The main factor in the success of any billfishery usually relies on some sort of structure or current that concentrates bait, which in turn concentrates the predators. Venezuela is no exception. The famed La Guaira Bank lies just 12 miles to the north of Caraballeda, the main port for most of the Venezuelan fleet. This underwater mountain range stretches from east to west for 14 miles and is nearly 4 miles across at its widest point. Although surrounded by deep water, the bank rises to within 300 to 600 feet over most of its length, creating the life-sustaining upwellings and currents that attract bait and billfish. Unfortunately, recreational anglers weren't the only ones clued in to the great fishing. After a 10-year stint as one of the best white marlin sport fisheries in the world, the bank's fishing crashed when longliners moved in and decimated billfish stocks. By the early 1980s, the fish were in trouble and recreational anglers shared part of the blame: Catch-and-release was not yet a widely accepted practice, and most of the fish caught in Venezuela still came back to the dock. Consequently, the recreational fishery slowed to a trickle. After watching one of world's great fisheries decline right before his eyes, Ruben Jaen, one the area's pioneer fisherman and an International Game Fish Association representative, enlisted the help of The Billfish Foundation to see if something could be done to stop the slaughter. Finally, in 1988, Jaen and TBF convinced the Venezuelan government that the fish were worth more alive than dead, initiating passage of a law forbidding any longlining for billfish on the bank. An amazing recovery ensued, and by the early '90s the area could once again brag about regular double-digit catches of white marlin. Although white marlin made up the bulk of the billfish in Venezuela's heyday, good numbers of blues, sailfish and swords now share the limelight. The Blues Set In Although Venezuelan boats enjoyed a good spring run of blue marlin for years, it wasn't until the early '90s that American boats started making the pilgrimage down to La Guaira during that time of year. Capt. Taylor Tyler on the Southern Dalliance out of West Palm Beach, Florida, was one of the first Americans to experience the hot spring bite when he jumped down early in 1992. "I was fishing in Mexico at the time and getting some good 10- to 20-fish days on sailfish," says Capt. Dave Noling of the Courtesan, "so I called up Taylor on the side-band to brag a bit and he told me he was seeing that many blue marlin a day. I finally talked the boss into skipping the sailfish and got here in '94, and it was everything they said it was." Although the water can get a little sloppy in the spring (with 5- to 6-foot seas not unusual), those who don't mind a little rock-and-roll can experience some truly world-class blue marlin fishing. "I missed 20 days this year because of an engine refit and still had my best spring ever. We caught 178 blues up until June. I would probably be well past the 200 mark if it wasn't for the refit," says Noling, who recently won his second straight AFTCO Tag/Flag Atlantic Captain of the Year award for releasing the most blue and white marlin - as well as coming in second for sails. But since white marlin are relatively scarce here in the spring, the "extra" blue marlin - while excellent as a stand-alone fishery - didn't add up to an unusual number of grand-slam opportunities. Stray whites and spears still accounted for a few slams each year, with numbers approaching those of other hot spots like Cancun or Cabo. Prospecting for Slams Large numbers of blue marlin, white marlin and sails occupying the same area all at once demand some very specialized spreads and tactics. "It really plays hell with your tackle and bait selection because you never know what's going to come up," says Noling. Most people use teasers as an afterthought, but in Venezuela, where identification is the key for getting the proper bait to whichever species you raise, teaser bites become very important. "We fish our teasers pretty deep - from 40 to 50 feet - and make them an integral part of the spread. Roughly 50 percent of our bites come from the teasers," says Noling, who pulls a black-and-orange Mold Craft Super Chugger on his left teaser and a squid daisy chain on his right. He also fishes two "pitch baits" just off the transom where you would normally run flat lines. "I keep my pitch baits (ballyhoo with Mini Chuggers on the nose) in the water, not anticipating a bite but to facilitate moving the baits over to the teasers," says Noling. Noling runs a horse ballyhoo or mullet behind the Super Chugger rigged for the blue that might come to the teaser. He completes the spread with naked ballyhoo on his left rigger and another cut-off Mini Chugger/ballyhoo combo on his right. "But," he says with grin, "all of this is subject to change at any time." Since blues aren't huge here, most boats fish 30s and 50s rigged with 80- to 125-pound mono leader, depending on what species make a showing that week. "We're constantly going up and down when it comes to leader and hook size," says Noling. "If whitey is around we'll go down to 80-pound leader and 6/0 Mustad 9175 hooks, but if we see a lot of blues, we'll fish 150- to 200-pound leader on the 50s. If we have a real good mix of species out there, we'll fish 100-pound leader and hope for the best." The mix of fish changes daily. "During October a grand slam is inevitable, but from one week to the next, one of the species might be hard to find," Simonds says. "You'll still have great fishing, but it might be hard to get that blue or white that you need to finish off the slam." Those words echoed loudly in my ears on my final day in Venezuela last October when we caught five blues and five whites and flubbed up every shot at a sail. If you get caught in this situation, keep these hints from Simonds in mind: Blues and sails can usually be found closer to the bank, while white marlin seem to prefer deeper water. "In '97, most of the fish we caught were about 5 to 7 miles offshore and west of the bank," says Simonds. Swords and Spears A good broadbill fishery has long been a good bet off the La Guaira Bank, and the longline closure in 1988 certainly helped the cause. The best bite for swords usually occurs at dusk, with most fish caught with the ubiquitous squid/Cyalume stick rig fished deep under a balloon. Whole tail-hooked bonito also work well if you can't get your hands on a squid. Since you drift-fish and try to stay on top of your baits, good weather and calm seas make for the most comfortable attempts. This is one of the few places in the world where you can expect at least one bite on a swordfish trip. The "other billfish" that frequent these waters - the longbill spearfish - can easily add slam potential to your day during the winter and fall. These feisty gamesters can get up to 40 or 50 pounds here and can easily be mistaken for a small white marlin by the uninitiated. When to Go Noling dislikes the magazine "propaganda" that sets destinations like Venezuela as seasonal fisheries. "I was always told that you couldn't catch blues here in the summer, so we'd take off to St. Thomas to fish the drop. Since my boat was coming out of the water this year, I hung around and fished here through the first week of June. In seven days of fun fishing we caught 22 blues, eight sails and six whites," he says. "As long as the water stays blue you can catch fish here any time.