Dead Marlin

Well it's that time of year again. Time for dead marlin. It's time to hang up a big one. Tomorrow Fin and I head down to Hatteras. 1st tournament of the season starts on Wednesday, the Hatteras Village Offshore Open (aka the white water open). Hopefully we can win some money. You can check their website daily for updates http://www.hatterasoffshoreopen.com/. I believe it is a fish 3 out of 4 day tournament. We have won some money in this tournament in the past, but it has all been for meat fish categories. Last year we lost a measurable fish. So we are about due to hang one up. We haven't hung one up in about 5 years.

Chris Kubik World Tour!!

The Chris Kubik World Tour could be coming to a city near you. Stay tuned for the Latest on your city.... Well, this leg of the tour finds me in London. Who would have ever thought that i would go to Europe? Well I am here and making the most of it. We arrived in London via Lisbon around 1:30 this afternoon. We got on our bus to the Hotel we are staying in. The hotel is near Buckingham palace and all that other stuff. So we walked around saw the palace, saw big Ben, a bunch of other old buildings, saw a protest, and that wrapped up the majority of our day. That evening Fin, Paul, and I went and ate dinner at a nice Italian restaurant, and walked all around Piccadilly circus and stuff. There is some really weird stuff going on down there. I saw one the worlds biggest gay populations. It really made me feel like we were not where we needed to be. So we said goodbye to Paul who was lucky enough to find a flight our in the morning, then we made our way back to this hotel. All I can say is London is a weird place with some weird people, but it is a wonderful change of pace from the Rock. I just can't wait to get home. It stresses me out being gone, especially since I know how much has to be done when I get home. Well watch out for the tour it could be coming to a continent near you! So far in the past year the tour has visited North America, Central America, South America, the Caribbean, Europe, and Africa.

Last Day on the Rock

Today was our last day on the Rock. We decided to spend our last hours on the water. We left early this morning and ended up catching 1 Blue Marlin. We came back in, went to the house showered and husseled to the airport. That is where I am now, and we are waiting to board. We leave this rock and fly to another rock about an hour away. At the next rock we will go get dinner, then board our next flight at 1:30a.m. We fly all night long to Lisbon, Portugal. We have about a two hour lay over there and head for London where we will spend the night. Too much traveling. I am so anxious to get home.

Better Fishing

Well fishing improved today. We caught 3 out of 8 Blue Marlin. We caught one that went about 450lbs. It jumped on the leader which was good for Scott. So that is about it. We leave the Rock tomorrow. We did decided to fish a half day before we leave. So that is it. Fishing was slow this morning so Paul and I decided to play some poker. We played with Life Savers as poker chips, and we played for some African Ice Cream. I have 2 ice creams coming my way. That is about it. I'm ready to get home. More tomorrow or the next day.

Marlin on the Menu

As I type this there are 3 African's hauling off a 200lb. blue marlin they caught today. They have chopped it up into sections and put them in plaastic totes and away they go. We caught a wahoo today which Terry (aka Tred Barta) proceeded to beat to death with a bat. We were lost 2 blue marlin today and saw another. So that is about it. Nothing new on the Rock. Windy, Dry, and void of Life.

Whole lot of nothing.

That's it. Nothing going on. We caught nothing. Saw one that bit 3 times and never came tight. So that's it, nothing.

Nada

Diddly squat, Zip, Zilch, Zero, Nada. I don't know how else to say it. We got skunked. We only had one blue marlin bite today and never came tight on him. Oh well that is fishing. It was one of the more boring day's I have had. I taught Paul Mann, and Scott Kerrigan to play No-Limit Texes Hold-Em. That part was fun. It made time go by much faster than watching water go by. Nothing else exciting hapening on the Rock (aka, Mogadishu, or Cape Verde). Nothing else going on. Did i mention this place is a bit of dump?

Thriller

Ever seen the music video thriller? Remember the dancing zombies? I saw one yesterday. She approached us on the street. She is the one directly to Michael's right, left if you are looking at the picture. We then went into the grocery store, when we got to the check out line there she was staring through the window at Fin. She had a big clock shaped like Africa in her hands. She kept looking for about 5 minutes never looking away. She then came through the door. Went straight to fin and began trying to sell the clock. No sucess, so she followed us out and down the street. A young boy and a man then proceeded to follow us and try to get us to give them some money. It was very intimidating, not fun at all. Any way caught 1 today. Biggest fish I have ever reeled in. About 400lbs. More tomorrow.

Good Fishing

Today started out very slow. The fleet of about 8 boats didn't have any bites until around lunch time. Around then we hooked a double header blue marlin. I caught one, and fin caucht the other. Shortly after we released the second we hooked another. Soon after we saw another that never bit. Later we hooked another that we had pull off. And we caught one more before the day was out. I got to leader two of the fish, and paul leadered the other two. So final tally 4 out of 5 and saw one more. All the fish were between 175 and 300lbs. Either way, my best day of blue marlin fishing ever. We were the top boat today. Well that's it for today.

Black Hawk Down

Have you ever seen the movie Black Hawk Down? Well after spending my first 24 hours in Cape Verde, I have come to the realization that this is just like that place(mogadishu). Last night I changed rooms. I was sharing a room with our mate Terry. Terry also ran the boat this fall, and brought it down to Mexico with me. Last night I slept in the tackle room. The tackle room has no light, no blankets. The blanket thing is not that big of a deal since there is no AC here. The only time I have been hot though is at night. The day's are surprisingly cool. Last nigh while in bed I was woken up around midnight. I thought we were going to die. It sounded like bombs and gunshots. I had no idea what was going on. I came to the realization that it was fire works, who knew they would be shooting them from so close. The island was celebrating it's 130th year. Anyway, we fished on our normal boat today the Amelia. Our captain is another Kiwi, Marty. Today was a slow Cape Verde day. This morning Fin caught one on a circle hook pitch bait. I grabbed the leader and had a 300lber putting on quite a show. It was fun, unfortunately it was our last bite of the day. They do some wierd things here. When we leave the marina we put the riggers down get to trolling speed and stay at trolling speed until we hit the dock. We fish as far away as the fishing center to the sea bouy but it takes us over an hour to get to where we are fishing. Oh well, it is what it is. I wouldn't ever come here other than to fish. It's a bit of a dump. It doesn't feel very safe. The food is bad. I think I will be able to fit into my shorts from 3 years ago after this trip is over. More tomorrow.

Finally Here!

Well we arrived this morning somewhere between one and two a.m. Our final flight got delayed and we did not board until almost midnight. We went fishing this morning on a 33ft. Bertram. It was old and beat up, but we caught 2 out of 3 blue marlin. One 300lber, and a 150. I was exhausted today. Our captain was from New Zeland, and the crew was local. The only place to get internet is here at the marina, and I have to pay for it, so this will be a challenge. Their internet will not allow me to put pictures up, so I will do that later. It is surprisingly cool here, not the place is cool, weather cool. I am in long sleeves. Not really sure what to say about the Island so far, will explore a little more tonight and be able to tell more tomorrow.

Almost all the way there

Wow, ton's and ton's of traveling. I am currently sitting in Cape Verde, waiting to get on another plane and go to another Island. We left the beach yesterday about 10am. We flew out of Raleigh at 6pm. We flew to London and arrived in the 6am hour. From there we flew to Lisbon, and from Lispon to here (Praia), and we will soon be off to Sao Vicente. This has been some of the most boring travels of my life. Oh well, we will be there soon, and will soon be catching Blue Marlin. Ill try to keep you updated I am trying to figure out the time and what not. I think we are 3 hours ahead of eastern standard time.

Cape Verde = Blue Marlin

Okay, so I know I have not posted anything since I left Mexico. Here is a recap. It was a rough crossing from Isla to Key west. Not fun at all, took over 20 hours. Stayed in Palm Beach for a few days and had pretty weather all the way back home. Since arriving home I have begun our move. We are moving from our town house in Kitty Hawk, to a a house in Manteo. The new house is on the water and is very relaxing. The best part is we did not have to sign a lease, so now we can focus on buying a home of our own. Saturday I leave for Cape Verde. Cape Verde is off the coast of Africa and that is where the blue marlin live. I can't wait to go. Fin, Paul Mann, Scott Kerrigan, and myself are going on the trip. Sounds like traveling to get there may be a bit of a challenge. I promise once I get there I will begin to update my blog again.

Vamanos Carolina Norte

We are leaving today for the first leg of our journey back to North Carolina. The past several days have been rockin. Our best day we caught 30, another day of 23, and yesterday slowed down a little and we caught 8. Making this trip for 5 years I have seen some pretty cool things, but there were a few things I wanted to see that I had never seen. I wanted to see a Manatee ande I saw that on our way down in Ft. Pierce (see one of first posts). I also wanted to see a Whale Shark. Well yesterday with about 30 minutes left in our day I spotted one. We circled it and got a great look at it. I asked Rom if I could jump in and he did not care. Within about 30 seconds I had a mask and snorkel, fins, and underwater camera. It was one of the coolest things I have ever done. I got some pictures. Check them out. I am leaving here in a few hours, and should arrive in Key West at first light tomorrow. So if you have been dying to talk to me, call me tomorrow. See you on the other side.

Much better fishing

Well the past few day's the fishing has been great. We have had over 20 bites every day. One day we had about 50 bites. Our best day of catching we caught 17. Our guy's had a great time and caught more billfish than they had caught their entire lives. Mission accomplished. The wind is still blowing, but they are calling for it to start falling out over the next few day's. Wednesday is our last day of fishing, then we will leave as soon as we can after that. I can't wait, I'm ready to be home. I have been gone for over 2 month's now and it is really starting to wear on me. Plus I have so much to do when I get home. Right now I have no idea where we are living come May 1st. So my #1 priority is to find somewhere to live, #2 is start packing all our stuff. #3 get my tackle ready for the season in North Carolina. So much to do, and so little time to do it in. Anyway, no fishing tomorrow, so I'll try to find some more pictures to post.

Good Fishing

Had a great day today. We left a little early and did get in on the early morning sailfish bite. We ended up catching 8 out of about 20 or so. We had some bird fishing and some trolling bites. About mid-day when the bite slowed we worked our way offshore to try some bottom fishing. I ended up catching the largest Kitty Mitchell Grouper (strawberry grouper, speckeld hind) of my life. It weighed 34lbs. which is big for a Kitty Mitchell. We also caught some silver snappers, tilefish, and barrell fish. Great day. Im tired, enjoy the photo's.

Better Fishing

The wind died down today and made for very pleasant sea conditions. We were lucky and found the bait this morning, and it was holding some fish. We ended up catching 7 out of about 20 bites. We had the crew of the Pig Rig fishing with us. They wanted to come down and learn more about using circle hooks. Tomorrow we are leaving a little early and hope to find the early morning sailfish bite, then we are going out in the deep tomorrow for some grouper and snapper fishing. And then I guess we are going to have a big fish fry on the dock tomorrow night. Should be fun. Hopefully I'll have some pictures to post.

Carnival

Well no fishing today. We got blown out again. The weather is in the 50's and it is windy. Since we are not fishing I will post some pictures from carnival.

Slow, Slow and mo slow

I wish I could say things are getting better, but they are not. Really slow fishing again today. We caught 1 sail at 7:30 a.m. had one other bite that we missed, saw a few more that never bit and that was our day. We got back in after dark, so it was a long day. Tomorrow I think we will start the morning sail fishing, then go bottom fishing or try something different. Who knows maybe I'll get a really cool picture of something to post.

Poor Fishing

Well I guess if I had more fish I would have more to write about. This is going down as the worst sailfish year ever down here. I think we are a few hundred fish off where we were last year at this time. We caught 1 today. 5 yesterday. I think the most bites anyone had today was 5. Catches ranged from 4 to 0. Boats were spread out from 40miles south of Isla, to us 40 miles north of Isla. Nothing to get excited about. Rough Slow Fishing! I know it sounds bad, but only 2 more weeks. Ill post some pictures tomorrow or something. Have a great weekend.