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00:00On this week's World of Saltwater Fishing, we're taking a trip to the middle of the North Atlantic,
00:05and we're going to be off the Azores in search of some Major League Big Game fish.
00:10This is one exciting adventure you can't afford to miss.
00:13George Bovarumo's World of Saltwater Fishing, big fish don't stand a chance.
00:43The Azores are an archipelago forged from the fires of the Earth.
00:49They breached the water's surface around 10 million years ago.
00:53This chain of volcanic islands sits roughly about 1,000 miles off Portugal.
00:58I have yet to see the vivid colors of green and remarkable blues that I happen to witness in the Azores.
01:06The draw of the Azores for big game anglers is the migration of large blue marlin that come past these islands in the North Atlantic.
01:16And also, they have a big run of three different types of tuna, basically at the same time, which we're going to get into a little bit later.
01:23But on the very first day, it happened.
01:25Here comes a marlin up on one of the teasers and all heck broke loose.
01:29Get him, George.
01:32Stop.
01:32Stop.
01:33It's a marlin.
01:34Why?
01:35It's a marlin.
01:35It's a marlin.
01:36Gotcha.
01:37But hang on.
01:38First, I need to tell you how we got here.
01:44Terry Chen, a longtime friend of mine, he wanted me to join him in the Azores on a trip.
01:50So Azores Tourism actually reached out to us.
01:53They wanted us to come over and shoot a World of Saltwater Fishing to highlight the big game fishing opportunities off the Azores.
02:00But there was one little catch.
02:01We could not run on an American boat.
02:03They wanted to highlight, naturally, their captains.
02:06So this is where Diogo Pavia comes into play.
02:09He's one of the local pros here that has a long-standing history of catching all sorts of fish off the Azores, blue marlin included.
02:17So you look at the time frame, about three hours from Fort Lauderdale to JFK, New York.
02:23Then from there, we had an eight-hour layover.
02:26Then we boarded the SATA flight for about six and a half hours of flying time to Salo Miguel.
02:31So no need to tell you, we were all worn out.
02:35And our tour guide met us, and we couldn't wait to get to the hotel and catch up on some sleep.
02:39But oh no, tourism had other plans for us.
02:48Okay, it's 8 a.m. Azores time.
02:51And we're about ready to hit the ground running.
02:53The tour guide said, come on, we've got one full day, and we've got another one.
02:57So let's get going.
02:58So we had no say in that matter.
03:01The topography here is really amazing because you could go all the way high up, all the way low down to the coast.
03:08And the weather conditions actually change when you're there, from the heavy mist to bright sunshine and a crisp wind down by the coast.
03:17But the sheer beauty, if somebody blindfolded you and took you to the top of Salo Miguel and took the blindfold off and said, where are we?
03:24You might guess the mountains of Tennessee or North Carolina.
03:27A short drive later, we enter this forest, remarkable green forest with all these big old trees.
03:37It's a forest that looks like what you would read as fairy tales in kindergarten.
03:42It's just really remarkable.
03:44As the drive progressed, it became very obvious that every stretch of roadway, walkway, side streets was lushly landscaped.
03:52And they had this flower over there, hydrangea, which is a remarkably beautiful flower, big, lush, and has all sorts of vibrant colors.
04:02And everywhere you go, you see this landscape here.
04:06It's remarkable.
04:07You need to really see this to appreciate it.
04:09And if you're into gardening, by any stretch of your imagination, and you were over here, you'd think you died and went to heaven.
04:20The calderas.
04:21So now you have volcanoes that built this whole environment here.
04:29When they collapse and end their life cycle, a lot of them just form these huge freshwater lakes.
04:35And the color is amazing.
04:36You're looking at clear, turquoise-hued waters in here.
04:40And from what I understand, they even have freshwater fish.
04:42So here you are in the middle of the North Atlantic, open ocean, then you get on these islands like San Miguel, and they have freshwater lakes there, too.
04:51So you want to talk about a highly diverse environment, it's the Azores.
04:55These are memories that are going to last a lifetime.
04:58So certain parts, certain pieces of beauty, you know, you have to get the whole entire crew.
05:03We've got to get together and take some photo albums.
05:06For you young ones out there that don't know what a photo album is, ask your parents.
05:10At the end of that day, we were totally exhausted.
05:13But what a remarkable tour it was.
05:15I couldn't wait to get back to the hotel, get a nice shower, get a real good night's sleep.
05:20But hang in there, because a lot more activity and a lot of fishing action is yet to come.
05:24So stay with us.
05:26George Poveromo's World of Saltwater Fishing is proudly brought to you by Penn.
05:30Let the battle begin.
05:32Mako.
05:33You'll find them where the fish are.
05:35Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's.
05:37Your adventure starts here.
05:38Mercury Marine, go boldly.
05:41George, we'll be right back.
05:44We're just a few hours asleep.
05:46The team and I are ready to head out for day two of exploring Sao Miguel Island in the Azores.
05:53Eight o'clock the next morning, we go down for a cup of coffee.
05:56And who is in the lobby area with a big smile?
05:59Raphael Arturo got it.
06:00He said, let's go.
06:01When he says eight o'clock wheels up, eight o'clock wheels up.
06:04It was time to jump in the car and yet see more beauty around the Azores, Sao Miguel, more specifically.
06:15After a short drive, Raphael took us to these volcanic hot springs.
06:20Now, this is an area that you just see a lot of steam coming up from the ground.
06:24And people actually cook their food in these hot springs.
06:27I'm watching people put food in pots into these sulfur hot springs for a period of time.
06:33And then I learned that a lot of the local restaurants will specialize in having your food cooked in these sulfur pits.
06:40And then when it's all done, I'll bring that food up and then serve it.
06:43It's pretty remarkable because you're cooking with Mother Nature right here.
06:48Sulfur pits.
06:49No additives, no preservatives.
06:51Could you get more natural than that?
06:52I don't know.
06:53So after the hot springs, we had a truck here that served piña coladas right on site.
07:01So I figured it has to be good.
07:03We're not driving.
07:03Raphael is.
07:04So we might as well enjoy some of the local piña coladas here.
07:08But to my surprise is they don't use rum here.
07:12A piña colada with vodka.
07:14Whatever happened on Papa's Plot rum.
07:16I don't know if I really enjoyed that vodka piña colada.
07:24So when I thought we basically saw everything at the first volcanic hot springs,
07:30Raphael takes us to yet a much larger area where you look around.
07:34Everywhere you turn, just large puddles of bubbling, smoking, steaming sulfur pits.
07:41Basically, the middle of the earth just setting all that hot, bubbling sulfur water up.
07:45It's nature.
07:46It's volcanic activity, basically.
07:49So as the tour progressed, the hot springs continued.
07:54But Raphael took us to a version that was salt water.
07:57There was actually these salt water little coves that were heated by the volcanic waters and heat coming up.
08:06And people are out there swimming in these coves, all volcanic rock around.
08:10And that water is actually hot.
08:12Can you imagine that?
08:13Swimming in coves of hot volcanic water.
08:16Another beautiful point I need to make and actually show you was this one horseshoe-like area or environment
08:38that had a remarkably beautiful waterfall coming down.
08:42And again, here you are in the middle of North Atlantic, and you don't really think waterfalls are out here.
08:47You're thinking someplace in the U.S. up in the mountains.
08:50But here you are, a totally different environment, and just taking in the waterfall
08:54and those little nice-looking homes and everything else around there,
08:58just another look at Sal Miguel and the Azores.
09:01And did you know that the Azores are known for their tea?
09:04We took a tour of the Goriana Tea Factory, just acres upon acres of tea.
09:09And of course, I had strict orders from my wife and a couple of my daughters
09:13that don't come back to the U.S. without buying some Goriana tea.
09:17So that's exactly what I did.
09:19So the tour of Sal Miguel ended in the city where we walked around, taking in all the sights and sounds.
09:26We didn't have much time there because we had a board of flight to Fayelle.
09:31I'll tell you what, a lot of seat time on this trip.
09:33We're getting that much closer to going fishing.
09:36George, we're just sat on Stanford.
09:40Superior Atlantic, tuna angling, one version of it.
09:44We land in Fayelle.
09:45Now we end up in Hortup, and it's 10 p.m. at night.
09:49Just enough time to meet our captain, dispatch our gear, put it all together,
09:53and get ready to start first thing in the morning.
09:55It's time to go fishing and see how our luck would hold up.
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10:25George Poveromo's World of Saltwater Fishing is proudly brought to you by
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10:44George, we'll be right back.
10:48With enough sightseeing to last a lifetime,
10:51we're chomping at the bit to get out on the ocean.
10:54We are now in Horta on Fjell Island.
10:57So that morning, we bring all the gear down,
11:00and we meet our captain, Diogo Pavia.
11:02And he told me about all the unique fisheries they have,
11:05even though blue marlin is the big target.
11:07So here we go.
11:08The real reason that we're here is to have our shot at trying to catch a blue marlin in these waters.
11:15Unfortunately, a couple days before we flew on this trip, the bite had turned off.
11:21Fishing is fishing.
11:22When you hit it, when these fish are migrating through, you get a home run.
11:26And when the fish aren't migrating through, then it becomes, you know, a dicey proposition.
11:31You're going to have to rely on a lot of luck at that stage of the game.
11:34And we had gone out.
11:36And we had Andrea working the cockpit with a really good crew.
11:39Diogo was up there on top.
11:42And put a full spread of lures out.
11:44They organized a really attractive spread.
11:46We had teasers.
11:47The marlin lures were just pretty much churning in there.
11:50And everything was really looking good.
11:52It was, you know, time now to hook a marlin.
11:55Well, what happened?
11:56A marlin on day one of our fishing came up on that teaser right behind it, right behind it.
12:00Go, George.
12:03Stop.
12:04It's a marlin.
12:06All right.
12:06It's a marlin.
12:06It's a marlin.
12:07Gotcha.
12:08Yeah.
12:09You want me to tease, drop back, or what?
12:11Do you see it there?
12:12No.
12:14And everybody just a totally different mindset.
12:17We're watching.
12:17We're trying to get another bait up in place to move that marlin off the teaser and over to a lure.
12:23And that marlin was on that teaser, took one half-hearted, a little swing at it,
12:27and never, ever looked at another bait that we had brought up.
12:30And we tried everything, circled around several times and never had another shot at bringing that marlin up.
12:35So with more of a window shopper, came up, looked at a teaser, and whoa, that was it.
12:40I thought we're going to get on the board early.
12:42And that's how day one of fishing ended.
12:44We raised one blue marlin and didn't see another fish.
12:47Day two, the baits go back out.
12:58Everything is really looking remarkable.
13:01So we're trolling.
13:02What happened the previous day, it was an afternoon bite where we raised the fish on the teaser.
13:07So it was the afternoon, and here comes a marlin.
13:10Comes up behind one of the lures and just half-hearted whacked it.
13:15Oh, it's left, left, left, left.
13:16Oh, it's this side.
13:18Left lock, left lock.
13:20So we reeled up really quickly, trying to tease the marlin back for a strike,
13:25raced over to the lure on the other side of the boat, halfway hit that, not aggressively,
13:31and we tried everything, trying to tease this fish up again, and it never, ever came back.
13:36And never saw fish the rest of the afternoon.
13:38So now time is drawn short here.
13:41We're here to do a fishing show.
13:43Without a fish, you know, as much remarkable beauty the Azores have, we can't do a show unless we catch a fish.
13:50So the pressure is starting to mount.
13:52It's a long way to go and not catch a fish and not get a show.
13:55What would we replace this show with?
13:57A Biscayne Bay Seatrout show?
13:59It was in the cards at that point in time of this trip.
14:02So day three, here we go, dreadfully slow, a big goose egg, okay, a big zero, nothing.
14:12The cameras did not even come out of their cases.
14:15We got one more day after this one, and without a fish on day four, you know, you won't be seeing this program.
14:22The Azores encompass all colors of the spectrum, from cobalt blue to the most vibrant evergreen waters.
14:31The big draw here, fishing-wise, is the annual migration of large blue marlin, some approaching and breaking 1,000 pounds.
14:40However, their yet-to-be-tapped fishery are the tunas.
14:44Often, yellowfin, bluefin, and big-eye tunas are here all at the same time.
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14:59George Poveromo's World of Saltwater Fishing is proudly brought to you by the Florida Keys and Key West.
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15:24Day four.
15:25This is it.
15:26The last day in the Azores to try to get a fish for a show.
15:32We're focused on blue marlin.
15:33And Rob the Swede Green, my show producer, and I had a long talk with Diogo that morning and said,
15:39Diogo, we need a fish.
15:41We need to change something up.
15:43You know, if these marlin, if we can't raise a marlin or get a marlin, we have to do something.
15:48What about the tuna?
15:49It's one of the very few places in the world where you have three types of tuna in the waters, all at the same time, all large.
15:58We're talking yellowfin tuna, bluefin tuna, and big-eyed tuna.
16:03And Diogo says that the tuna are all over.
16:06You go to certain sides of the island, and you can find them over there, and, you know, they're all big.
16:11You know, we have Diogo's reputation to save.
16:14We've got the Azores Tourism who brought us over here.
16:18You know, it's hard to showcase an area when you don't have anything to showcase, but we're dragging.
16:22We're making it work.
16:23We spoke with Diogo.
16:24Diogo, he finally gave in.
16:27He said, okay, we're going to go for the tunas now.
16:29And when he rounded the island, and we look, and we see birds everywhere.
16:34It was like a totally different life zone here.
16:36Changed out a couple of lures in the spread, put more tuna-oriented lures in.
16:41And here we are.
16:42I guess it's 4 o'clock in the afternoon, somewhere in that time frame.
16:46We just start to drag through the birds.
16:48And then, bam!
16:54All right, I can hear you.
17:03So, I get in the chair.
17:05We have a big tuna now.
17:06And the question is, what type of tuna is it?
17:09But it just feels good to be in that chair, hooked up with a long-running fish.
17:13Okay, this game is not over yet.
17:16And it's going, it's going, and it's going.
17:23So, finally, the boat starts backing down, a reclaimed line.
17:27And we were on, definitely, the windward side of the island.
17:29And here we are, backing down into the sea.
17:32And we certainly did take a good saltwater bath on very frequent occasions on that.
17:41All right, Gainan.
17:42There he is.
17:50There he is.
17:50I see him.
18:00Yeah, I got you.
18:01I got you.
18:02I got you.
18:02Got you.
18:02Got you.
18:03Got you.
18:03Got you.
18:09Got it.
18:11Got it.
18:12No comment, they'll probably bleep it out anyway.
18:19All right, I'm coming out of the chair now if you want to get them out of it.
18:31Nice one.
18:32Wow, that's a good fish.
18:34That's a 200.
18:35I'm getting this headset off, I'm not driving a NASCAR car, I'm fishing.
18:41And I'm looking at this fish and now I'm just totally besides myself.
18:46Wow, not only is this a large big eye tuna, but here was the show.
18:51Right here was the show.
18:52And the celebration began and the time was out.
18:56We had to get back around to the marina so we didn't have much time to even put the baits back out and nail another one.
19:01But there's no doubt in my mind we would have crushed the tuna.
19:04Big eye tunas all year around, all year around.
19:07And huge ones like this one.
19:10And on this part of the year, we normally target for big blue marlins because they pass here too.
19:20But we do a lot of big eye tuna fishing all over the year.
19:27They're lifting this tuna out, moving it to the scale.
19:30We're sitting there watching.
19:32We're just feeling really good at this point in time that we definitely eked out a show.
19:37But in a big way.
19:38And when the tuna was weighed and scaled, it came in at 220 pounds.
19:44220 pound big eye tuna.
19:46Beat my previous big eye tuna, 215 pounds, caught off of Maryland.
19:50So a new personal best.
19:52So back at the dock that night, it was time to wash up and break down my pen reels and rods and get them ready for the trip.
19:59And they had the big guy.
20:01But I'll tell you what, it was remarkable to be fishing in North Atlantic to an unbelievable spot called the Azores, which are owned by Portugal.
20:09And I'll tell you, if we get that call from tourism again, we will definitely be back.
20:13And this time, we're going to make sure Diogo spends a lot of time on those tuna.
20:18Marlin, be damned.
20:20If you're a fan of our show, keep up with our adventures by following us on social media.
20:25I'm on Instagram at George Poveromo.
20:27And on Facebook, go to facebook.com forward slash George dot Poveromo.
20:32You can also watch our episodes at any time on YouTube at George Poveromo TV.
20:37We'll see you on the water.
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