bertram31.com

Just returned from the Tropic Star Lodge in Panama where I was the winner of the 9th annual Uncle Vic International Inviational. I took my son Capt. Brent and son in law Chuck. The lodge is better than ever and the marlin bite was off the charts. We fished 4 days with Capt. Alberto Alvarez and mate Jacob on the Tropic Star (the yellow boat) and caught 9 marlin - 8 blues and one black - plus some sails, dorado and tuna in just 4 days....only 3 boats fished for marlin Sunday thru Wed. and the 3 boats caught about 30 marlin....incredible, better than the high season.

I'm heading to the camp now and will elaborate when I get back.

UV

Good to hear you caught some fishes. I really missed TSL the last two years. Maybe next year. How was the weather?

uv
your killing me, glad you guys had a great time

UV, Thats great that you Won again.

i was just tellin my son jesse about the UVIs...seems with that score you have a lifetime lock.....oh.

all kidding aside that is truly an amazing few days. couldnt happen to a better guy.

Back from the camp where the little tropical thingy over SE LA is making the tide real high and some Panama rain.

Anyway, more on TSL. The weather is about the same as we had for several years there in June. A couple of torrential rain afternoons and nights but only one day where it rained most of the day. All the old time waiters are still there and just as friendly as ever. Albert Battoo (pro: bat-tow) from Trinidad is the dockmaster and a super nice guy. He's been thee a couple of years and said the past few weeks have been the best marlin bite he's ever seen there. So apparently the late August and early Sept. fishing - which is pretty new - is the real deal.

Bait - bonito - was easy to catch on the Zane Grey reef and most of the billfish were caught on it, altho we caught one 400# class blue on a red & black wide range Softhead. The bite would last about 2 or 3 hours and was so fast it was nuts....our first morning we caught bait then ran about 30 minutes, dropped the first rigged bonito and 10 seconds later a huge blue had it. Pretty much the same all week, when the bite was on all boats would hook up at once. Lost of sails too, but Capt. Alberto does not fool with them when the marlin are that thick. Last fish of the last day on my boat was a 350 or so blue that this 68 year old cancer-surviving Coonass fought to the death....he got tailwrapped and came up dead so we boated him and the village had a feast that night. Unfortunate, but one of the occupational hazards of being a blue marlin.

TSL is still running mostly DD 4-53s, so bring your ear plugs. They have one boat with John Deere 4 cyl. 150 hp motors that Carlos Alvaraz, the head of maintaince, is real happy with after about 1300 hours. Not so the Nannis which they have retired to a standby boat. The quote is they wound not even make good mooring bouy anchors as they would corrode away too fast. The one boat with Yanmars continues to perform well, but uses a little more fuel that they like. A new B31 is on the way from Texas to be rebuilt to TSL specs and powered with either 4-53s or maybe the Deeres. Maintaining 15 or 16 B31s in the middle of nowhere is a challenge, especially since most of the boats are run six days a week, 10 months a year.

Harv had kindly sent me some B31 license plate farames and I took several to the lodge and presented them to the owner, Terri Andrews, Carlos, the asst. manager Queena, and left another they plan to display at the lodge. Thanks, Harv! I wore one of the Greenport shirts one day and Queena literally tore it off my back to have it framed to hang in the lodge. Mike Ohlstein's UVI shirts were the usual hit. My acceptance speech as the UVI 9 winner was memorable.

The overall experience is on the same high level we have seen before, and in fact, I'd rate it a little higher due to the incredible marlin bite.

I will be back next year, and probably in late August.

UV

You've still got Vic!!!! Way to go!! That is quite a comeback tour!

Now that's the way to celebrate a birthday.
Did you get my present?

Mikey - if you sent it to my old office I have not been by there for a while....I'll try to pass by this week.

Yeah, if you guys coulda seen me two years ago, and even a year ago, you'da doubted I'd ever walk & talk again much less whup the crap outta 3 huge marleeeeens....can't kill bad grass.....

Oh yeah, and I lost one after a pretty long battle due to equipment bad luck....figure the odds of this one - marlin grabs live bait and greyhounds away across another line and the 50# line the fish is on manages to get jammed into the split ring on the swivel on the other line...edgewise...yeah, edgewise.....the mate was able to cut the split ring off and I got several wraps below that spot on the reel, but apparently the split ring had gotten caught below that and the line popped like a gunshot......it would probably take a half hour with split ring pliers to get the line into that slot.......oh well, marlin fishing is just eliminating as many ways to lose them as you can.

UV

UV,

Glad to have helped out!!

Vicroy wrote:..oh well, marlin fishing is just eliminating as many ways to lose them as you can.

UV

copied and saved to be used as if i thought it up myself.

Vic sent it to
2355 Drusilla Lane.
Correct?

That's my office, but I'ze Be'z reeee-tired so don't go near the place unless the rent is overdue. I'll pass by this week tho. I'm selling that building at the end of Sept. and the law firm is moving, so after that my house will be my address, 3131 Murphy Dr. Baton Rouge 70809.

Thanks, Mikey.

Anyone wanna see my daid marleeen, send me an email, royvictor@cox.net.

UV

Here's Uncle Vic's daid marleeen.....

Otay, Vic.
Put my office building on the market three months ago. Great time to try to sell Real estate, even if willing to hold short paper.
Pray if you got'em.

nice blue uv, congradulations

Way to go UV. The longest winning streak in major sports history continues....was there ever a doubt?

Garry

Thanks for the report UV.

Enjoyed our trip a few years ago and hope to make it back as soon as I get out of the current economic funk.

Still need to get my marlin.

Never a doubt, Hi Pockets. The marlin were thick as democrats in a welfare line.

The fish was nice & fresh when we got it in and it was well appreciated in the local indian village. The indians all gathered around, drums pounded, and they started to dance around the daid marleeeen. The chief stanted a soft chant and the rest of the indians picked it up....quietly at first, then louder and louder......"FIRST YOU MAKE A ROUX"......

UV

Congratulations UV. I was not totally surprised to hear of another UVI victory for you. Way to go. However, with such a string of victories, the inevitable question of performance enhancing drugs will arise. Do you have your testimony ready? If you need a good lawyer, I think I know one.......

Matt Holcomb
Surgeon General of the UVI (in absentia)

great fish....great photo. really....wonderful perspective. makes that marlin look like a submarine.