Ascension Island

A tiny island, just 34 square miles in area and volcanic in origin,  Ascension is located in the South Atlantic mid-way between Angola and Northern Brazil.  It sits some 500 miles south of the Equator.

Politically the island is a dependency of its bigger ‘neighbour’ – St Helena – which is located 800 miles to the South East and is part of the Commonwealth.

The deserted island, initially discovered by the Portuguese in the 16th century, lacked a source of freshwater however and as such was not initially colonised.  That was until the British exiled Napoleon Bonaparte on St Helena in 1815.  To prevent any rescue attempt by the French they garrisoned a company of Marines, supported by a squadron of warships, in Ascension.

Now to the final part of the history lesson.   Given its strategic position between Africa and the Americas, US army engineers constructed a 15000’ runway on Ascension immediately after the 2nd World War.  This provided ready access to the island but also, importantly, a staging post for the Falkland Islands.

But how about its angling potential?  Well it was in the early 80’s, at the time of the Falklands War, that it first came to my attention.  A brief report appeared in the UK angling press describing soldiers catching masses of Tuna from landing craft, just offshore.  Part of their ‘R & R’.

But this really meant nothing because, unless you were in transit to either St Helena or the Falklands,  tourists weren’t permitted to land on Ascension.  It was, in effect, a closed military base.

However a Military Policeman - Tim Hook, one of our Club members – started patiently to explore its fishing potential, fishing either from the locals’ small open boats or its rugged shoreline.  Tim consistently caught Sharks, Yellowfin Tuna, Wahoo and Dorado often within less than a mile of shore.  In fact the Sharks could be caught from the shore!  But interestingly, usually when chunking for Tuna, he encountered Sailfish, Marlin and Broadbill Swordfish.

Then in early 2002 the Island Administrator obtained permission from the military authorities for tourists to visit the island.  But numbers were limited, in large part because of military restrictions – the only fight down was aboard an RAF Tristar, scheduled every 4 days – but also its infrastructure, just the one small hotel.

In June of that year Dieter Haselhorst, another of our Club member, convinced his business partner to move their three boats – Andromeda, Harmattan and Shy 3 – from Ghana, where they had been currently based, to Ascension.  (Subsequently Harmattan was sold to a Scandinavian consortium.)  The rest is history!  And Ascension has, quite rightly, been named the ‘Jurassic Park of Sportfishing’.

That 2002 season started at the beginning of November.  And immediately they were starting to hook into numbers of 600lb plus Blue Marlin.  Several ‘granders’ were fought and released.  And the American mothercraft operation – God’s Will, God’s Favor (the re-named Madam and Hooker) – landed a fish of 1337lbs.  Also Dieter’s boats had broken the All-Tackle World record for Six Gilled Shark twice, the best a fish of 1298lbs.  In addition Broadbill were being taken, and there were masses of Tuna and Wahoo present.  The Yellowfin ranged to over 200lbs.

I fished there in early December and we even had abortive strikes from what we were convinced were Bluefin Tuna, in the 6-700lb range!  However interestingly one of our members who has access to commercial fish returns from the South Atlantic, noted that Bluefin were rarely captured in those latitudes.  And, in all probability, they were enormous Big Eye Tuna!

The season ended in mid-April.  But the boats were still catching numbers of Blue Marlin and the Tuna had arrived in force!  Tim reported that this activity continued right through the summer months!

And, unsurprisingly, the 2003 season started where things had left off!  Several Blue Marlin, that appear to have been well in excess of the current All-Tackle World record have been fought and lost.  Here we’re taking about fish of at least 1400lbs!

Have I whetted your appetite?  Further details of this incredible fishery appear within the Members Only section of this web site.  If you intend going there you may also be interested in a small 56 page booklet – Fishing Ascension Island – that Tim Hook has published.  Copies of this well-written and comprehensive guide may be obtained through Tightline Books, e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .