We have just announced the winners of our photo and review competition for the month of November. We would like to thank everyone who entered, but unfortunately there can be only one winner, in each of our categories.
We would like to conrgatulate Kevin Patterson who won the photo competition this month, with his cracking shot from his recent holiday in Cuba, and we would also like to congradulate Nick Peter for his holiday review, of his time in Maderia.
The winning image and review can be seen below:
Kevin Pattersons Winning Picture: On The Look Out...
Nick Pete's Winning Review On Maderia And The Pictures He Included:
Reading the Angling Direct brochure, the page that really jumped out and grabbed me was the Marlin fishing in Madeira. I had never caught a Marlin before, but just had to give it a go and booked a couple of days at the end of August 2010. Booking was very easy, a phone call and cheque in the post and Angling Direct then took care of everything. On arrival at Funchal, a driver was waiting to take me to the hotel. It was then a 5 minute walk to the harbour to meet Peter and the 3 anglers who had just fished for 2 days. It was bad news - no sign of any Marlin. After a great start to the season, things had slowed down. As a lifelong big fish hunter I know that things can change from one day to the next and all you need is 1 take for the fish of a lifetime. Peter told me the way to pick a good day is to throw a dart backwards over your shoulder at a calendar without looking in the mirror.
With very deep water close in, it was great to be fishing within minutes and not having to motor for hours. We trolled with 4 big lures and at about 3pm on the first day, a Marlin followed one but didn't take. On the second day there was another follow on one of the short range rods and this time the reel started screaming. I have never seen line disappear from a reel so fast. I picked up the rod and by the time I was in the chair and had hooked up the harness, I was down to the backing. After what seemed like hours of pumping, I saw the fish through my polaroids and it was soon brought to the side of the boat. Peter said it was around 500. After unhooking, tagging and photographing, I watched my first blue marlin swim away - the biggest fish I have ever caught. The catch and release flags were then hoisted as we carried on fishing but no more takes were forthcoming. On return to the harbour, no other boats were flying the flags but a fish was lost by one of the others.
The hotel was excellent and after a days fishing it was great to dive into the pool for a swim to cool off and then lie there in the sun eyeing up the crumpet around the pool.
There is nothing like a big fish for putting you on a high and I can't wait to get back next year in search of a grander. In the meantime I am going to practice throwing darts backwards over my shoulder.
regards
Nick Peat
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