Dream fishing for Kiwi in Azores
Blue marlin fishing in the world renowned Azores in the North Atlantic Ocean
Sixty days, 55 blues and 21 groups of keen anglers made a spectacular two months of fishing for New Zealander Graeme 'Bonze' Fleet of Bonze Lures in the Azores Islands.
The Azores, located in the North Atlantic Ocean about 1,400km off the coast of Portugal, is known for its big game-fishing opportunities, with many anglers heading there from all around the world to land their dream catch.
Consisting of nine islands, the Azores is considered one of the best places in the world to find in abundance most species of big game-fishing, with a great possibility to catch blue marlin and tuna.
Bonze spent an incredible two months in the Azores, skippering the Brasilia.
He first ran a boat in the Azores 13 years ago, and always kept in touch with the owner.
“He asked me every year to go back, and this year I finally said ‘yeah mate, I'll go’,” he says.
Bonze runs Bonze Lures, makers of quality lures, clothing and accessories based in the Bay of Islands. Bonze’s lures have been tested in the harshest and best marlin fishing destinations around the globe, including Cape Verde and the Azores.
Bonze says the magic of the Azores is the abundance of blue marlin, and it is very different from fishing in New Zealand.
"It's a blue marlin fishery. Your average fish there is 500lb plus, it's a very different fishery to what we have here in New Zealand,” he says.
“For the Azores, it's all about size. It's one of the only places in the world where you can consistently catch blue marlin over 500lb, that's what it is known for, that's why people go there.”
Over the two months Bonze worked the Azores, he took out 21 different groups from all around the world, including two lots of Kiwis.
“There's normally around three or four people for each charter, but we also had a guy for two weeks just by himself,” he says.
“Not everyone catches something, but out of the 21 groups we had we only had two groups who didn't catch any fish with us. It's pretty hard to catch everyone a fish if there's four or five people in a group.”
Bonze says there were many highlights.
“We had two days of five blue marlin, and all of those fish were over 500lb so that was pretty crazy,” he says.
“Meeting the people on the trips and spending time with them is the best part of the whole experience. We were very blessed with the groups we had, they were awesome people. It's not often you have a group that you wouldn't want to go to their house and have dinner with them. You end up being good friends with a lot of them.
We ended up with 55 blues, 70% over 600lb and a solid handful in the 800lb+ region!
