THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

Graeme Pullen, Black Jack on popper Despite it being Yellow Fin Tuna heaven and having unparalleled
shore fishing possibilities, my personal reason
for wanting to go there was its potentially large numbers of huge six gilled sharks which come in close
from deeper water surrounding the island after dark.
Still needing a fish topping 1,000 pounds to complete my bucket list project, and currently in my late
sixties, I recognised that this would be my last shot at placing that final tick on the list, and that come
what may, win or lose, I could finally get on with completing this book.
Not the easiest of places to get to. With all the entry consents, permits, and vetting required by both the
Ascension Government and the military to get on to the flight at RAF Brize Norton and off again at
Wideawake airstrip, it was a relief to exit the airbase, finally knowing that at last all the paper work
must have been in order, and that the outcome of the visit was finally down to Dave Devine, Graeme
Pullen, Kev McKie and myself. That was if all the other long range email arrangements regarding car
hire, accommodation and fishing had also gone according to plan, which, thankfully they had.
Because of the sheer quality of both, I'm going to look at the boat and shore fishing separately, starting
with the boats. There are limited offshore game fishing opportunities from big boats at big prices, and
there are far less expensive smaller part time local boats.
For my money, there is no comparison between the two. True, we are not comparing like with like in
terms of objectives. But having fished from both, I would gladly waive the comfort of the big game
boat for the sheer enjoyment, quality of fishing, and local knowledge of the smaller private inshore
boats, with the add on bonus of coming in at an absolute fraction of the cost.
We had two Americans staying at our digs, one of which was a Marlin boat owner and the other his
skipper based at Hawaii, looking to catch themselves that elusive 'grander' which Ascension is famous
for. Between them they caught four small white marlin and a couple of wahoo over the week. The only
grander they saw was the one leaving their wallets each day. Ouch!!.
404