Capt. Gerard "Frothy" de Silva
Madeira, Portugal
Charter: Pesca Grossa Big Game Fishing Madeira
Boat: Pesca Grossa - 31' Custom Express
The long list of achievements that “Capt. Frothy” has attained over the course of his sportfishing career is vast. It would not do him justice to knowingly leave out any such achievements, so below you will discover what a living legend in the Sportfishing industry looks like on paper.
Capt. Frothy has been successfully competing in Caribbean tournaments for many years in events in Tobago, Grenada, Barbados, St. Lucia, and Martinique. Here is a list of of his tournament wins alone:
6x Winner of the Trinidad & Tobago Game Fishing Association Tournament
5x Winner of the Tobago International Game Fishing Tournament
9x Winner of the Spice Island International Billfish Tournament (including its 50th Jubilee year in 2019)
5x Winner of the Barbados International Billfish Tournament
4x Winner of the St. Lucia Billfish Tournament
Furthermore, Capt. Frothy and his teammates have also placed 2nd & 3rd many times in these events.
Apart from these Caribbean tournament achievements, in 2003 Capt. Frothy and his teammates, David Campbell and Nick McCready from Ireland and Peter Petzer from South Africa, won the prestigious Ernest Hemingway Tournament in Cuba.
In 2004, Capt. Frothy and his teammates, David Wong and David Maharaj from Tobago and Edgar Dapremont from the USA, came 2nd in the Rolex/IGFA Tournament of Champions in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Capt. Frothy has also qualified to participate in these Rolex/IGFA Tournaments on many occasions.
He can boast of almost 2,000 billfish releases over the course of his career and is a true advocate of conservation in the Caribbean.
He is also a co-founder of the Caribbean International Billfish Circuit (CIBC) formed in 2008, and he and his teammates have won the CIBC 4 times.
Capt. Frothy has additional international experience fishing in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Scotland and Madeira.
He worked on Charter boats in Madeira with some of the Big Game Fishing Legends for two summers in 1995 and 1996; examples of these Legends include Kevin Nakamaru, Ron Hamlin, Anibal Fernandes, and Richard "Dickie" Howell to name a few. Here he got a taste of the “Grander” action that Madeira has to offer when the fishing vessel on which he was aboard landed a 1008 lb. Blue Marlin in 1995.
In 2008, Capt. Frothy fulfilled a lifelong dream when he purchased the fishing vessel Pesca Grossa in Madeira.
In 2013, he and his crew on board his boat the Pesca Grossa led his anglers to 3 Junior Angler World Records, one of which is still standing for Big Eye Tuna weighing 234.12 lbs caught by his son, Curtis De Silva, who was 15 years old at the time.
Over the years, Capt. Frothy and his Hard Play Fishing Charter operation have developed a well known reputation in the world of sport fishing which resulted in him being featured in many fishing publications.
In July 2015, he, with his son Adrian and Co-Capt. Duarte Nuno Goncalves, won the Blue Marlin World Cup along with angler Anthony Johnson and his family, catching the largest blue marlin in the world that day. Furthermore, during the month of July 2015, he and the Pesca Grossa team released 20 blue marlin each exceeding 500 lbs (up to 1100 lbs). Hook Harmeling of Billfish Report suspects that this feat has not been accomplished in a single month anywhere in the world for over 18 years.
On April 21, 2016, he along with teammates Jerome McQuilkin, Derrick Tardieu, and Clint Quong Sing won the world's most prestigious fishing tournament, the Offshore World Championship (OWC) in Quepos, Costa Rica ("the Olympics of sport fishing"), releasing a total of 45 Pacific sailfish.
Jimmy Buffet also wrote a small chapter “Looking for Captain Frothy” in his book – A Pirate Looks At Fifty.
Capt. Frothy, the "Pirate of the Caribbean", is a man who has done Trinidad & Tobago proud in sport fishing as a man at the top of his game. He is probably the only person in the world to win both the Blue Marlin World Cup and the Offshore World Championship (OWC) back-to-back.
For charter information, contact Captain Gerard "Frothy" de Silva at the following outlets:
Email: captainfrothyfishing@gmail.com
Instagram: @desilvagerard
Facebook: Pesca Grossa Big Game Fishing Madeira
For additional information on Capt. Frothy & his Pesca Grossa Charter: Pesca Grossa Website