Ep.09 Curtis De Silva: Madeira & Grander Marlin Fishing

The Katie C. Sawyer Podcast

Summary

Curtis De Silva, a professional fisherman, shares his experience fishing in Madeira and the Southern Caribbean. He recently caught a grander blue marlin in Madeira and discusses the fishing techniques and spread used. Curtis also talks about his father, Captain Frothy, and their fishing background. He compares the fishing conditions and challenges in Madeira and the Southern Caribbean, including dealing with seaweed in the Caribbean and paperwork in Madeira. Curtis also mentions the differences in migratory patterns and water temperatures that contribute to the size of fish in each region. The conversation with Curtis De Silva focuses on his experiences fishing in Madeira and the Azores. The marine life in these areas is spectacular, with abundant bait, birds, and various sea creatures. The conversation covers topics such as the underwater banks and seamounts in the Azores, the impact of sea surface temperatures on fishing, the decision to pull boats out of the water during the off-season, the challenges of fishing in rough swells, the boatyard in Madeira, and the international fleet in Madeira. Curtis also shares his favorite fishing memories with his father and his passion for billfish.

Fish with Curtis: search @madierasportfishing on facebook or instagram

Takeaways

• Curtis De Silva caught a grander blue marlin in Madeira, weighing 1048 pounds.
• Fishing in Madeira is characterized by calm waters and a close proximity to the shore.
• The fishing season in Madeira is from June to September/October.
• The Southern Caribbean has tournaments for sailfish and smaller blue marlin.
• Challenges in the Southern Caribbean include dealing with seaweed and rough weather.
• Fishing in Madeira is relatively easy, with the main challenge being locating blue marlin.
• Madeira has a large average size of blue marlin compared to other fishing locations.
• Paperwork and documentation are meticulous in Madeira.
• The migratory patterns and water temperatures contribute to the size of fish in each region. The marine life in Madeira and the Azores is spectacular, with abundant bait, birds, and various sea creatures.
• The Azores have underwater banks and seamounts that attract fish, including blue marlin.
• Sea surface temperatures can impact fishing, with extreme high temperatures affecting the Azores and Madeira.
• Boats are pulled out of the water during the off-season in Madeira and the Azores due to the slowing down of the marlin migration and the risk of damage from rough swells.
• The boatyard in Madeira is situated under the airport runway and provides services for boats.
• Madeira has an international fleet with charter boats operated by local and foreign captains.
• Curtis De Silva has a passion for billfish and targets big blue marlin in Madeira.
• Fishing with his father and catching his first blue marlin are some of Curtis' most cherished fishing memories.
• Releasing fish is a common practice in billfishing, and recreational fishermen play a role in understanding fish migration patterns.
• Curtis De Silva also runs charters in the Southern Caribbean, specifically in Grenada.

Keywords:

fishing, Madeira, Southern Caribbean, blue marlin, grander, Captain Frothy, techniques, spread, challenges, seaweed, paperwork, migratory patterns, water temperature, fishing, Madeira, Azores, marine life, sea surface temperatures, underwater banks, seamounts, boatyard, fleet, billfish

Transcript:

Katie (00:00.43)
Today's guest is my friend Curtis De Silva from Trinidad and Tobago. Curtis has spent his entire professional career fishing between the Southern Caribbean and the island of Madeira. In fact, he has fished the last 15 seasons on the island of Madeira and a few weeks ago, weighed the first and as of July 2nd only grander of the 2024 Blue Marlin season.

In this episode, we're gonna dive into the story about that fish, as well as what it takes to fish the Eastern Atlantic islands of Madeira and the Azores, how they compare to the fishery of the Southern Caribbean, and looking into a little bit on the relationship between Curtis and his father, legendary Captain Frothy from the Pesca Grossa, as well as why fishing is so important to him.

It's always a pleasure to sit down and talk to Curtis and it's another great episode in the books. You're not going to want to miss it.

Katie (01:06.734)
Welcome to the Katie C. Sawyer podcast. Today I'm sitting with my good friend, Curtis De Silva. Curtis, where are you tuning in from? Hello. How are you going, Katie? Good. I'm tuning in from sunny Calheta, Madeira. That's right. Madeira. You guys, Madeira is an autonomous island owned by Portugal in the Atlantic Ocean. Curtis and I met a couple of years ago while we were fishing there with the On Location. Now, Curtis, you

I want to get into your background. I want to get into your story. But first, I can't skip these important details. You had a really good fishing day just recently, just a few days ago. You want to tell us about it? Yeah. Yeah. Well, you could jump right into that story if you'd like. Yeah, it's a pretty good one. So I think it was Monday this week. We went out on

My dad's fishing boat is called the Pesca Grossa. And we had some clients that flew in from the States. They were on their honeymoon. They were keen to go one day blue marlin fishing. So we were fishing on board, you know, the 30 foot, just a little 30 foot sport fishing boat out here in Madeira And yeah, maybe about four o 'clock or so we hooked up onto a good fish, you know.

it was actually a really interesting play. One of the better ones I've seen in my life. so one, one fish came up on the teaser on our right teaser, really short to the boat, maybe 10 or 15 feet from the back of the, the, the boat. And I threw the pitch out and it did not switch on to the pitch, you know, so it faded off onto our left long. What were you pitching?

Just a mackerel, about a two pound Spanish mackerel, chin weighted, with a 10 o' circle hook. Yeah, so that fish faded off, you know, and hit the left lure and left long. Missed it completely. And about maybe a moment later, maybe five or 10 seconds, another fish came up and just crashed, but the short, the right short, you know?

Katie (03:33.326)
Teal off a bunch of line. We got the lady angler in the chair, you know, it may be about a 40 minute fight or so. We had the fish, three sides of the boat. When it was there, we just, we decided to take it. We decided to take it on board. Cause it was, it was a pretty big fish. When I larger ones we've seen both side in a long time. So we decided to take him. Yeah. Pretty big fish. A grander. How much did that fish weigh?

Yes, it was 1048, 170 some kilos. I can't remember exactly in kilos, but it was 1048 pounds. It was really amazing to see that there was actually two of them. The first fish that showed up, how big was that one? Average Madeira size when I was there for the one season was somewhere between five and 700 pounds. A good size fish is 800.

We were looking for the grander ourselves. We never found it. We never, well, Drake saw it. We've talked about that before, but we never found it. So how big was that first fish that showed up? So the first fish was probably very similar in size, you know? Stop. Yeah. So two big girls crashing on your baits. So what is your spread like? I mean, you have short teasers. You said you you're doing a

like a macro pitch with teasers close to the boat. So those don't have hooks in them. And then you have or I don't know what you call them because then you called it the short lure. The right short is where you caught that second fish on. So you have a J hook in that one, right? That's right. So we fish a pretty simple spread over here. You know, we fish one 30s and we would have four four four lures with hooks in them. Any water at all times, you know?

So left short, left, left and right short and left and right long would all have, you know, 10 OJ hooks in them. That's how we target them with 550 pound mono leader. And then you're also pulling teasers? Yeah. So we pull two teasers right up close to the boat. Yeah, that's basically all Madeira spread. That's awesome. What lures did these fish show up on?

Katie (05:55.134)
well, they actually showed up on my dad's lure. My dad makes these lovely lures. Now, I'm not sure what the name of this particular one was, but it was one of the Captain Frothy series lures. That's so special. That is so special. Okay, so Curtis, congratulations on your grander. Was that your first grander? I mean... Thank you. That was the first one I weighed on a scale. I believe I caught a couple before.

But we released them, but this is the first one that we scale, Peroni scale and wait. That's amazing. Congratulations. And for your group to be on their honeymoon, like, my gosh, you said they had one day of fishing and it was at 4 PM. I'm assuming that you go into the dock at five. Like that is some good luck for those anglers and to have such a good crew. Now you said you were fishing aboard Pesca Grossa. You guys might've heard of this boat because of

The legendary captain Frothy. Now Frothy is Curtis's dad. Curtis, you want to give us a little bit of background on Frothy as well as yourself, where you guys come from, what your history is, your professional history in the sport of billfishing? Sure, absolutely. I could give you a little background. I'm starting with my dad. So my dad has been a Harvard fisherman since he was a young, since he was a boy. He always was very passionate about it.

He ran a very successful charter operation in Trinidad and Tobago for most of the 80s and 90s and early 2000s having about three or so boats going out quite regularly on a daily basis. He came here, he was fortunate, he came here in the 90s, he fished here in the 90s a bit and he caught, he was well caught on his first day here fishing.

thousand pound blue marlin and brought it to the scale and weighted as well in the 90s. Yeah on his first trip here. So he got he fell in love with Madeira and I think it was somewhere in the early 2000s or so he bought pescagrossa and he started a charter operation out of here in Madeira and we've been coming here since. As you know I work on I captain a boat called the Luna right now here in Madeira.

Katie (08:20.27)
and she's just undergoing maintenance in the yard right now. So we just held up on that waiting for that boat to come back and I'll be running that boat this season. You're from Trinidad, Tobago. Do you, what, like what, growing up, what was your seasons like? Cause you've been going to Madeira for a while, but have you been living full time in Madeira for all these years or were you traveling back and forth? How did that look? So yeah, I spent about four months out of the year here.

in Madeira for the Blue Marlin season from about June to September, October. As well as, yeah, I spend the other six months in the Caribbean where I do commercial fishing as well as we do family fishing with my cousin. My cousin has a 46 hat to us in Trinidad and we go to a bunch of the tournaments in the Southern Caribbean, such as Grenada, Barbados, St. Lucia.

and a couple of tournaments in Tobago as well, where I live for the other part of the year. Yeah, that's about my fishing background. I fish the Southern Caribbean a bunch as well as Hey Medaro. What are the seasons for the Southern Caribbean? What are the months and what is the tournament season specifically? And what are you targeting in those various locations? What size fish?

What kind of tackle are you fishing? What does that look like? So we have a few tournaments in the Southern Caribbean. One of them is the Grenada International Bill Fishing Tournament. They have the Barbados International Game Fishing Tournament as well as the Tobago International. We fish for, you know, mainly sailfish and smaller size blue marlin. So we do do the dredge, teaser, circle hook fishing.

for the smaller bellfish in the southern Caribbean. It's been very productive for the last couple of seasons. The fishing has been really well. Right before I came here, we did a three -day tournament. I think it had 30 or so boats, and they had over 130 releases, I believe it was, over three days of fishing. So the fishing back home is pretty good right now in terms of sailfish and smaller blue marlin.

Katie (10:44.91)
how we target them, that's the tournaments that I'm accustomed attending. Yeah, that's awesome. So what months of the year are the tournaments? Do they start in February and go through May? How does that work? So they have Grenada in January, which is the first tournament for the Southern Caribbean for the year. My dad actually fished this year and won it. He came first place fishing in...

with the 46 after us, the hopscotch, my cousin, Peter and Grenada. So, that was the first tournament they have, Barbados, I believe is in March. Yes, they have the Barbados international tournament in March and the Tobago tournament is in April. Yep. That's awesome. And the Caribbean has been insane on

fire this year like you touched on. I mean, it's just been really, really good fishing, which is cool because the last few years have they been a little slower than usual or to par like what what has the have the seasons been like over the last few years and have you seen them changing at all? I think the fishing has been more or less productive in the last. You know two or three years. You know it's been really hot. You know before that it's always been fairly good. It's always been decent, you know.

But yeah, it's really been picking up in the last year or two. Been having a lot of, a lot more releases per average, per tournament. So. That's awesome. What are your biggest challenges when fishing the Southern Caribbean? Like, I mean, the waters are so different from what you see in Madeira, like so different already, the tackle spread, the fish you're seeing, it's all very different from each other. What are your biggest challenges in the Southern Caribbean specifically when fishing?

A couple issues we deal with is one mainly seaweed, you know, the seaweed problems getting worse, especially our region. We're learning to work with that, work, you know, a couple of techniques to work with fishing in the seaweed, especially if you find pods of fish that are tangled up in there. So, you know, working on new techniques to actually be able to fish through the seaweed and work with it as opposed to just have to fish somewhere that does not have seaweed. You know, we often find

Katie (13:04.142)
large pods of blue marlin and sailfish right wrapped up with that sagasum seaweed, especially where it's stuck. So just working on some techniques on how to effectively fish through seaweed through the tournaments could give us a keen advantage, you know? So we, we're working on that's probably one of the most difficult. I would say that's the most difficult obstacle with fishing in Southern Caribbean right now, as well as, you know, we might get rough weather here and there, but.

Part of Caribbean life for sure. So what are some of these techniques you're talking about? How do you, I love that you talk about how a lot of the fish are under that sargassum because it's an entire ecosystem. And that sargassum, you guys, it's a problem because the grass is getting tangled in the line. It's getting in front of the baits and then the fish aren't going to eat if there's a chunk of grass in front of the bait or it's all up in the dredge.

So these mates are having to constantly get the grass off the line. It can be a real nuisance. But Curtis, tell me, how are you involved? What kind of techniques are you talking about? Because I'm super curious on how you fish around grass. I mean, I'll share as much as I can with you about that topic. But some of our techniques is we have really long outriggers. We have the triple spread of outriggers.

and we have them mounted in a high position on the boat where we could actually run the lines a bit shorter than we normally would as in really short and really high up in the outrigger as to get that barlet who to skip a bit more over the seaweed with the circle hook more or less out the water you know using the correct line and leader material and hooks and whatever to allow for that you know but more or less so it could skip over the seaweed

without actually getting tangled in it. One of the techniques, how we set up our dredges, how we run our dredges and how we set up our leaders on our teasers as well too. Would all play a good role in how much seaweed actually is able to get tangled onto your lures that you're running. Are you...

Katie (15:25.838)
Are you allowed to divulge a little bit more on how you set up your dredges to avoid grass? I mean, we can't do. Yeah, we can't do. Or is it top secret? Yeah. I mean, I really would. I don't want to get you in trouble. Yeah. I mean, we do set up our dredges a bit differently. You know, we don't use the spreadable dredges, you know. We set them up a bit differently.

I don't think I could explain it too easily, but I could send some photos of our dredge setups when we run it through sexy weed. I would love that. Yeah, they're a little bit different from conventional dredges. Yeah, but I mean, like trying to, you know, every fishery is different, as you well know, and there's different challenges per fishery and trying to adapt your technique so that you will find success in that fishery is always so vital to your success.

So what kind of like, what size weight are you putting in these balihoo that you're trolling? Like what size weight to allow them to be skipping on the surface? Right. So that's a key part as well too. So you'd be using a half ounce lead, half ounce egg shaped lead as to not have the balihoo weighted much. So it tends to skip out any water. Of course, when you're fishing balihoo, ideally you would want it to be head down.

Tail Flop, Tail Wagon, ideally. But you know, when you're working with pods of sailfish and marlin right under the seaweed, they don't seem to mind if it's skipping a bit on the surface in that motion as opposed to giving you a more real feel. So we'd use the half ounce lead, we'd use maybe up to 50 pound fluorocarbon leader, even 40 pound fluorocarbon leader. Very light swivels, lightweight swivels.

You know, 25 pound test line, 30 pound test line. could even drop a little bit down from that as well to us. They're just all of that helps in keeping the, the angle of the hook and the head just a bit out the water. What size hook are you fishing? I six O VMC circle hook. Yeah. Good hook. I like those. I like those. That's cool. Awesome. I love it. So,

Katie (17:51.15)
How many years have you been fishing the tournament season in the Southern Caribbean? maybe 15 years now with my father since I was a young boy. Many, many years. I think the first tournament I did, I'm 25. So I think I did my first tournament when I was probably, it's been more, probably when I was like eight years old, seven years old, I think I did my first fishing tournament with my dad. That's so cool. That is so cool.

And, all right. So how many years have you been fishing the season in Madeira? I've been trying to count that. I believe this is my 14th season or so coming here to Madeira fishing the blue marlin season. So since you were 11. Yeah. Yeah. That's so cool. Yeah. Okay. So let's dive into Madeira a little bit. So what are, you know, we talked about in the Southern Caribbean, we're seeing a lot of grass. The weather can be pretty challenging.

in Madeira, there's a very specific season for the fishing primarily because of the winter swell that will hit the island in the winter. But so you're there from June to August, I believe is what you said. And what are, like, what are your biggest challenges in Madeira for the fishing and how does it vary from the Caribbean? So fishing in Madeira.

It's quite an easy fishery I would say here. Mostly we'll be fishing two or three miles from the coast in flat calm waters, very pristine, so not a lot of trash in the water, not a lot of interference. Challenges of fishing here in Madeira is more in terms of trying to locate the blue marlin as opposed to any of the conditions that are naturally occurring.

It's a very safe place to fish and it's very easy to fish. We fish in very close to the shore and the weather conditions are just right for most of the four months that I'm here. So as challenges as fishing in Madeira, I don't think there are that many. The marina facilities are very nice. They have water and fuel, electric, all at the dock. They make it very straightforward and easy for you as well as...

Katie (20:17.006)
Living on the island is lovely. Beautiful here. Weather's right. The climate's really nice. So I don't think there's much challenges in terms of fishing. One issue we do have is being very vigorous with our paperwork here. They're very meticulous with all their policies of making sure that you have all the correct documentation to go fishing. Like what kind of documentation?

What are some of the policies out there? How does that look? Is it something you have to submit? Is there a form you have to submit after every trip? How is that? Tell us a little bit more about the documentation. So we would need to just... Everything here is paperwork. So nothing is computerized, only computerized system. So it takes a few days after you submit forms or whatever to receive replies and returns in terms of that.

That's a challenge on its own. As well as, you know, there are a lot of papers you need to get, you know, you need to get a lighthouse license, a fishing license. We would have out of the water inspections, as well as in the water inspections annually on the boats, as well as inspections of all, you know, the safety gear on body boat, which is pretty standard, I think, globally. But we managed to...

We work around that and make sure that we have everything in compliance with it. But sometimes it takes a few days just to get a response from these guys. And that's about it. Yeah, it's hard. It's island time. Like you said, nothing's on the computer. It's all hand form, handwriting. I know that I was I was texting you earlier and you said, yeah, I'm just doing some boat paperwork. Like, let's get on a call. So I'm super into that. That's cool. But what about

You know, we touched on how you're doing light tackle in the Caribbean and heavy tackle 130s. You just got a grander like over in Madeira. I'm just I'm so excited for you because the fact that two fish showed up behind the spread and you got one of them. It's just the coolest story to me. I was so stoked to see that it was the Pescadrosa and that you were on board. Why do you think like why?

Katie (22:33.518)
Is Madeira a spot for big fish? And why is the Caribbean a spot for smaller fish? Does it have to do with the sea floor, the bottom, the currents? What's your insight on that? Interesting. So my insight on why the larger fish tend to show up to Madeira as opposed to the Caribbean. It's a lot to do with just their general migratory patterns, as well as, you know,

So the bigger ones would have a different migrational pattern. I believe the smaller fish in the Caribbean. So I think it's a lot to do with that. And in terms of why Madeira might have the biggest size average, the biggest average size blue marlin, I think out of anywhere in the world, you know? I can't tell you specifically that I know for sure, you know? But I do know that they have a...

very large average size blue marlin over here. And I don't see that, you know, very often other places that I fish. But as to why they, why they do come here, not very sure, not very sure entirely. What is the water temp you're fishing there in Madeira? Right now, right now it's about 21, 22 degrees Celsius in between that range. shoot. What is that? That's like,

a 7980 to in Fahrenheit. I could be wrong. It's been a while since I've Celsiused up, but that's probably that's that's pretty. How hot does it get? How hot does the water get? So last year we had a record record breaking sea surface temperatures in Portugal and here Madeira as well. The hottest I saw last year was 26, 27 degrees Celsius. I don't know what that is in Fahrenheit, but that's very hot.

Okay, so I had to Google it and I looked it up and 21, 22 degrees Celsius is between 70, 72 degrees Fahrenheit, which is not very warm, especially when you're used to Gulf of Mexico waters. But 26 degrees Celsius is closer to 78, 80 degrees Fahrenheit. And when you're looking at the Eastern Atlantic, as Curtis said, record breaking temperatures, it's very warm, especially for those bigger fish.

Katie (24:55.438)
So how was the fishing when it was that warm? The fishing generally, it was slow. It was slow here in Madeira last season, with not too many fish being caught here by the fleet. But right next door, about 550 miles away, they had phenomenal blue marlin fishery in the Azores, you know, with very similar water temperature. Yeah. But I think it's largely to do with

How the bait forms up down there, they have a lot of banks over there and that bait is able to stick to a lot of structure. Whereas opposed to Madeira, just a big shelf, you know, not too many banks fish offshore here. Madeira just drops off. So Madeira is like a really steep island. It's where I learned how to drive stick shift and it was extremely challenging, but it's a very steep island and it continues in its steepness past the water.

Right. So, you know, Curtis talked about how we're fishing anywhere from one to three miles off of out of the Marina. It's because that water just it just the seafloor just drops off. So in the Azores, Curtis, have you have you spent any time fishing the Azores? So last year in October, I did a 10 day trip to the Azores to blue marlin fish and it was very good. It was probably at the peak of the peak of when the bite was red hot and

Yes, I did spend 10 days there last year. So what island were you fishing on? And tell me a little bit about like the banks that you're talking about. Like, does it is it like a gradual does the seafloor decline gradually there for a little while? And the like, what was the depth that the bait was pushing up on? What was the fishing like? Give me a little bit of insight in that. We were fishing, so I was fishing off of Horta.

the Azores which is just a very small island I think the population is 6 ,000 so only 6 ,000 people live on that little island and it was very remote you know they had the bar company operation was there the uno mass port fishing operation was there as well as the charter fleet we did four days fishing raised a couple couple nice

Katie (27:19.022)
Blue Marla, I think we caught four from six over that time, as well as hooked onto a really, really big bluefin tuna. I estimated that one to be around 1200 pounds. Yes. Yeah. It looked like somebody dropped a mid -sized bus on top of the lure. And we fought that thing for four hours. my gosh, and the water was that warm? my gosh. Yeah. That's crazy.

Yeah. Interesting. Did y 'all see more than one bluefin or was that just the one bluefin you saw? No, there was a school of them feeding and we drove into the school. Yeah. But it was, it was very large sized bluefin tuna. It was not, it was very, very large. my gosh. That's amazing. That is amazing. Sorry. You threw me for, I was not expecting you to tell me that you caught a bluefin, in October and the Azores. Yeah. As well as some Mako sharks.

Yeah, the marine life out there was spectacular. It was really something special. The water was very alive, you know, baits, birds, just lots of different sea creatures. You could tell that it was coming to life and everything was very alive out there. That's amazing. And was that when the water temp was pretty high or had it already started cooling down a little bit? So I can't recall the exact water temp.

you know, on the days that I fished, but I think Azores was as well affected by similar extreme high sea surface temps as well as Madeira, you know, it was record breaking high for all of Portugal last year. That's amazing. That's crazy. So tell me about these banks you mentioned and that the baits baits pushing up there. So how does that work? OK, so they have they have these banks that are off the so they have the island structure of Porta.

very similar to Madeira they have the shelf shortly after but further offshore that is essentially underwater volcanoes or you know that form the banks that rise up pretty shallow that are far off the island structure you know a bit further off the island structure like the Condor Bank I believe the Princess Alice Bank three banks

Katie (29:47.534)
that, pretty close to each other on, on, on in Horta. You know, I can't remember the name of the other one right now, but I definitely remember the Abicondo Bank, Princess Alice Bank. And, How far from Horta and how shallow does it get on those banks or the seamounts? How shallow does it get on the seamounts? Hmm. I think it comes all the way up to.

I'm not sure exactly, you know, I'm not sure exactly, but I think it comes up to about 300, 300 meters deep. So it would come up. Yeah. That is very, yeah, that is nice. And they're close to each other. And how far from Horta are they? So I believe one, one starts at about, I think 12 kilometers and the furthest one is.

Forgive me if I'm wrong, I'm just roughly remembering from my 10 day trip here, so I don't know specifically exactly, but I think it's somewhere around. Right, you're doing so good. You're doing so good. I think it's about 14 kilometers, 20 kilometers, and something like that. They have some more offshore ones as well too that I did not fish while I was there. They have great structure all over the Azores.

Yeah, that sounds like, and again, kilometers and miles, I'm not doing so good with my conversions, but that sounds like they're all like within 15 miles of the island. I believe something like that, right? So that's pretty amazing. Like it's close. It's close. You're not burning a lot of fuel to get out there. I mean, not a terrible amount, but it is rough, especially during October, September, October. It's rough out there.

We are most boats wouldn't be able to fully power up and those kinds of swells, but yeah, there's a fairly, you know, not, not terribly far run. That's cool. Okay. Yeah. Let's talk about how the swell changes in that part of the world during that season, because when we were in Madeira, I know I was told that a lot of the boats, like the Luna, you guys go onto the hard in the off season. Can you tell me why? And.

Katie (32:08.782)
And and how and that's I'm assuming that those swells affect the Azores as well So I think one of the bigger reasons that we pull the boats out usually in October is because The marlin season tends to slow down. We wouldn't find that the marlin migrate through this area much after that time You know, they they've had years and they've had periods of time where it would be calm here through december january, you know as

as yet a year would change, you know, some years it could be very rough here in October or even May and June could be very rough here, depending on what the global atmosphere is like, you know. Yeah. So I think that's a big reason we pull the boats out here in October is just because the maling migration starts to slow down. But why wouldn't you leave it in the slip? Why? Why do you take the boat out of the water? You don't see that in a lot of other parts of the world. Like you when when it's the off season, the boat just sits in the slip.

You know, like it's not, we're not going to take the boat out of the water in the off season unless it's an outboard. Right. So, why, why do you guys do that? And you see that throughout the entire fleet for the most part, correct? Yeah. Yep. So, a lot of the boats, a lot of the sport fishing boats here would, the captains, the crews would leave. It would leave, you know, go to Latin America, the United States, different parts of Europe and.

You know, it's a risk. It's always a risk because we do have forecasts of what it should be like, you know, maybe two weeks in advance, but it's never, you're never, you're never going to know if it's going to be one of those years where you're going to have a lot of swells coming through and it might, it might damage, the boat might be damaged in the marina with no captain and crew here to check out for these boats and look after these boats. The owners find it's a lot more safe.

to have them out in the water where they can't sink. Truth, truth. I know that when we got to Madeira in 2021, the wall, the bulkhead along the outside of the marina had just recently been redone. You could see where a big wave came in and just tore the seawall of the marina down. Am I right? Like, or did I make that up? Yeah, no, yes.

Katie (34:31.406)
So yeah, they do have big swells that come on to the sea wall and definitely knock bits of concrete off of that retaining wall that's protecting the marina. I mean, we lost a cleat. We lost a cleat when we were there from one wave just coming in and just ripping the boat. And that was in the middle of the calm season. And we're fishing in Madeira, you're fishing the lee of the island. So it is like a swimming pool out there.

It's really nice. It's really close to shore. And every now and then you see two granders behind your spread. So, that's so cool. And the hard, so tell us about the boatyard in Madeira because my mind was kind of blown by that as well. We talked about how the Island is super steep. So there's not a lot of places to have a boatyard. Can you get, can you give us a little details on it?

Okay, so the boatyard in Madeira is situated actually under the airport runway. And the airport runway, it's built on stilts. So it's a huge concrete structure. And yeah, they have the lovely company Technovia that has the boatyard service there. And they're always very responsive and helping us out, giving us a hand with whatever we need down there at the outhaul spot.

It's pretty cool. It's an interesting place. That's so cool. Yeah, it's crazy. It's so crazy, you guys. I've never seen an airport runway that is superimposed over the ground. To have a bunch of yachts sitting under it in the boatyard is just like a Twilight Zone type experience. But Madeira is known, the airport's known for its...

lack of a better word, but it's sketchiness. It's a crazy plane landing to get into Madeira. It's like a one -shot, one -shot. You can't miss, you can't miss. Those pilots. Have you flown in and out of Madeira a lot, Curtis? I'm assuming so. You get there by plane. Yes, absolutely. I've been in and out here a bunch of times now. The airport, I feel like it's fairly safe.

Katie (36:51.502)
like it's pretty safe you know it does feel sketchy sometimes they do close off the flights quite often they do close off the flights and they reroute them to the smaller island Porto Santo which is a few minutes flight time from here. No it's here in Madeira, it's part of Madeira. Porto Santo yeah okay yes that makes sense yeah south southeast of Madeira right? I believe so yes. Yeah.

Cool. yeah, I never made it over there. Yeah. Yeah. Lovely little Island. Sometimes they do reroute the flights to Azores as well too, just depending on what the local weather conditions are like. Yeah, that's awesome. Tell us a little bit about the fleet in Madeira. You have a super international fleet there. You've got some local teams, but also teams from all sorts of different countries. Can you tell us a little bit about the size of the fleet and where people come from?

So there's a, I consider it to be a small charter fleet, maybe five to eight boats or so that operate out of the, out of Madeira. And yeah, like you said, most of them, I mean, my dad runs the Pesca Grossa, I run the Luna. They have a couple of the boats with Madeira on teams, but not too many foreign people. I think they have a couple of guys from England as well too.

But not that many people actually run charter boats down here. They got a small group of English guys, me and my dad and a couple local guys as well that run charter boats. That's cool. It's a great little marina, you guys. If you have a chance to fish out there, definitely take it. And I'll link Curtis's information in the description below so you can...

Schedule a charter with him because he's a heck of a fisherman as you as you know from this episode He's had all sorts of experience now Curtis Tell me like your favorite day on the water in Madeira My favorite day on the water. I think it was probably this week Monday. It was a pretty good one. I really enjoyed that Yeah, maybe I didn't know going to full detail exactly as to how everything played out, but

Katie (39:11.182)
It was, I think that was probably one of my best moments, you know, fishing wise. It's been great. If you want to go into detail now, like let's hear it again. I mean, I'm down to sit through, I want to hear it again. Yeah. I mean, no, just in terms of not what happened, just other terms of the day, you know, like, like you said, it was their honeymoon and there were two fish, you know, so that was quite amazing. That was mind boggling for me, you know.

I've seen big ones here traveling in twos before, as well as schools and pods. But just having two of them and spread like that, very similar size and actually being able to catch one and weigh one, I think, it's definitely one of my favorite experiences. That's so special. That's so special. I had a podcast with a captain, Chris Donato in Kona, and he was telling me that when he sees a big fish,

a lot of times he'll see smaller fish around it. So like a female and most likely males around it. So I find it really interesting that you had two big fish in your spread at the same time. And I just like, I mean, I'm blown away by it, honestly. And y 'all hadn't seen anything the entire day, right? Like that was, those were the first fish you saw. Yeah. The first blue mollins that we saw. Yeah.

We were having quite a day, you know, in terms of mark and bait, you know, and we were checking our satellite imagery, trying to locate where we might find a little bit of warmer water. And yeah, it was, it was, it was really something, you know, I mean. Do you see it in your dreams when you close your eyes at night? I mean, sometimes, yeah, I think back in the memory quite often, especially this week, you know.

Definitely. Of course. It's my memory, memory, know? Yeah, I really enjoyed that. It was pretty good. Would you say that you've been fishing your whole life for that experience? I wouldn't say for that experience, but yeah, that's definitely one of the what you would target to hunt the type of fish that I would be targeting, especially when I come here to Madera, Madeira, know, I tried to target blue mullet over 500 pounds. That being well over that.

Katie (41:37.102)
is definitely the size fish that came at the target. Definitely. What does it mean to you to have finally weighed a grander? And Madeira, I mean, you've been fishing there for 14 years. You said you've caught a handful that you think are over the mark, but to have it, to bring it back to the dock, to catch it within 40 minutes, that's amazing. And to bring it back to the dock and weigh it and it's over the mark, it's got to be

just a really proud moment for you. Can you tell me a little bit about what that experience is like? Cause I don't know what it feels like and I want to know what it's like and what it means to you specifically. Interesting. So coming back to the doc we did, we went and we were unsure if it would weigh a thousand pounds, you know, we knew it was big. We did not know it was that big, you know, so there was some speculation as to what the weight actually might be on the boat still. So we would

anticipating it to be in the region of 900 to a thousand pounds you know with with our we just had a little a little measuring tape on the boat a little small one 120 inches i believe and we measured the fish the length of the fish and it took up the whole tape you know we weren't able to measure the whole fish because the tail was in the water still as well too so we're actually able to get a proper measurement on the fish until

got it on the crane and off the boat. So it had a pretty big half girth at 39 inches. So we did realize that it was a very girthy fish, very fat fish. So we didn't know it had the girth of a grander, but we weren't sure about the length because the scale, the measuring tape we had didn't let us, but we pulled it off the boat and got it on the scale.

found out it was 1 ,048. So it was in that moment, it was pretty cool to know that it was over ground because you know, those type of fish, like you say, blue marlin fishermen hunt for a lifetime. Yes, I think it is a fish of a lifetime. It is so cool. Now, what made y 'all decide, did the fish come up dead or did you decide to swing the gaff? So it came up tail wrapped on the leader, came up tail wrapped.

Katie (43:59.31)
it was pretty docile, but, we saw that the fish was pretty huge, you know, thought it was over the mark. So we decided to on both it. Yeah. It was, you know, it was a, it wasn't a very lively fish because it's been tail wrapped, you know, we were pulling it backwards for I think probably 20 minutes or 30 minutes of the 20 minute fight, but, which you guys.

When that happens, that means that the fish is, it can't breathe. So it's kind of unfortunate. It's super unfortunate when a fish gets tail wrapped. But if it's a fish of that size and you're going to weigh it, it's safer for the team, you know, in these situations for this fish to be docile. They can really, you know, cause some, some havoc and it, it's a precious memory for everyone. The see, killing a fish is never like that fun.

but also these fishermen, we pursue this experience our entire lives. And Curtis, do you think that now that you've achieved this, is it gonna affect the way you hit the water every day? Or do you see any differences in your mindset or your experience? No, not in particular. I don't think I see, I view fishing much differently. I always knew,

you know, situations and they have fish out here that do exist like that. And I don't think it's mentally going to change the way that I approach fishing or I attach myself to fishing. You know, I'm a second generation fisherman, so I always knew fishing is a big part of my life. And I always plan to do fishing trips for the rest of my life. So, you know, I mean, I really do love fishing and I'm passionate about it, but I don't think it's changed the way I view fishing.

What do you think you love so much about fishing? What do you think keeps calling you back to the ocean? Okay. I mean, obviously it's in your blood. Yeah. That's a good question. I'm very passionate about it, marine ecosystems. I love seeing fish in the natural environments. Being out there in the ocean, in Madeira, the ocean's very beautiful, fresh air, very peaceful. All great things I love about my job.

Katie (46:22.158)
It beats working in an office or something like this. So I think that's why I'm very passionate about it. You know, just it's a lovely environment out there and a very enjoyable, enjoyable job. I couldn't agree more. I love being on the ocean. It's just the way it makes you feel is so peaceful. And you guys, so you have Big Blue Marlin and Madeira. We've talked about that. What other fish are you catching out?

there? Like, is there another fish that you target when you're fishing those waters? So, we do target big eye tuna when they are around, some large sized big eye tuna. Some of them exceeding 300 pounds, you know, other than that, we try deep dropping some, for different species of group of shark that they have here. you know, we catch all sorts of crazy creatures from the deep without deep drop in equipment. So

We've been trying that as well as the wahoo fish in here is good as well too. They do have decent wahoo fish in here. But while I'm here in Madeira, I try to target my focus around fishing for big blue mollusk. It's definitely where I try to focus most of my thought. Now, why do you think like I find that interesting? Because me too, like I love tuna. I love wahoo. You know, I love eating fish. But my passion is with chasing the billfish.

Like I want the billfish, you want the billfish, even though most of the time it's catch and release. Like why do you think that is? Like what is it about bill fishing? That's a good question. Well, it's visually, visually it's very, it's phenomenal. You know, when you see a mile enabled to trace one of these lures and you know, take multiple hits at it or even just one single hit go airborne or,

whatever they do, you know, it's visually spectacular. So it's breathtaking in that sense.

Katie (48:31.214)
I mean, in terms of, you know, I just grew up blue marlin fishing. You know, my dad was always a very avid blue marlin fisherman, you know. And I guess that always seemed to be the targeted species that he would try to catch as well too, you know. So for me, it's also just following along those lines and just being very passionate about that, you know. Yeah, for sure. For sure.

And those big guy, you know, you mentioned that they get really big. We, I mean, we caught a handful of really big, big, big guy when we were in Madeira in the sunset hours. in the summertime, the sunsets really late. I mean, am I right? I feel like 9 PM was when the sun was setting. So those are some really full days on the water. If you're going the whole, the whole sunlight hours, which we did, but I think most people don't. but,

What is, okay, we're gonna wrap it up here pretty soon, but I wanna dive into a little bit with your relationship with Frothy, you know, your dad, who's been passionate about bill fishing his whole life. You have both been fishing the Caribbean and Madeira fisheries for a long time. And what, like as a kid, what is your best memory of fishing with your dad?

Whether it be like on the boat with him or when he came back to the dock, like what's your most impressive, like impressionable is what I meant to say, impressionable memory of your dad at your like early ages of life? Like it could, I could even ask like, what's your first fishing memory? That's a good one. Yeah. So I think a lot of my most prized memories with my dad are some of the earlier fishing experiences, some of the first fishing trips we ever been on, you know, my first blue marlin.

my first fish, you know. In terms of details of exactly what happened on those days and where we were fishing, you know, I can't really remember, but I definitely do remember, you know, fishing with him, you know, in lakes and stuff when I was a young child and, you know, catching different species of lake fish and as well as going offshore and catching blue marlin and tuna. I think I got my first one when I was nine years old or so. And

Katie (50:49.83)
That was truly a very good memory with my dad. Fishing here in Madeira, I had some amazing experiences. I think it was in 2015. I was fishing here with my dad on the Pesca Grossa as well too. We had a really amazing day as well too. We were fishing, I think it was similar, it was around four o 'clock in the evening and we were coming in from a long day, no fish. We were just coming in and it was four o 'clock and...

We had a big one take on the left, on the right long I believe it was. Take the lure and dump out a bunch of line. Nobody saw the bite. And I was clearing the spread, I cleared in the spread and I pulled in the left short and about a 700 pound fish or so came and ate that lure as well too. So we had two on at the same time. And we caught the 700 pounder and then we got to the other one and.

We brought it to the boat and we thought that that one was 1 ,100 pounds. You know, so that was probably the best experience I had with my dad in terms of a good fishing day as well too. So it's interesting to know that the bigger ones do travel in twos and multiple. That is so incredible. That's so cool. And I love, my gosh, I loved it. Like one hit.

and then you're clearing the spread. So the speed of the lure changed. There's stuff going on and it enticed another bite from another fish, you know, like already in like going back to your story just a few days ago where you had one hit the short and then go into the long, like it's already aggressively feeding, which might be why a second fish was enticed to come up and hit that right short again. And it's just like, that's so cool. Like it just goes to show

that like making changes in the spread can really play a key role in getting these fish to bite. But the fact that you had that memory, like what were you like 14, 15 years old and you have that memory with your dad on a double big fish double. So did you all release that 1100 pounder? Yes, we did. Yeah. Or that big girl. Yeah, we did. Yeah. Yes, we did. That's amazing. That's so cool. That's so cool, Curtis.

Katie (53:09.606)
Yeah, I love it. And like even, you know, and in a lot of places in the world, especially in the summertime, we have a lot of tournaments going on, especially in the Gulf and Eastern Atlantic. And killing this fish, it's part of it, but it's not always part of it. You know, like releasing fish in the bill fishing world is more often than not what happens. And as fishermen, we're so passionate about the conservation.

And I think it's interesting, you know, having this conversation with you, Curtis, you're talking about the seasons, what you're seeing, there's two big fish at the same time. A lot of what we know about these fish, we know from recreational fishermen, charter fishermen that are out there on the water every day. We know their migration patterns a little bit more than we would if we weren't out there on the water every day and every season. I think that's so cool. So Curtis.

Congratulations so much on your grander. I'm so proud of you. I'm so excited for you. Can you tell our listeners where they can find you and where they can book a charter with Luna? Absolutely. Thank you very much. I mean, for having me as well. You could find a Madeira Sportfishing or my Facebook, Curtis De Silva on Facebook or Instagram. And yeah, more than happy to.

to pick you guys especially if you have anybody that is interested. Are you also running charters in Southern Caribbean? Yeah. So my brother owns and operates 43 Beatrum in Grenada. And I work on him as a mate with him during the season over there. Perfect. So I'll make sure to tag those operations in the description below. So you guys

Check those out if you want to book with Curtis. I highly recommend. He's a great time. And Curtis, you know, do you have any last words for the listeners or anything you want to say to close out? No, thank you very much. I appreciate the podcast. It's been great. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. And it's been great. You're so awesome, Curtis. I really appreciate the chat and we'll talk soon. And that's a wrap. If you like this episode, please feel free to share. If you're watching on YouTube,

Katie (55:27.59)
feel free to like, share, and subscribe. And if you listen to it, do check out the YouTube video because Curtis has shared some good photo and video content to support our conversation. Y 'all don't stop chasing your wild and we'll be seeing you out there.