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Billfish on the Fly Text and Photos by Flip Pallot As the monstrous fish's attention is diverted from the teaser to the fly, the madness begins. A billfish expert shares how to enjoy the rush. he deck of the 38-foot sportfisherman heaved in every direction, and I felt more like a bucking bronco rider than a fly-fisherman. I watched as my angling companion, Sandy Moret, tried to deal with the same gyroscopic problems that were complicating my life at the moment. In the distant, no-so-steady horizon, the city of La Guaira, Venezuela, lay three jet hours and a time change away from home for Sandy and me. We were playing a totally different game than we normally played, and we were spending the first few innings just getting used to a radically moving playing field. Billfish Paradise La Guaira is known for its healthy populations of billfish and for its rough seas. Our introduction to La Guaira came as a result of a last-minute call from Herb Rosell at South Fishing in Miami and an opening at the Gi Gi fishing resort along Venezuela's Caribbean coast. After speaking with Herb, I called Sandy, who will rise to a fishing invitation every time. I've known Sandy for more than 20 years and have watched him progress from a very tentative largemouth bass angler to a master of the shimmering flats. He's a good guy to have along. Soon, the packing began--Sandy's at his home in the Florida Keys and mine in Central Florida. Equipment lists were faxed back and forth, passports dusted off, film purchased and in two separate parts of Florida, fly-tying marathons were launched. Before we knew it, we were standing at the ticket counter in the Miami Airport preparing to board our flight to Venezuela. On The Blue Now we were peering past the transom at ballyhoo teasers being dragged across some of the clearest, azure water on the planet. Our plan: was to catch white or blue marlin, sailfish or spearfish on 13-weight fly tackle, one fishing at a time, the other teasing billfish to within casting distance of the boat for the angler. This was not our first barbeque. Sandy and I had both experienced the billfish rush in other parts of the world, but never in a place like La Guaira, where the billfish menu is so varied. After dragging the teasers for less than 10 minutes, I watched as a very large dolphin fish ripped through the water 30 yards out to the side of the boat in toward the right short teaser. The dolphin fish latched onto the ballyhoo and began a run while I extracted the teaser rod from the cover-board and began to tease the fish to within Sandy's casting range. A great cast was made into the wind. As the fly landed, I jerked the teaser from the water and the dolphin fish immediately ate the fly, felt the hook and began to skip all across the Caribbean. As Sandy fought the dolphin fish closer to the boat, I could see that there were other dolphin fishes swimming alongside with the hooked fish. I pulled my rod from under the gunwale, stripped off 40 feet of line and sent a billfish fly into the water just ahead of Sandy's fish. Instantly I was hooked up, and we found ourselves smack in the middle of what we'd been dreaming about for weeks. Almost immediately after we had each landed and released our dolphin fish, our reverie was interrupted. This time there was screaming from the flying bridge, accompanied by hysterical gesturing toward the southeast and words in Spanish that neither of us had ever heard. A huge brown shape could be seen at the surface some 75 yards from the boat. The shape was actually larger by a good bit than the boat itself. It turned out to be an awesome first introduction to a whaleshark, which swam right up beside the transom--its tail and dorsal above water. The creature was so big and displaced so much water that we could actually hear it as it swam past the boat! Technique From The Teaser To The Fly Fish- fighting technique and the skilled use of the equipment account for about half of the entire equation. The employment of "angle of pressure," "direction of pressure" and "amount of pressure" are tools at the disposal of both the angler and the boat operator. For most folks, it's hard to imagine all that's involved in the catching of just about any billfish using a fly rod. To begin with, the presentation of the fly must be made at very close range, and it is bringing the fish into range that accounts for fully a third of the event. One generally accepted method is to troll hookless baits or lures that are attractive to fish in the area. In La Guaira, we pulled small fish called ballyhoo with soft-head chuggers rigged ahead of them to create noise and commotion. One ballyhoo teaser was trolled from the starboard outrigger and another was trolled from a teasing rod set in the port side cockpit rod holder. A larger soft-head teaser was trolled on a flat line off the transom of the boat. Once a billfish is attracted to a particular teaser, the remaining teasers are removed from the water or dropped back far enough so as to be out of the way and out of the area of awareness of the fish (remembering that often billfish are not alone even though only one fish may have been spotted). Normally, the billfish is allowed to bat the teaser several times with his bill. Often he is allowed to mouth the bait but never to swallow it. While the fish continues to try to eat the teaser, it and the fish are being drawn closer to the boat as the teaser is slowly but very surely being reeled into neutral, the fly is presented while the teaser is simultaneously jerked clear of the water and the fishing scene. If all goes as planned--and miraculously it often does--the fish's attention is transferred from the teaser to the fly in the process of which he is hooked..and then the madness really begins! Role Playing Through the years I have found myself in the role of angler, teaser and boat captain. In my memory, I find it impossible to discern which was the most exciting role. Each has its own degree of difficulty; each has its own degree of responsibility. What they all share is a common level of excitement (it's off the charts) and an equal rush of adrenaline. Regardless of the length of the battle with the fish, only seconds seem to pass in the mind's eye between the instant the billfish first rises to the teaser and the moment he is tagged and released. Fish-fighting technique and the skilled use of the equipment account for about half of the entire equation. The employment of "angle of pressure," "direction of pressure" and "amount of pressure" are tools at the disposal of both the angler and the boat operator. One cannot be successful without the participation of the other. The final half of the equation, as I see it or feel it, is being there with someone with whom you can enjoy sharing the rush, the responsibility, the sights, sounds, smells and the pain of a long day on the often high, tropical seas doing battle with fish that are fully capable of running 300 yards or more of backing off your reel. When you've regained that 300, the fish is often ready to run another 300 over the horizon. Billfishing is the crucible that fires fishing friendships turning them into relationships that last a lifetime. In La Guaira, Sandy and I added yet another shingle to the roof of our friendship...another memory to a list of many.