Ascension Island?

[Tord]

Hi all,

A friend of mine told me about a trip being planned by a fishing magazine to this very remote location in the middle of the south Atlantic. (Not Ascension Bay in Mexico). According to him there was a good chance for great shore fishing, including tuna (!).

I read some about the place and it sounds like the fishing opportunities are great, at least trolling or bait fishing from boat.

Anybody in this forum knows, or have heard about the shore fishing?

TIA
Tord

[Tord]

To the top...

[Quicksilver]

I think you may have the wrong ocean. There is some outrageous fishing close to shore on Christmas Island. The totally over the top bluewater experience coming up in 2006 is Steve Abel's trip to Clipperton Atoll.

[uncle4]

No... I think he's got the right island.

There were several trips made by the owners of the now defunct
fly reel manufacturer "Steel Fin".

A friend of mine, Carter Andrews, went out (or was planning and
had to cancel due to WX... can't remember) there a couple of
times with film crews looking for massive yellow fin.

It's a government controlled island. The British mililtary flies in
a couple of times per week, and if operational considerations don't
fill the plane, they do sell seats to civilians. You can also, obviously,
get there by boat (it's a long haul, and I don't think there's commercial
service to the island (e.g. you must drive yourself)).

That said, the Steel Fin web page, before it was taken down,
described great trolling action for massive tuna fish. There were
big jacks and (I think) roosterfish from the beach with plugs/casting
lures.

I think the big yellow fin fishing was from the boats, and that no
tuna were taken from the shore.... it's been a while, and I might
be wrong on this count. What I do remember is the participants
described it as "wild and wooly".

If you find out which publication is going there, please let us know.

Everyone say a prayer for Steel Fin... MAN they made GREAT
fly reels (google their "Abyss" for the ultimate in blue water fly
reels!).

Tschuss!

Uncle 4

[Quicksilver]

I stand corrected. He has the right island and ocean. I just did a Google search. The place is half way between Africa and South America.

[Tord]

Hi

Yes the location is about half way between Angola and Brazil. Coordinates: 8° south, 14° west. I also know the status is British dependent territory, claimed 1653, and that you need to fly with RAF to get there.

I told my friend I believed it was boat fishing for Tuna and he said it was shore fishing.

The magazine is a local Swedish fishing magazine. I doubt you even heard about it. The trip not confirmed or announced in any way, it's a rumour I heard about. I just wanted to listen to second opinions if shore fishing was feasible, before making more enquiries. Trolling is not my cup of tea, I could envision one day but not a week.

/Tord

[uncle4]

Okay, Tord... let me know if the trip/article come to be...

I'd by happy to mail you some cash for a copy of the
magazine/article.

Thanks,

Uncle 4

[Tord]

Uncle4,

Again, it is a rumour at this stage. I will investigate if there is any substance behind and let you know.

Tight Lines
Tord

[Quicksilver]

There is a LOT of info available on the Google search engine, for example, "All wildlife is protected except for feral rats."

[Tord]

Okay, Tord... let me know if the trip/article come to be...

I'd by happy to mail you some cash for a copy of the
magazine/article.

Thanks,

Uncle 4
OK, I got an update after waiting several months.

Organizer: the Swedish fishing magazine "Fiskefeber". (Not a flyfishing magazine, more generic). I don't subscribe to it but I have heard good things about it and I learnt that they actually already had an article about Ascencion in their issue 4/2004. I guess there will be an article/write-up about this upcoming trip in a future issue. I could see if I can get a copy for you -- in Swedish ;) Seriously, let me know.


19 feb - 2 march 2006
Cost 32 k swedish (~3 k €uro)

Included
Travel from air base Brice Norton in UK.
1 travel group responsible / guest + 7 guests
10 days fishing (5 days from boat and 5 from shore)
Boat: 36 foot rampage express. Yellow fin tuna, wahoo, marlin, sailfish, sharks... Fishing gear included.
Shore: Jacks, rainbow runners, sharks... Fishing gear BYO.

Not included
Food and beverage (relatively cheap according to organizer)
Transportation home - Brice Norton


Cheers,
Tord

[PanamaJack]

Hi Tord and Uncle 4
Where to start?

I've been to Ascension Island on three occasions now, but the focus of the trips has always been for Blue Marlin.

There're only two boats that operate out of there - Harmattan, the 36' Rampage already mentioned, and Shy 3, a 38' Hatteras. And, just like the flights down - the number of civilians is restricted to a maximum of 20 - the boats are usually booked at least a year in advance.

Why? In terms of potential for big fish the fishing for Blues is probably as good as it gets. They get quite a number of 'granders', although they've just had the one that was 'there or thereabouts' this season that started at the beginning of February. And, from memory, the largest landed was a bit over 1300lbs. (Just have a look at these two web sites for recent reports - Harmattan (http://www.atlanticfishingcharter.com/html/news.html) and Shy 3 (http://mitglied.lycos.de/grimmel23/).)

But billfish-wise they also get Whites, big Sails, Broadbills and occasional Spearfish. (The sensitive military nature of the island means that it maintains a 200 mile restricted commercial fishing zone.)

But your interest was very much in the shore fishing. What do they catch? Well loads and loads of Black Jacks. Mixed in with those are world record sized Horse Eyes. And Sharks, mainly Galapagos - a reef shark. (One of our Club members holds the world record from there.) Although Tigers, Makos and Threshers are also present. And if you want to try winding up what are derisively called 'Cement Fish' there are huge Six Gills there. They used to take them for records but now all are released. But there're masses of those - the fastest recorded bite I recall, after the bait touched bottom in nearly 700' of water came after 38 seconds.

There're the mainstay but particularly from May through to say September when there are masses of Scad and Grouper fry in the water the Yellowfin are there in force. (Seriously they're there year round.) But in the summer months the locals do drift out baits from the shore and catch them. The largest I've heard of was 287lbs from the beach! And there're also lots of Amberjack, Dorado and Rainbow Runner that trap the bait inshore.

In terms of fly fishing we've tended to target the Dorado, YFT and the Horse Eye Jacks. But I recall a German angler did get a small Blue on the fly. (If that's a particular interest though Tord Sao Nicolau in the Cape Verde Islands offers better opportunities on our side of 'the Pond'.) And I know one of the Kiwi guides caught a couple of huge Rainbow Runner on fly from the beach - fish well over the current IGFA tippet records.

It's a small isolated community so don't expect very much in the way of night life. Bars, just 4 and only 3 places to eat. I think the only excitement when I've been down there was watching the results of test firing of ICBMs from the mid-West which they targeted to drop 20 miles or so off, if you believe the locals, the Volcano Club on the US base. And then there're always the giant Green Turtles from December to March that come ashore to nest.

Hope that's given you a brief insight into the fishing.
Dave

[PanamaJack]

I've attached a link to the Spanish web site, the posts are in English, that also show the island's potential for jigging and popping (http://www.caranx.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=1222).