Lots of catching, top notch crew!

Let me start with Capt Alan Card and his son Ian are a fishing machine! They have been fishing so longand so well together that the communication between them is minimal. Each knows their jobs and what the other is going to do before it usually happens. Clean boat and the finest 130 Shimano Tiagra’s onboard. My wife Judy and I have fished my whole life in great venues such as Pt Judith RI, Cape Cod, Ocean City, MD, Jupiter Fl, Islamorada, FL, Marsh Harbor and Eleuthera Bahamas, and have been fortunate to have caiught Giant Tuina over 600ibs. However, what happen in three days of fishing with Alan and Ian were off the charts for us and memories that will last forever!

Day One started with a quick warmup with a 250lb release just 5-Miles offshore. Then later on in the day they hooked us up with an estimated 500iber that put on a show that is fixed in my mind.

Day Two we went 0-3 on 2-Blues and a White. The two Blues(different times) each came crashing into the spread and causing a huge disruption in the water grabbing the lure and jumping, only to have both get off (it happens).

Day Three was a slow starter with 4 1/2 hours of trolling and then while coming back off the Challenger Bank (the depth goes from 5000 ft up to 120 ft on this huge Seamount) the left rigger snapped off and the130 Shimano started screaming and dumping line at an amazing speed with the fish putting on a display before diving. We were able to get the fish up less than 100 ft from the boat twice only for the spool to be dumped again on close to 40 lbs of drag! Unfortunatley, this is where there is a somber moment when the fish last dove and dove and then just stayed straight up and down with no more runs. We knew at that moment this great fish was probably dead. The Captain did an unbelievable job raising this fish back up to the boat after exerting me to the max until we were able to float the grat fish to the top. Sad, but you fish long emough this stuff happens. We brought “her” on board and measured her and through a calculation were able to estimated her at 631lbs! (NOTE: The fish was cut up by Ian and distributed to islanders as well as Ian making smoked Marlin bites and Fish Dip. So, none was wasted.)

We totally recommend the Challenger and Bermuda for fishing. Most of the day we were in sight of land except on Day 3 when we went 20-Miles out to the furthest Seamount and back. Alan and Ian are warm, fun and inviting and have stories that most of us experiance fisherman could only dream of having. We chose not to on this trip, but the Yelow Fin Tuna bite up on the
Bank is also off the charts as we saw the action while trolling around the fleet. Thank You to my awesome wife Judy for booking this anniversary trip for us with the sole goal of trying to catch BIG Marlin ... GOAL ACCOMPLISHED!!!

Book the Challenger and you won’t be disappointed!!!
Garry and Judy L.

The day was beautiful, but the water was ROUGH.  Captin and Ian still put us on fish. We ended up doing pretty well in the tough conditions. Outside of the fishing though( which again was awesome) they are amazing people. They had a taxi pick us up right from our cruise ship dock, they were warm and inviting and made us feel like old friends. After we docked and had taken our pictures, the captains gracious wife picked us up from the dock and took us back to the ship. A ride filled with wonderful conversation. I cant say it enough they are wonderful people. If you don’t have a great trip going out with them, it’s not them that was the problem.

They were very easy to book with and very communicable and comforting through the entire planning process.

Great fishing on the Challenger with awesome Mate and Captain.