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Gamefishing’s Wild Frontier
By BART MILLER
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Imagine a remote island in the south
Atlantic where commercial fishing
is not allowed. Now imagine the
aquatic food chain and predatory
fish that would thrive there. You’re
imagining Ascension Island. Formed by lava
from the diverging tectonic plates of Africa
and South America, Ascension is part of
the same Mid-Atlantic Ridge that connects
Iceland and the Azores. It’s also one of our
planet’s least explored billfish frontiers.
Ascension Island is so remote there’s never
been an indigenous human population.
At this point the island is British territory
and is a military outpost for both the United
States and England. There are currently
only two charter boats fishing Ascension.
German Captain Matthias Henningsen runs
one of them. I interviewed him recently
about big game fishing around the island.
MILLER: Give us an idea of how remote
Ascension Island is.
HENNINGSEN: Ascension is essentially
a tiny rock right in the middle of the
Atlantic. The nearest land is the island of
St. Helena about 800 miles away, or the
Brazilian or African coasts, which are
1,100 miles away.
MILLER: What is the fishery like?
HENNINGSEN: Fishing Ascension is
like fishing in Jurassic Park. The sea life
you find here is unreal – there’s a 200-
mile exclusion zone prohibiting commercial
fishing. Blue marlin, yellowfin tuna,
amberjack, mahi, mako sharks, sailfish,
swordfish and wahoo are all found here.
MILLER: When did you start fishing
Ascension?
HENNINGSEN: 2002. It’s still a dream
place for me to fish. Just the experience
to be one of the first captains to fish these
waters is very exciting. Every day you go
out you feel it could be “the day.”
MILLER: What are some of your bigger
fish?
HENNINGSEN: We have weighed
three blue marlin over 1,000 pounds in
Ascension over the last four seasons and
raised many more. All other fish have
been released. The other boat working
the island has also seen and hooked a few
“granders” [a marlin over 1,000 pounds],
but was only lucky enough to catch one.
One of my best days ever was when
we raised seven blue marlin in one day,
with five of them over 500 pounds. Tuna
fishing is incredible, too. There are days
when you see birds all over the place, and
everywhere there are 200-pound yellowfin
jumping around, boiling the water.
MILLER: What are some of the challenges
of fishing Ascension?
HENNINGSEN: The biggest challenge
is that there is only one other charter boat.
There’s no fleet to report active fish. We
share information, but there are so many
options for the fish. I know they are out
there somewhere, so I need 100 percent
concentration.
MILLER: Where are the marlin and
tuna coming from and where are they
going? How does the Ascension area fit
into the fish’s life cycle?
HENNINGSEN: I believe that a lot of
blue marlin travel on the Mid-Atlantic
Ridge, but we don’t know if the Ascension
fish travel to or come from Brazil or
Africa. It is without a doubt a place with a
lot of bait. Once a marlin finds this island
they definitely will stay some time to feed
on the enormous amount of food.
MILLER: What’s the best time of year
for big game fishing around Ascension?
HENNINGSEN: We find blue marlin
year around. You can have great weeks
of marlin fishing any time in the year,
but November through April seem to be
the peak months. These are the summer
months in the Southern Hemisphere.
MILLER: When you use live bait, how
many baits do you troll? How large are
the baits and what kind are they?
HENNINGSEN: My best month for
trolling live bait is November. We often
find school-size yellowfin on the surface
in the late afternoon. This is the time to
tow one or two of them around. An eight
to 10-pound yellowfin is my favorite bait
as they swim vigorously and live for a
long time. We always try to get two live
baits out: one on a downrigger at 40 feet,
and the other on the surface. I prefer that
my mate hold the line in his hand rather
than putting it in the rigger, as you can
feel the bait get nervous when the marlin
come near. When live baiting we use the
biggest circle hooks we can find.
MILLER: What about fishing with
artificials?
HENNINGSEN: November is the time
with the biggest fish. They often crash
the lure just once and are very hard to
tease all the way to the boat. I’ve seen and
heard too many stories of big fish merely
crashing the teaser. For that reason I do
not use teasers in November. Later in the
season I’ll fish three teasers and do more
bait-and-switch work. I fish three 130-
pound outfits, with lures that permit me
to use at least a size 12 hook. My shortest
lure is on the fourth wave, with baits on
the fifth and sixth wave as well. I tend to
fish single-hook rigs, with the hook sitting
as far behind the lure as possible. After
trial and error I have increased my drags
to 20 pounds. I am fishing with Black Bart
Lures and Hollowpoint Lures, with my favorite
being the Blue Breakfast, Kona Pro
Jet, Ascension Pro Jet and Super Plunger
from Black Bart and Super Magnum and
Buddha from Hollowpoint.
MILLER: Why single hooks?
HENNINGSEN: The hook-up ratio is
good. Ascension marlin are not as aggressive
as those around the Canary Islands
or Madeira. The single hook has 50
percent less chance of the fish getting bill
wrapped. I’d rather have the fish behind
the lure for some time and eventually get
a real bite than have him get bill wrapped
and pull the hook on the first run. Also,
a single hook is much safer for the mate
when he is removing hooks from the fish.
MILLER: How far off the island do you
run?
HENNINGSEN: You don’t have to run
far. The drop off of 300 feet starts between
half a mile and two miles off shore. We’re
catching most fish between 200 and 500
meters, but also in very deep water.
MILLER: Do you notice a difference
in fishing during tide changes, moon
phases, etc?
HENNINGSEN: After four seasons
I’ve found there are no rules for marlin
here. We have good fishing any time and
during any moon phase. We do find bites
concentrated at certain times of day, but
they vary.
MILLER: How’s the tuna fishing?
HENNINGSEN: When the big yellowfin
are in we catch them on lures pretty well.
They bite the big marlin lures but if somebody
really wants to target them I would
rather put out some bullet shape jet heads.
MILLER: I’ve heard you can catch
yellowfin from shore.
HENNINGSEN: It’s true; you can actually
wade and cast for 90-pound yellowfin
tuna from the beach. When the goggle
eyes are close to shore, predators like
jacks, amberjack, mahi, skipjacks and
even yellowfin chase them right up to the
beach. This happens mostly early morning
and in the early evenings. We catch them
with artificials like poppers and spoons.
I promise you, catching tuna from a boat
is one thing, but catching them from the
beach another. You have to chase them
along the shoreline and struggle to keep
them out of deep water.
MILLER: What is life like on the
island?
HENNINGSEN: Ascension’s population
is around 1,000 people at the moment:
about 100 Americans, 200 English and
700 St. Helenians. Everybody on the
island is employed either on the American
or British base. There is a great, friendly
atmosphere and I leave my apartment door
open all day.
MILLER: What kind of weather
should travelers expect there, and what
kind of clothing should they bring?
HENNINGSEN: You find a tropical,
warm climate year around, with temperatures
always between 22º and 30ºC (71ºF
and 86ºF). The southeast trade winds
average 10 to 15 knots, which cools things
down. You are fine with shorts, T-shirts
and in the winter months (June to November)
a sweatshirt. In four seasons we never
lost a day due to bad weather conditions.
Water temperature is from 25 to 28 (77°F
to 83°F) degrees Celsius year round.
MILLER: Ascension Island is very,
very remote. How do travelers get
there?
HENNINGSEN: The only way to get
there is to fly to England and take an
eight-hour direct flight. Book well ahead.
There are only 20 seats available for
civilians per military flight. You’ll need a
valid passport. Visitors are also required to
have full medical insurance that includes
medical evacuation in case of necessity.
Ascension has a tropical climate with
no malaria so there are no vaccinations
required. The accommodation reservations
can be organized through us.
For more information, visit www.atlanticfishingcharter.com for
Capt. Henningsen. Or, contact the Ascension
Island Board of Tourism at www.ascension-island.gov.ac/ascension.htm.
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