Fishing Reports by Mike's Marina, Punta Cana

[Mike Fisher]

The real start for the 2006 white Marlin season we aspected starting with the first quarter moon, 50% full, rising 8:19AM on wednesday april 5th, but last sunday march 26th charter client Jason Jones was close to a record for our local waters white marlins, moon a Waning Cresent, just 10% full, early for the season to start.
On board of our 42ft Post Intrepido with charter captain Jose Manuel Mota and mate Franklin Johansi Recio they hooked at 9:20AM, 50 minutes after leaving port, only 35 minutes lines wet, 2.5 nmls offshore, their first hit of the day on an 30lbs Penn International reel, 4.00 line on.
They enjoyed a 49 minutes stand up fight fighting one of the biggest white marlins in our local waters for the last decade, bringin a weight of 104.5lbs.
continuing the trip the charter received 3 more white marlin hits, hooking up an other one of 60lbs.
I will continue to write at least one fishing report a week on this board to keep you guys informed about our white marlin season, lasting at least til mid/end july, joined by blue marlins starting around mid june.

check this Fishing Reports page out frequently, i'll keep it up to date
Mike
Mike's Marina Fishing Charters S.A.
for the best fishing Punta Cana Dominican Republic

[Mike Fisher]

Wednesday, April 5th 2006
Punta Cana Bavaro, Dominican East coast.
the early start of the 2006 white marlin season on the dominican east coast out of punta cana continues with white marlins day by day, we see the same positive change that we had during wintertime 05/06 with the sailfish population, it's growing, so much more important to keep this up i.e. by pushing catch & release, still mostly unknown on the island. Mike's Marina Fishing Charters S.A. is the only outfitter offering catch & release on all Marlins on request, it's a beginning.
this wednesday afternoon, april 5th, 40ft Searay Altamar looked very unlucky, running only in smaller fish until they got their 1st and for the half day charter only marlin hit, skipper Luis Alberto Caridad hooked him and charter client Alan Johnson got his fight.
Wednesday we've been on First Quarter Moon, 53% full, rising on 61' at 8:19AM that morning.
Post 42ft Intrepido was out for a split charter that afternoon, 6 anglers on board and on the right spots, they got 9 hits but fought only one of them bringing 60lbs of weight, same than Altamars afternoon trophy.
31ft Bertram Mangu, also running a split charter that afternoon with 4 anglers on board, got 2 white marlin hits and missed both, lets work again on the hooking, guys, so they brought in only 1 dorado in the 20ies and 2 yellowfins of 20 and 30lbs, at least they had a nice fight with the 30lbs tuna on a 20lbs Penn International, 20lbs line on.
I'll keep you up to date,
looking forward to an great may/june season for our local whites

[Mike Fisher]

On 04-12-2006 04:21 pm
Jake Walker(jwalker@tractor-equipment.com) posted:

Man o Man what a day!!! I wanted to post a report on our fishing trip last Sunday 4-9-06 so that people like me had some customer feedback on the fishing in the DR. We started the day by being picked up at our hotel at 7:30 am and our driver was early, waiting on us when we got to lobby. After a short ride to the charter office we got all of the paper work out of the way and we were off. To give you a little background I live in Alabama and billfish quite abit out of Orange Beach and Destin and have also worked as a deckhand on various boats during school summer vactions, so I had a good idea what to expect and a firm grasp on how thing should be done. Saying that our trip was great. We cleared the reef around 8:30, in just about 15 or 20 minutes lines were in and we stared pulling baits about 3 miles offshore, the shotgun line went crazy and then a small blue marlin was hooked and the fight was on, in the DR they fish with light line and even lighter drags so the batt! le was epic. After about an hour and half we managed to get a hand on the leader (a legal catch) and as soon as the fish felt the pressure it went crazy and then just like it was posted in fishing report section the fish released itself. Now I'm feeling good and would have been happy with the day but it only got better. We then caught a couple of single dolphins (mahi-mahi),five minutes later we a double header of dolphin and then after getting those in the boat we had triple header of dolphin. Again I would have been happy if the day had ended there but it didn't. An hour or two passed when the right outrigger poped, we hooked a white marlin, the fish showed itself one time with an acrobatic jump and threw the hooks. About an hour later was when we hooked the second white and this time I was stoked because now we had a good hook set and I fought the fish for about 40 minutes or so again light line, lighter drag makes it all the more fun, we released that fish and I told t! he Cappy it's been a great day let's start heading back to the! beach. But he, like me, remembered you don't leave a good bite, so we stayed around alittle longer and pickup up a couple more dolphins and it was time to hang'em up. Man o Man what a day!!! Our captain and mate were great and very personable and it was a great great day on the water.

Jake Walker/Alabama

[Mike Fisher]

this is the white Marlin season update for tuesday april 11th, afternoon ride.
Charter client Philip Heilpern, sheduled for 4 consecutive half day charters, had a great start on the first one this afternoon.
after heavy but short early morning rainfalls sea was calm this afternoon, charter boat Intrepido, a 42ft Post run by skipper Jose Manuel Mota, left port 1:30PM and run into great action during the hour 2-3PM.
first they got up a double of Sailfishes, they failed one but hooked the second on a 25lbs line, fish had around 40-45 lbs and has been released unharmed after the fight.
while bringing the lines out after the sail fight right away they got hit by a white marlin, hooked on a 30lbs line, the 60lbs fish also been released unharmed after his nice fight.
i'll keep you up to date with reports on our white marlin season.
it's always worth the time to check on the world wide fishing guide and follow up with Mike's Marina Fishing Charters S.A.
good luck
Mike

[Mike Fisher]

fishing Report update for Mike's Marina, dominican east coast out of Punta Cana.
Saturday, May 13th
Charter boat Altamar, our 40ft Searay, run by Skipper Luis Alberto Caridad with his mate Alberto Rodriguez cleared reef 8:30AM that quiet sunny saturday morning, trolling the area Bavaro-Arena Gorda for white Marlin and dolphin fish, sea level 0ft and winds close to 0 knots offered the perfect visibility conditions for anything floating on the surface, but mostly they stood on slow trolling of around 6 knots by strong current lines, present all over just 2-4 nmls off the Punta Cana coast.
just one day after the full moon the skipper didn't aspect big white marlin activities, so he took his chances with any baitfish activity promising dorados(mahi mahi) and did it just right.
the boat been chartered by Andrew Burt and friends, 6 at all, and they took one nice sized Dorado after the other, brought in the bigger ones, a dozen with 25-40lbs each, nice fights on 20lbs lines, so it doesn't has to have a sword in it's face always.
keep in touch and tight lines
Mike

[Mike Fisher]

let's stay on Saturday May 13th
what a lovely day, after Searay Altamar reporting one dorado after the other, one bigger than the other, Skipper Jose Manuel Mota said to himself 'we are in white marlin season, so we fish for white marlin, to hell with the moon phase'.
with the sea level close to 0 ft and no winds present he cleared reef close to 9:00AM, a bit late that day because clients took the wrong bus, but after that day they knew they've been on the right charter boat with Mike's Marina Fishing charters.
mate Franklin Johansi Recio took care of it's clients wellfare, like always, 6 charter clients for the full day, Dennis Wallace and friends, a group of 6 friends, served them the fresh caribbean fruits for on board breakfast, of course first all lines wet, so Jose Manuel took off the coast and run south to the area in front of Punta Cana's International airport, to run a fast trolling on 12+knots against all bad moon phase conditions in the area 10-14nmls off the coast. the result for that lovely sunny saturday was an amazing one. out of 8 received white marlin hits the group of overwhelmed charter clients had to fight 5 white marlins and fought them all to the end, each hook set just right that day.
after the 2nd one been hooked Jose Manuel called me from the board phone to tell me i should burn my fishing reports which include moon phases, after he called me over radio to inform me about hit number 8 that day i've been very close to start a campfire.
you can write down experiences over a lifetime period, but then there's the fish and his behavior, that what makes the big game hunt what it is, the best men can get, and always full of surprises, it does not matter how long you're on the job.
pics of the jumping and fighting whities will follow in a couple of days, they've been taken by Dennis Wallace who promised to pass them over after his vacations on our fishing paradise island.
to be continued
tight lines
Mike

[Mike Fisher]

let's stay on Saturday May 13th
what a lovely day, after Searay Altamar reporting one dorado after the other, one bigger than the other, Skipper Jose Manuel Mota said to himself 'we are in white marlin season, so we fish for white marlin, to hell with the moon phase'.
with the sea level close to 0 ft and no winds present he cleared reef close to 9:00AM, a bit late that day because clients took the wrong bus, but after that day they knew they've been on the right charter boat with Mike's Marina Fishing charters.
mate Franklin Johansi Recio took care of it's clients wellfare, like always, 6 charter clients for the full day, Dennis Wallace and friends, a group of 6 friends, served them the fresh caribbean fruits for on board breakfast, of course first all lines wet, so Jose Manuel took off the coast and run south to the area in front of Punta Cana's International airport, to run a fast trolling on 12+knots against all bad moon phase conditions in the area 10-14nmls off the coast. the result for that lovely sunny saturday was an amazing one. out of 8 received white marlin hits the group of overwhelmed charter clients had to fight 5 white marlins and fought them all to the end, each hook set just right that day.
after the 2nd one been hooked Jose Manuel called me from the board phone to tell me i should burn my fishing reports which include moon phases, after he called me over radio to inform me about hit number 8 that day i've been very close to start a campfire.
you can write down experiences over a lifetime period, but then there's the fish and his behavior, that what makes the big game hunt what it is, the best men can get, and always full of surprises, it does not matter how long you're on the job.
pics of the jumping and fighting whities will follow in a couple of days, they've been taken by Dennis Wallace who promised to pass them over after his vacations on our fishing paradise island.
to be continued
tight lines
Mike

[Mike Fisher]

we're still on perfect quiet sea conditions for our locals, sea 1ft, winds close to 0 knots, ocean flat like a lagoon.
clearing reef 8:30AM that morning with 3 charter clients in our 31ft Bertram we found a weedline just 1/2 nml off the coast, following her for a while and found a dorado school about 2nmls offshore, where we took 5 of them, nice sized 15-25lbs each.
leaving the weed line, looking for something floating or a current line aso not even 40 minutes later we got hit by a white Marlin Double, 1 hooked one left, fighting stand up on 30lbs tackle for 20 minutes we released the 50+lbs unharmed. lines wet we started trolling for more whites, recognizing good baitfish activities in the area around 4nmls offshore, we got 7 more dorados, 1 tripple, 1 double, 2 singles when the action started again shortly before we have to head backwards, charter was sheduled for just 4hrs, an other white Marlin double hit, again we hooked one and lost one, fight took only max 15 min. before we released a small max.40lbs. heading backwards with 5 lines wet to pass again the weedline from early morning we got right away an other white marlin hit, this time a single on the 20lbs center line, and he brought us the fight of this lovely sunday morning, 40 minutes stand up before we released a 70lbs white marlin, running in to cover some of the lost time for the late fight.
tight lines
Mike

[Mike Fisher]

local waters still calm, no waves, no winds, no nice predictions for the upcoming 2006 Hurricane season, but perfect conditions for our mid. white Marlin Season, running on the favored moon phase on the dark side of the moon, a Waning Crescent on 8%.
42ft Intrepido cleared reef 8:30AM with charter client Hollie Hall and friends for an 8hrs out of Punta Cana's local waters.
charter captain Manuel Mota found only poor action before noon, they took a couple of minor dorados, sized 10-20lbs, but then the movements changed rapidly after he found nice baitfish activities in the 8nmls area off the coast. within a couple of hours the charter received 7 white marlin single hits, clients failed to set a hook on the first five, but then they did it right on the last 2 Marlins and got their fights for 2 white Marlins in the 50-60lbs class. together with a couple more of dorados even with 5 missed hits at first a great day on sea at the end with the aspected fishing action.
good luck to all
Mike

[Mike Fisher]

hanging out with my buddies for some couple of cold beers Friday night the nightmare came true, cell rings and the charter group for Saturday morning canceld their trip at a time when i could book 3 more charter boats a day if i had them.
the decision was done within a few minutes, we'll take the boat for our own fishing trip.
after slipping $20.- to the man in charge at the local Marine's station we cleared reef 7:00AM sharp, regular time to run out would be 8:30AM.
sea still flat, no waves, no winds, the beautiful conditions we have since two weeks now, i moved 20 minutes offshore to bring all the local lobster traps behind us, so a 5-6nmls out i left the fly bridge at the hands of Gerhard, a friend from austria, it was his first day in Blue Water, to rigg some baits and get the lines wet. my second buddy Ralf, a german guy is an experienced salty, he operated his own charter boat at the north coast a couple of years ago. 5 lines wet for the first 90 minutes we saw absolutely nothing, no weedlines, no currents, nothing floating, very poor baitfish activities on the surface. to hell with it, beer cooler was full, a lovely sunny day, no norgeling clients to take care of, we went outwards to cover the area 12-15nmls offshore, changing baits to ballyhoo combos to stand the higher speed, trolling on a 10-12 knots. close to 11:30 i saw the shaddow coming besides the center line's ballyhoo, my lucky rod i always keep with me on the bridge, the bastard took his first pieze and then came back for the rest of his lunch, a few seconds later the hook been set and we saw the beautiful jumps of an 50lbs Atlantic Sail, my two buddies shared the 25 minutes stand up fight on a 30lbs line, Ralf introducing Gerhard in the stuff i call the best men can get. i tosed the tired but unharmed sail a maybe 2-3 minutes with us in the water beside the boat until he seemed to calm down, and away i let him go to meet again on an other sunny day with maybe a few more pounds to fight. still no white Marlin hit in the middle of season on perfect conditions fishing my favorite dark side of the moon. Ralf starts getting lines wet and i start a trolling on a regular 8-10 knots pointing inward, because the regular crew had to run a charter on that boat, my 40ft Searay named Altamar, at 1:30PM that afternoon. second and last hit that morning we got in the shallow water right shortly before hitting the passage to cross the reef inwards while bringng in the lines, a Barracuda hooked himself on the line Gerhard was bringing in that moment, he had acceptable 25 lbs for beeing caught so close in front of the beach.
so at all not the big deal for a saturday morning, but at the end my newbie buddy got his first big fight of his life, and it was not something, it was a Sailfish , this time of the year unaspected in our local waters, and by the way he can say he set his first hook right, even when the Barracuda did it himself.
good luck to all
Mike

[mikefisher]

this Saturday morning june 3rd we made a great catch, even failing to release all caught Billfish.
Charter client Brad Gabriel and Family went out for a half day charter, just 4hrs, and Brad got tyred from realing in white Marlins.
sea on lovely 2ft, winds 5-7 knots east south east, skipper Alberto Rodriguez and his mate Franklin Johansi Recio cleared reef on sheduled 8:30AM, just a few minutes after our first quarter moon came out on 8:22AM at 80' in front of today used charter boat Intrepido, a 42ft Post. preparing lines only 2nmls offshore in front of the bavaro passage it took just 20 minutes before the first white marlin hit, hook set like on all hits this morning and Brad got his first fight on, it took him 25 minutes to get the 50lbs white Marlin beside the boat, where they released him unharmed, used reel was a penn international 30lbs. lines wet again it took an other 30 minutes and the second hit came up, different that time for several reasons: Alberto set the hook right away, but this time on a Penn international 20lbs and the white marlin had a 65lbs, showed all he could and fought for more than 90 minutes. sorrily the Marlin had his tongue badly damaged from the hook, so the crew decided he would not survive and gaffed him. now Brad was really tyred, lines wet again, boat position just 5 nmls off the coast that time, so they start a slower trolling inwards to maybe get some dorados for the 2 kids on board, anyways the 4hrs of a half day charter pass by fast when you get several hits. just 1 1/2 nmls in front of the Bavaro Passage heading inwards to cross the reef they got a third hit, again a white marlin, again the hook set right on first try, so Brad had to proof his strength again. this time the 50lbs white Marlin been hooked on a Penn international 30lbs with a 50lbs tested line on, after 15-20 minutes he was beside the boat and again we got a injured Billfish we could not release today, hook been set right through the eye of the fish, again they had to use the gaff today.
at all a nice start for Punta Cana's weekend, on a 4hrs charter 3 white Marlin hits and all hooks set, looking forward what's coming up tomorrow morning.
Mike

[mikefisher]

Charter Clients Travis and Holly Johnson sent the following e-mail to add to their fishing report:
Hey Mike! First of all, let me say what a wonderful and great experience we had fishing with your crew at Mike's Marina! Our Captain, Manuel, and First Mate, Franklin, were absolutely perfect to fish with. I don't regret booking our charter with them and you guys! We had the time of our lives! It will be one of the most remembered experiences of our honeymoon!
If we had thought when we ended our day and your crew asked us if we wanted our pictures taken, we would have. Especially now after reading the May 24 fishing report on your website! We might have had our picture on that report! We were just so exausted after the full day of fishing we weren't even thinking. So, with that in mind, could I send you some pics that we have from the charter that day, and could you post them along with the report also?
local waters still calm, no waves, no winds, no nice predictions for the upcoming 2006 Hurricane season, but perfect conditions for our mid. white Marlin Season, running on the favored moon phase on the dark side of the moon, a Waning Crescent on 8%.
42ft Intrepido cleared reef 8:30AM with charter clients Travis and Hollie Johnson for an 8hrs out of Punta Cana's local waters on their Honeymoon.
charter captain Manuel Mota found only poor action before noon, they took a couple of minor dorados, sized 10-20lbs, but then the movements changed rapidly after he found nice baitfish activities in the 8nmls area off the coast. within a couple of hours the charter received 7 white marlin single hits, failed to set a hook on the first five, but then they did it right on the last 2 Marlins and got their fights for 2 white Marlins in the 50-60lbs class. together with a couple more of dorados even with 5 missed hits at first a great day on sea at the end with the expected fishing action.
good luck to all
Mike

[Mike Fisher]

Even trolling for Marlins not everything coming up on a Kona Head has a Bill.

This week 31ft Bertram run by Skipper Carlos Manuel took a 10nmls offshore Punta Cana a hit by a big Thresher Shark, fighting over 3 hrs on a Penn International 80lbs bringing in a weight of 485 lbs.

congrats to the beautiful accident of the season.

Mike

[Mike Fisher]

Friday june 23rd
Moon a Waning Crescent on 4%, winds on 8knots, Sea flat after heavy nighttime rainfalls, Ron Szotak went out for a half day charter of 4hrs on our 42ft Bertram Shekinah with skipper Jose Manuel Mota.
while lines been wet just 25 minutes after they cleared the reef, Jose found the right bait activities only 4-6 nmls offshore the Bavaro Beach area running in a white Marlin double at first. one missed and one hooked the first fight on 30lbs Penn tackle was on. after a 25 minutes they released a 50+lbs Marlin to meet again next season. it took one more hour in the same area to get the next hit, a white Marlin single, hook set and the fight took 30 minutes with a 30lbs line on a 20lbs penn international, sorrily the fishes tongue got badly damaged during the fight, so the gaff came out for a 60lbs on the BBQ. 30 minutes later they brought whitey number 4 up for for that morning, hook set, again a 60+lbs white Marlin, this time on a 50lbs tackle, he took the only Kona Head in the water beside the Ballyhoos on all other lines, the fight took 20 minutes and the Marlin been released unharmed to go on breeding.
i hope i get the pictures from Ron this weekend to add them to the report.
good luck to all
Mike

[Mike Fisher]

Fishing in Punta Cana, by Mike's Marina Fishing Charters S.A.

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I finally got my first marlin caught on one of Mikes boats from www.MikesMarina.info ...yea i got sea sick...for the first time ever but it was deff worth it.
It was a great trip...we also caught 2 dolphins and 2 small barracudas...i was sleeping on the deck it was bad...i hate sleeping on a boat im there to be fishing not sleeping but i was done and had no choice...i heard the mate say mahi mahi twice and i was like no way am i getting up for that i want a marlin...as soon as i heard marlin i jumped up and grabbed the rod right out of the mates hand...it was great ill post more piks

Nick, from the Patty Lee