Blue Marlin Fishing Madeira Ultimate Marlin Destination

What a great top captain; the first day we hooked up with a 750lb Blue Marlin. Imagine our surprise when 3 hours later we had another one on which if landed was estimated around the magic 1000lb mark. A big thank you all for two fantastic days.

I went on the 4 day fishing trip to Maderia. Managed to catch my first white Marlin and dorado which was great. Boat was well equipped and comfortable, crew knowledgeable and helpful. Hotel was a bit more up-market than I was expecting and the grounds and setting were beautiful and tranquil. I did not realise how good the hotel golf course was; spectacular views and well maintained. Wish I had arranged to stay an extra day for a round of golf! I hope to go again someday and hopefully catch something a little larger.

Meals were fantastic as was the service the best we have ever
experienced.

Location peaceful and gardens immaculate lovely golf course.

Four days fishing resulted in three small dorado one tuna two white marlin ..with one complete blank day

We saw Dolphins common and spotted - whales - minke fin and sperm most days.

All in all it is an excellent trip but the fish are hard to come by as Peter had informed us..but it's the chance of a big blue ...a fish of a lifetime....that is the luck of the draw and that's why it's fishing not catching.

Costa Rica spoiled us In comparison with the amount of fish.

We had the most amazing week and came home thinking we had been a way for much longer. The accommodation, food, was to a very high standard and service was excellent.

The arrangements such as transfers were all as planned

The setting with the adjacent golf course and gardens was prefect for a stroll and although not that far from Funchal seamed a world a away from the hustle of the city.

Overall our expectations were superseded.

The only downside was Manchester airport and the endless waiting in queues.

7 marlin in 3 days 6 white to 60lbs 1 blue 250lbs great fishing loved the boat with a great crew.

The hotel was lovely in every way.

The staff and food were great and the weather was just perfect. Although the hotel is a 15 minute trip from downtown Funchal, the hotel has it's own courtesy bus which makes life easy.

Although we are seasoned travellers we can't think that we have had better service from hotel staff anywhere.

The fishing was good with my friend Colin catching an 80lb white marlin and I caught a 300lb blue marlin.

All in all a fantastic trip.

Perfect holiday, now we can both enjoy our holidays as it suited us both. PS I did manage to slip out a 650lb Blue Marlin that made it that extra little special.

Casa Velha do Palherio offers a fantastic stay with excellent service from friendly staff. The location is within the Palherio Estate next to the golf course and gardens which offers a very peaceful and tranquil setting. The hotel has a good first rate restaurant offering a set or A la Carte menu. This is our second year and our intent is to book again for 2016 and would highly recommend a stay.

The hotel boat the Balancal offers fishing straight out from the harbour so no long distance travelling to the fishing grounds is required, so an early morning start is not required. The boat offers a good stable platform with excellent gear which is a bit over the top for the smaller species but the boat does carry some lighter gear which is used when the smaller species are about. This year we had slightly different weather with some cloud and haze and a wind from the South East which restricted the fishing to the South West end of the Island and it was clear on arrival that fish had been thin on the ground for some time. as well as some small Dorado over the three days fishing we had two hits. The first on the first day resulting in a 70lb White giving a spectacular air borne display even on the heavy gear. The second hit was on the third day as we had a fishless second day. A 1 hour 45 minute fight from the second hit saw a massive Blue at the boat and the weight was called at 900lb. A fish of a life time.

Booking for next year - six days over two years and seven Whites and two Blues.

Had 2 days fishing on Balancal in Madeira. The weather was lovely and the seas calm. On day one we had a strike on the big lure on the starboard side and the marlin missed but came up again on the shotgun lure. Unfortunately we did not get a hookup but had still had a nice day.
On day two we had another strike from a good sized white marlin but again no hookup. So the fishing gods did not deliver this time but all in all we still had a good time. Saw lots of whales and dolphins.
The crew and equipment on the Balancal are first class and so is the hotel. Would definately go again.

The hotel was lovely; the staff could not have been more helpful, everything beautifully clean. Food was amazing and so much! Expect to put on weight.

Lots of lovely extras such as afternoon tea, roses on the pillow at night, the bar staff were great and drinks not too pricey, the cocktails very drinkable.

Cannot fault anything at all.

Will be back as soon as we can

Hi, just thought we would let you know how our trip went. It didn't start off very well as easy jet lost our bags…….. Luckily they turned up at the hotel the following day. We had 3 days fishing and we didn't even see a fish but i guess that is fishing as we have all been fishing else where and know that sometimes things do not go to plan. The crew on the boat worked very hard for us but it just seemed like everything was against us.

The hotel was good and the food was spot on, a little quiet for us but i guess next time we will request somewhere a little busier

All in all once we got our luggage back it was a great holiday and thanks for putting it together at such short notice

We thought we would leave our feedback for future anglers. This really isn't the place to visit if you want lots of fish. We had 3 days fishing and saw one bill fish but that soon disappeared. The hotel was ok but there were better accommodation on the Island

I can see the potential in the place and have seen other reports on how good the fishing can be. Perhaps also look at offering other accommodation

I hope this helps other travellers to the Island

Well what can i say but a huge thank you for organising our 40th wedding anniversary. The flowers in the Hotel room were a real touch. Gary managed his Marlin i think he said it was around 600lb's which he has assured me is a big one

The hotel staff were very warming and made us feel special. The Island itself is stunning a little steep in places but very picturesque many great restaurants

Our warmest gratitude to all that was involved

Mr and Mrs Taylor

People need to be made aware that they may not catch anything in Madeira as we didnt. We saved very hard for this trip and was highly disappointed with the fishing. After 3 days of floating around on the sea not catching or seeing anything we were very ready to come home

The hotel was more of a couples hotel which if your team had asked then we as a group of four guys would of opted for something different.

I think you should check with your future customers a bit more in detail their actual requirements of the holiday they are booking

Sorry if this sounds like a moan but i have just returned to work and thought i would air my grievances

Look forward to your reply

Madeira is a short flight and the accommodation and Island were excellent; very friendly staff and people.

Although I have fished for tuna and kingfish in NZ and also in Australia, this was my first experience of "big game" fishing using 130lb class tackle. I found this very unusual: rather like holding a broom handle instead of a rod.

Constant trolling of lures can be boring. I was surprised that other methods (eg live baiting) were not an option.

Unfortunately for the days I was there the fishing was very slow but all hell broke loose at 4pm on the second (and my last) day when a massive fish (the guide estimated that it was 800lb+) took one of the surface lures. Alas the fish wasn't landed as it slipped the hook after about 10 mins fight.

The guide was excellent and very informative. He was far more upset than I was at losing the fish!

I think I will return to the hotel for a further attempt at catching a marlin.

Dear Peter,

Apologies for the delay in my reply to your feedback request - Currently I am away on business in the middle east.

I would like to say firstly that the holiday was really well organised, the hotel was simply faultless and provided an excellent standard of dining with a relaxed atmosphere - Perfect.

The fishing guide Claudio was superb and he tried relentlessly to get us amongst the fish on the first day's fishing, unfortunately we didn't catch but sighted Marlin approaching the lures. Sadly the fish appeared to be spooked, possibly by unusual vibration on the boat - But that's fishing, and the lack of takes may have been for any number of reasons.

Sadly on the second day the craft broke down in harbour, this appeared to be a relatively simple fault (starter motor solenoid), which the Captain was aware of from a previous starting failure? Thankfully, Claudio saved the day and managed to call in a favour from a friend (who gave up a family day out) and got Steven and I out fishing on another vessel for most of the day. Again a sterling effort from Claudio who has both of our sincerest thanks.

All in all a nice trip, however with holiday time being extremely precious, I would question the reliability of the boat and the contingency planning for the fishing package.. without Claudio's efforts we would have lost 50% of our fishing time, which ultimately was the main aim of the trip.

Kind regards,

Matt Baugh

Sadly on this occasion we failed to catch but then that's fishing. We did raise a couple of White Marlin on the second day but they dropped the lure without being hooked up. I believe other boats had a similar problem with no marlin being caught while we were there.

The captain and crew tried everything in their power to put us on fish but sadly there were very few about. This may have been due to the lower than usual surface temperature, the wind had been in the North for some considerable time and prevented fishing around the Desertas due to increasingly choppy seas . However, the water temperature was on the rise so anybody fishing on the Thursday and Friday may have stood a better chance.

The organisation of the trip from start to finish was first class so I'd like to thank everybody involved. The hotel and their staff were brilliant. Even with no fish the hotel was incredibly relaxing and quiet and the food was excellent. The staff were probably the most helpful of any that I have experienced, anywhere in the world, and nothing was too much trouble.

If I could make one observation, it would be that a lack of air con did make the room a little stuffy (although very comfortable) but as this is an early 1800s hunting lodge I suspect that there may be issues around installing an air con system.

All in all, and in spite of no fish, this was a very well organised trip, wonderful accommodation and an excellent venue. I will certainly be looking forward to returning.

Chris

After the successful previous 2 years angling it was a bit of a disappointment that this year we did not see a single fish. This was just not the hotel boat the Balancal suffering, but the whole of the Funchal fleet. Even on the days not fished, no flags were seen on the boats to note any catches. So the highlight was Dolphin watching even with the crew trying their hardest to find a fish.
The water clarity was excellent, however the feedback was the water temperature 21 - 22 degrees which is a couple of degrees below the optimum for Marlin, so if there were any fish around, they were deep and not inclined to feed.
That's fishing - no guarantee. But over the three trips, Marlin catch rate is still pretty good, so will be probably booking again next year.
Casa Velhado Palheiro was excellent again and we would go back even without the fishing.

A real nice trip

Hotel was better than expected although a brochure/leaflet about it before travel would be excellent.

Food + drinks good + despite being 5 star was good value.

Voucher for meal a little confusing as I thought the evening meal when fishing was included, so was the voucher extra or that meal?

Easy Jet flights cramped as seats have no leg room.

Travel wallet gift nice but not needed - a fishing T-shirt would have been better.

Another excellent stay in Funchal, Madeira at Casa Velha do Palheiro Estate's Quinta or Manor House Hotel. 5 Stars does not do its justice. It is beautiful and it's gardens exquisite. Food at hotel excellent, staff very friendly and go out of their way to assist you. Third visit now, and they remember us each time.

Another relaxing stay at cash Velhia.

The food and service were excellent as usual

The fishing was a little too relaxing but I did hook a marlin late of the first day which was estimated around 800LB shame it came off as I did not get the chance to admire it up close.

I am sure we will return next year but this time for longer.

Best moments - hooking a 900 lb Marlin!!!!

Filmed and has appeared on your website & on youtube with 2000plus hits!

Hotel Palheiro wonderful 5* hotel with 5* cuisine + service also offering golf on its own course as well as horse riding and free transport to & from Funchal from its 1500 feet above sea level.

We had a good holiday again in Madeira although the flight back home took 32 hours due to strong winds and the plane that should have picked us up could not land. In all fairness to Jet 2 they did find us a bed for the night and provide vouchers at the airport where some had to spend the night at the airport.

The fishing was generally poor for the whole fleet, there were 2 guys on the boat for three days before me and they did not see a fish. On my second day another boat had a 700lb blue which was the first since the 18th July for the whole fleet. On my last day the crew told me they were out for 4 hours the following day and they landed a 700lb Blue. thats fishing looking at their web site looks like the Marlin have been very thin over the end of July.

We had an absolute amazing time. We were not fortunate to hook onto a Marlin over the course of our three days fishing but that's why it's called fishing and not catching. Our guide Salamao Lopes on board the Balancal was an absolute gentleman from start to finish. You are dealing with a really good person and fisherman here so I'd advise to keep working with him into the future.

Waiting time in London Gatwick to Funchal & Dublin was longer than I would have hoped for. I was on one of the last flights out of gatwick and ended up being in the airport for around 8 hours. Not ideal after a lovely relaxing holiday.
My brothers flight from Lisbon to Toronto was missed due to a delay in Funchal and was not possible once he landed in Lisbon so that was unfortunate too but what can ya do.

Overall, we were very happy and I'll be in touch again in two years time to book another trip of a lifetime. Thanks for all your help.

Patrick

Excellent - Only comment hotel long way out of town - 30 Euro return - no bar near by!!

We managed to get a double hook up of 2 x 650lb Blue Marlin...... How lucky we landed. The deck hands and skipper worked so hard and is very rare to land two at the same time. Massive thanks Sportquest and boat team for making our dreams come true

Dear Sportquest

22/06/2019-01/07/2019

I know that marlin are far from easy to catch and those above 600lb, even more difficult!

On my two previous trips to Madeira I have dropped two whites and a blue before we had truely become acquainted. However, that all changed this year.

I arrived to find that my first day had been cancelled due to bad sea conditions and my second day was cut short due to an unseasonal storm coming in from the west.

The crew, Salamao and David, apologised profusely and offered to do extra hours and give another day to cover lost time. I can't praise these guys highly enough. They provided great effort and knowledge and looked after myself, as the angler, and my partner, as a passenger, fantastically well.

On the alternative day (to cover the cancellation) I hit two marlin, one of 750lb that shed the hook about 10m from the boat, and a real monster that was estimated at 900lb+ and fought for over 90 minutes, of which 30 minutes+ was at the back of the boat. There was some great greyhounding and a lot of water was displaced.

We had the leader three times but David was totally unable to bring the fish's head up. She just went side to side at the back of the boat. On one occassion almost pulling David through the game door. Unfortunatley all the side to side movement eventually wore through the hook link but we did see a truely huge tail and a pectoral fin longer than my arm!

On my second day of fishing I hooked and successfully released a 650lb fish. We released her very quickly as she was showning real signs of exhaustion and stress but she swam away strongly. Shortly after the release we had another take, this time from a fish of around 700lb, which ran long and hard before going straight down in 1000m+ of water. To avoid killing the fish the captain (Salamao) back down on her and I fought it slowly to bring her up a metre at a time. Unfortunately, she shed the hook before anybody touched the leader but at least she swam away strongly.

On my third day I had yet another fish (800lb) which fought well for about 45 minutes but really came into it own when David grabbed the leader. She really danced at the back of the boat and provided great photo opportunities!

This was a really great trip and the results were way past what I could have hoped for. Five marlin over 600lb hooked in three days is good by any standards. In addition, we had factored in enough time to enjoy the rest of the island, which is really beautiful, and managed to find a beer festival in Funchal (only the second one to be held on Madeira), which to any beer-loving fisherman was a truly awesome find after they've lost a day and a half fishing time.

Thanks to all the Sportquest Team, the hotel staff (very good hotel and food!) and of course the boat crew. They were truly great!

Chris Jones

Everything went smoothly, the flight, transfers, hotel and the fishing was 1st class. I think Sportquest have got it spot on and I can not fault them

Caught 2 Marlin on the first day and the first fish was estimated at 500kg and the second fish was 300kg

Great holiday as usual. The accommodation was superb and staff were as as polite and helpful as ever.

Sadly, storm Oscar caused severe disruption to the fishing over the previous weeks and the marlin were still way to the South. There was very little caught by any of the boats in the time we were on Madeira.

That said, we are still going back next year.

All good , but this was supposed to be a fishing holiday. Unfortunately the sea state was not favourable , we went outside the harbour for about an hour , but it was pointless fishing .
The crew offered the option that i could return next year and carry two days fishing forward which i accepted .

No complaints , just a bit disappointing. That's fishing !!

Ended up landing in Portugal for fuel on the flight back ,as the plane couldn't carry enough fuel to get back to Gatwick as it was crammed full, and wouldn't take off due to not enough head wind !!. work that one out !!

We have been to Madeira with Sportquest for the past 8 years and, whether we catch fish or not, it is always well planned and extremely relaxing.

We had a small problem this year, as the boat we usually use was sold by the hotel, but this was quickly remedied at quite short notice. By enabling us to keep the same crew, people we had built up a relationship with over the previous trips, we felt very comfortable on the new boat, as well as being sure of the crew's ability and knowledge.

Everyone at both Sportquest and in Madeira have always been very efficient and helpful but if I have one criticism, it is that I think the hotel could have given more notice of the boat sale and contacted people already booked on it. I found out because I'm friends with the crew so probably knew the situation before Sportquest. Given the many years that Sportquest had used the hotel and boat, this isn''''t great business practice.