot, sitting in the boat and fighting a fish”. There simply everything must be correct. Extreme care in the composition of the equipment, perfect assemblies, optimized Lures, clean knots, sharp hooks and and and …

In any case the second day ends for us without fish and we go leaving it in the pleasant community of the Skipper and anglers in the pension during common dinner. A fantastic time together!

The third day brings us directly a Doublestrike. Two beautiful Wahoos could not resist our Lures and one must pay with his life. Uwe is very pleased about a beautiful fish of about 25 kg.

The sea is rough again. Out of the Flybridge we observe an enormous crowd of over hundred Dolphins on booty course. We follow them, however the hoped bite is missing. From another boat we get a catchreport of one Tuna.

Suddenly again a beautiful Strike on an Ilander. The fish hangs and Stephan fights in the chair.

It is no giant, but a tidy fish. It is beautiful that finally times one hang remained. The fish takes line, Stephan wins these back again and slowly the fish approaches to the boat. Then the fish jumps. Frighten is reflected in our faces, because the resistance and thus the fish are away. After Stephan caught up the Lure, we have a hard sight.

That was simply only pitch. We try our luck on the bank and get also further, three Strikes. But again, unfortunately none hookup. We don´t understand the world any longer. We set our assemblies and Lures to the test stand. We cannot shower the disappointment completely down this evening. Stephan enjoys his first luck-beer. We try all we can and also here we have the correct the employment.

On the fourth day an already used picture; rough sea and high waves. The east wind whirls us strongly through and Uwe understands now finally that also a Topfishingarea like Cape Verde requires much perseverance and strength to catch a marlin.

We follow a large bird crowd an soon we have a bite:

We have a violent bite from the right side on the briefly running Lure. The brake howls and Stephan and the rod is quickly in the chair and fights the fish. The Marlin does not jump. The fish takes line in racing speed and the fight between Stephan and him takes its run.

Possibly something is not correct with the role – no it is not the role, but the line cut itself during the Strike between the upper role ring and the roll over 300 meters. So, the line don´t runs at the role, it runs besides! The line is strongly damaged. The crew inserts the line by hand again into the upper ring-role, however it is too late. There is a bang and the fish is again lost. Exactly in this second the Marlin comes for one moment briefly out from the water – good + 300 kg. The ship´s cobold slammed shut again and us in the middle of our heart.

We are disappointed and think of the fish, which swims now including line and Lure in the widths of the Atlantik ocean. A further bite brings us also none hookup and the fourth day dismisses us without success to the dinner. The other anglers make courage for us, however they also feel with us.