Just for you then Bob, courtesy of copy & paste. PS you`ve got E mails.
Arrived a few days before the rest of the crew and walked off the plane into 101 F. Two days later 104 F and rarely below mid to high 90`s the rest of the time.
Gordon and Fiona arrived a few days later and after a discussion at a watering hole with Bob and Tony his partner , he showed us a photo of a blue taken not far along the coast. This one had taken 3-1/2 hrs in a chair on 80lb and could`nt be revived. It weighed in at around 700lbs. A lot of white marlin had been seen so we opted for an extra day on the boat on the Friday.
Set off around 8.30 am and after about 1/2 an hour we set out a variety of smaller lures, some mouldcraft and some that Bob had made, (looked as good as shop bought to me, and as it turned out to the marlin). We were towing at 6.5knts in water from 100 - 250mtrs and it only took around 20 mins to raise the first whites, ( 3 ). These guys had a good look but were only window shopping. They had a batter at 3 of the lures but no hook ups`. We re-set the spread and after a further 20 mins or so Gordon and I had a double hook-up. We wre running four of the boats 20-30 rods on Shimano TLD 30` with 30 test line. I had my own 20lb rod with a GLS 25 and 16lb Moi moi pre-test mono. Gordon was running a 20lb rod I`d made him with a Dual lever drag and also 16lb Moi moi mono. (thank god we had opted for mono and not braid, would have been a waste of time given the speed of the hits).
Anyway one white took the 30 gear but only managed a short run when the line popped because of a rigger clip jamming. Gordons fish made a blistering initial run of about 300-350mtrs then cleared the water 3 or 4 times before another 100mtr run. Bob bakced the boat a good bit and Gordon kept in contact with the fish.
The whole fight lasted around 20 - 25 mins on the 16lb outfit with a lot of runs, tailwalking and deep dives.
Evenutally the fish got close to the boat, lit up like a xmas tree, it was not chuffed. Tony got the leader at the first attempt and Reefcats first white marlin came aboard. Bobs` face was a treat. It was quickly tagged, photographed and then held into the water flow for about 6-7 mins. The tail movements got stronger and soon it was off to fight again. A good conditioned, very strong fish around the 65-70lb mark.
The spread was re-set and it only took about 10 mins and I got a stormer of a run on the 30lb gear. The fish stripped 200 - 250 yds, did a bit of surfing and tail walking then went deep. I could feel the head shaking then slack line. I wound in to discover the 8/0 hook straightened, can only assume it was bill hooked and got leverage.
A quite period for around an hour then two more whites appeared. One crashed the lures but did`nt hook up the other vanished deeper only to make a slam into my 16lb outfit. This one was well hooked and stripped around 300 yds on the first run, then did the tail walking act about five times. I slowly got some line back although the fish went deep with a lot of lunges which tested the drag on the small Penn reel.
Again around 20 - 25mins and the Momoi mono stood the test. White No 2 came aboard, once more superb condition and still lively. Same procedure, tag, photo and revive and off it went. Estimates put this one at 90 -95lb.
Continued to tow and raised about another 6 window shoppers. Then my 16lb outfit and Gordons went at the same time, another double hook-up. Think Bob has posted a photo of the two of them tail walking together. My outfit was in the rocket launcher on the fly bridge and as it was being passed down the lever drag caught on something, free spooled and a cracker of a birds nest, that was the end of that one. Gordon had more luck and the 3rd for the day, around the 70lb mark was boated and released. We had another couple of window shoppers but that was it for the day.
A total of 14 marlin raised, 6 hooked and 3 boated, superb fun. In between all this we had passed a very big, 500lb plus hammerhead, but it did`nt seem interested.
Picked up the 3rd crew (Welsh Tony) on the Sat and agreed to bring everything forward by a day as the marlin were there in numbers.
Set off on the Sunday and towed all day with similar lures and spread but no hook-ups although we raised 4 window shoppers.
On the Monday we towed the white marlin lures all morning, we raised 5 marlin but no hook ups. Moved to deeper water and changed to heavy gear for blue marlin. We were running my own and Gordons bent butt 80`s, one with an 80 Everol and one with an Accurate twin drag 80 wide. These went on the flat lines with 16 inch Kona Killas while the boats 80lb Shimano`s with Tiagra 80 wide twin speeds went on the riggers, one long and one short with dorado lures. For good measure we put out one of my 50-80 stand-ups with a Shimao TLD 50 twin speed as the shotgun with a Mouldcraft softhead. Sods law took over and a white hit one of the Shimanos. Gordon was on the first hit so he had little option but to move to the chair with the heavy gear. Having said that the fish put a bend into the Shimano but it was out-gunned. After about 10 mins it was boated, a cracker about 120-125lb. again T & R.
On the Tuesday Welsh Tony had the first hit on 20lb gear and after about 20mins landed his first WM, a superb conditioned fish around the 80lb mark. We decided to put the heavy gear out again and towed untill around 2 pm. Gordon was on second strike (all done by drawing lots the night before) and I was on 3rd, (not sure that was a good move). A fish slammed into Gordons 80lb bent butt outfit so again he had to move to the chair. This one had chosen the wrong lure as it was up against an Accurate dual drag and was at the boat in around 5 mins, again lovely condition around 80lb. T&R.
The water was shallowing up to the 250 -300mtr mark so we opted for the white marlin lures again, very, very, very bad move. We had only been towing for around 20mins when the water absolutely erupted around one of the samll lures. I had seen a lot of marlin crash the lures with their bills and weave around but this was totally different. I`ve had some big shark to the 500 mark, good sized tuna and even two Kenyan blue marlin around 180lb but nothing prepared me for this. The swirl was immense and the bill tried to annhialate the lure before the fish turned, swirled back in an instant and lunged at it with what can only be described as primeval fury. As it hit the lure the head was side on and out of the water. Around 2.5 - 3ft of head (not counting the bill) was out with no sign of the gills or pectorals. Line screamed off at an unbelievable rate as I sliped on the nearest butt pad, a bog standard 6-7inch Eddystone pad. I grabbed the rod and held on as the reel emptied at a rate of knots. I then had a few seconds to realise I was connected to this "thing" with an Eddystone butt pad, no kidney harness, a 20-30lb stand-up and TLD 30 with 30lb test line.
At times like this you know who your friends are. Gordon has had about 14 blue marlin from the Indian Ocean with a PB of 800lb. He just couldnt resist telling me that what I was connected to was possibly 5 , 6 or 7 times my own weight, nice At this point around 300 yds was off and Tony shouted it was coming up. This "thing" cleared the water and I almost p####d myself, it was immense. No exaggeration when I was told later about the girth of an average lounge settee and 10-12ft. Again I looked at the TLD 30 and 20lb rod Anyway nothing else for it. The boat backed and I managed to gain some line but then the "thing" decided it wanted it all back so it took it. At this point it was suggested I may like slightly more than the Eddystone butt pad. I considered the matter and decided it was a very good idea. Sad Two of the guys managed to get a Gruavelle stand up pad on to me and a Black Magic kidney belt. Problem was they forgot to take the Eddystone off so it was underneath the stand-up pad and for good measure had decided to flip over so the gimbal face was now pushing into various sensitive bit of me.
Anyway I continued in a dilligent manner for around 45 mins with the drag increased beyond strike to about 18lb. I was in full control of the situation (aye right ) Only thing in control was this "thing" on the end of the 30lb line. For whatever reasons I managed to gain line as Bob moved the boat around. I even managed to get the double line to the surface at one point but about 15ft behind the boat so no chance of touching it. Mr Marlin then decided he liked my line so went deep and took about 400yds of it with him, back to square one. It was still around 90 degrees at this point and the butt pad was continually loosening so Welsh Tony decided he would simply tie a knot in it and lock it to the kidney belt with a lanyard, forgetting of course that my innards were between the knot and the pad. As he played around with his little Spanish windlass I felt mu lungs move towards my throat (at least something did). Always the good pal Tony asked if I would like some water after an hour or so. I could`nt speak because of the pressure but indicated this would be a welcome distraction as my mouth was ever so slightly dry. He then proceeded to take my cap off and throw the water all over me, Welsh ****! At this Gordon politely enquired, (between howls of laughter) as to his intentions to be told "I saw Rex Hunt do it" Welsh **** ! Eventually I got some down my throat but it did`nt seem to want to go far down, anyway.
Mr Marlin and I then decided to play a game for the second hour. I would suggest that he gave me line back onto the reel and he would simply refuse, (guess he liked the nice yellow colour). I asked him to come up, he said no and stayed down. Fun bit of the game seemed to be when he did give me line back he would wait until the spool was almost full and then empty it all again. Guess this was fun as he did it around 15 times. Must admit in all seriousness that it had long before ceased to be fun. I considered the chair but with a short butt stand-up and swim board at the back of the boat this was not on. It was getting seriously sore and the heat was murderous. The guys tried to get a towel between the butt pad and my thighs to cushion things and the pressure was such that it took two of them to lift the pad off my legs. It served no purpose. I felt the head shaking down deep but this was no ordinary sharp fast head shaking, this was pure brute animal power. I have never given up on a fish on my life but I wanted to, badly. After 2 hrs 10 mins I had done all I could do on 30lb test to a 20lb rod with no sign of the fish weakening I felt things getting silly. The lever drag by this time was at sunset and the TLD 30 was groaning. My head was getting light and dizzy, the pain in the groin and back was excruciating so I told then to get someone else ready rather than lose the fish. Gordon put on a full second Black Magic harness and pad and just about then I brought up two days worth of burgers and brekkie, (just as Welsh Tony was wiping my head, paybacks a bitch )
We passed the rod to Gordon and I decided to die for a little while in the cabin. I surfaced about twenty minutes later to see Gordon, (well experienced on blue marlin) being taken for little walks along the transom, port to st`board and back again so many times we named it the Marlin shuffle. He could do not one thing with this fish for the next hour and a half except watch as his hard earned line peeled off again and again, probably another 10-12 time. It was genuinely between Gordon and myself around 25 to 30 times this marlin had almost completely emptied a reel against a 23-24lb drag setting.
Then around 3-3/4 hrs after the strike Gordon noticed the runs and lunges were getting weaker and he was gaining more line than he was losing. At this point the fish had been seen a few times but never close enough to do anything but we all realised the marlin was tiring. Another period of head shaking and powerful lunges and Gordon was hanging onto the rails with a strange subdued look on his face. The rod was doubled and the line, with the drag at sunset, was whining. The inevitable happened on that weight of gear, something had to give as the drag was giving up and getting jerky, it was the line. "Whang" and Gordon was catapulted into the chair. Based on the digital camera timer and watches we had held that fish on a 20lb rod, and 30 test line for 4 hours and ten minutes and it had wrecked both of us. Sods law, had it taken the 80lb bent butts, who knows.
Best estimate was from the crew and Gordon. He said it equaled or bettered his PB of 800lb and cryptically mentioned that had it ben put on scales we may well have had a shock. All I`ve learned is that blue marlin on 20-30lb stand up is not a very clever idea.
On the Wednesday we decied easier things were required so we went sharking. We had great fun with dorado while the chum trail was spreading but again sods law, the only shark took a squid strip I was using for the dorado on a trout spinning rod. After three huge runs of around 3ft each it was subdued and then bit the mono. Cant remember if the estimate was 600lb or 600mm but the yolk sack was still hanging to it.
Thursday saw us gluttons for punishment again so we towed the big lures all day. Fiona, Gordons wife fancied a go when a marlin hit and she managed her first WM, a fish of around 80lb but again it hit the big trolling rods so was a bit outgunned. Tony actually took it for a walk on the leader to tire it as it was still well green but it managed to slip the hook. Nothing else that day except three huge blue marlin clearing the water a few hundred yards off and another large hammerhead around the 500lb mark.
We took and extra day onto the charter and motored 3 hrs to the Pecos sea mount, an awesome feature with it`s head around 230mtrs and the base at 1100mtrs over a mile are. Gordon whacked a white on top of the mount but again on 80lb. He even tried lossening the drag on the big Everol to get a run or two but it was at the boat, T&R after about 5-6mins, a fish around 80-85lb.
All in all, great fun on the lighter gear (except one bit that is) and well recommended for some sportfishing on a boat with good crew and tons of space.
Stan.
PS Snatcher, sorry mate never got a chance to try the poppers on fly. One reason was looking at my tarpon reel carrying 280yds of backing it would have been a nonsense given the initial runs. I did put one on a twenty outfit, weighted it and trolled it for 2 hrs and it raised three marlin before it got annhialted with a bill
