Day 2 - Monday

Today we fished on their other boat called "Sur Reel". We only sailed for an hour instead of the two hours that we sailed yesterday. That put us around 30 miles off shore. 

Marlin day

Today started much more slowly. It was over an hour before the first bite. Unfortunately the fish wasn't hooked. Fifteen minutes or so later and another bite - which also wasn't hooked. Interestingly this came on the same rod as the first. Over the next 45 minutes that rod was hit twice more and none of them hooked up. 

Here we go

It was during retrieval of the 4th missed bite that one of the other baits was hit and I had the first fish of the day - a Sailfish. This was our 1st attempt at some underwater footage - not easy when the boat is moving forward continually.

We then had a few Bonito and small Dorado before the fun began in earnest.

The Marlin Capture

Throughout this re-telling, remember that Garry has never managed to catch a Marlin despite trying on many occasions. I have never even tried to catch one seriously.

We came upon a bait-ball of bait fish that was being attacked by Bonito from below and birds from above. The deck hands quickly responded and cast out some small jelly baits to catch a couple of Bonito. These went immediately back as bait on Marlin gear. It wasn't long before one of the rods was hit but only resulted in half of the bait being taken. They then hooked one of the small Dorado that we had caught and and the hunt was on again.

It took a while as we circled the bait-ball but eventually we saw a large disturbance as a Marlin did a false take of the Dorado. This allowed me to start my video focussed on the area where we had seen the disturbance. Moments later all hell broke loose as the Marlin hit the bait and the rod was handed to Garry. I had managed to capture the moment that the Marlin did some acrobatics immediately after being hooked and before it started one of its many dives and runs. The crew were busy shouting congratulations as Garry got their attention to say that the Marlin was quickly running off with most of the line on the reel. They crew responded quickly and the boat went into fast reverse to allow Garry to make up some of the lost line. After that the crew worked together very well and followed the Marlin whenever it tore off straight back or to the left/right. This allowed Garry to make up line on the fish. However, the boat couldn't help when the Marlin dived deep (known as "sounding") which it did quite often. The only thing Garry could do here was hold on until it stopped sounding and then use the "pump and wind" technique to slowly bring the Marlin back up.

Garry played the Marlin for about 6 minutes on his favourite rod butt holder/belt. However it was apparent that more support was needed so the crew attached a more substantial belt/harness around Garry that was also fastened to the reel. This allowed some relief from the incredible power of the fish as it continued to dive deep then run off into the distance as it allowed Garry to occasionally rest his arms and use his back to resist the fish. He fought on for another 10 minutes before we all had a shock as we realised that the line had been caught up in the reel's internal mechanism and was actually cut. I was convinced that Garry was going to be unfortunate in his Marlin quest yet again.

Garry fought on for another 6 minutes before he realised that his spine, where he'd had 2 spinal decompressions, was really starting to tighten up caused by the pump and wind time and again of the straight down deep diving Marlin. At this point he thought "this is only day 2" and if he kept going it could be the end of his fishing on this trip. So he made the decision to protect his spine and he asked me to take over. I had borrowed a rod butt holder from Kevin and it had a large area to spread the load. So the crew had to remove the harness and attach it to me before attaching it to the reel. I then took over where Garry had left off. This fish was still putting up a hell of a fight and it wasn't long before I was getting issues with the borrowed belt sliding left/right as the Marlin tore off at an angle. I worked out a way of correcting this by overcompensating when it did head left/right and that eased the problem.

I ended up playing it for a similar amount of time as Garry before the leader finally came into view. I pumped the rod and reeled as hard as I could as I hoped the end was near. Just as the leader hit the surface, the Marlin tried to dive yet again. The crew all yelled "wind" and that gave me the encouragement to try even harder and finally the deck hand (Kevin) grabbed the leader and the fish was ours.

It still had plenty of strength as could be witnessed by the bodies of the two crew holding its bill as they bucked up and down as the Blue Marlin thrashed its bill in a bid to escape. After a few videos and pictures, this magnificent creature (estimated at 350lb) was returned to the ocean and silently disappeared from sight. 

Once the congratulations were over, both Garry and I realised how much our arms were still shaking. What an experience. I never imagined I would ever get to battle a Marlin and will never forget the thrill and effort that it took. Thank you Big Buoys!

Marlin battle - part 1

Marlin battle - conclusion

A few snapshots of a couple of delighted and exhausted anglers

Garry then had another Sailfish before the crew became excitable again as another Marlin had been spotted by the captain. The crew worked feverishly to get another hookup but it wasn't to be this time. In hindsight that's a shame but at the time we both were silently relieved as the prospect of another arm-wrenching tussle wasn't that appealing.

The day ended with me bringing in a large female Dorado, As it neared the boat it's male partner was closely following. The crew droped a baited rod near the male and it couldn't resist. That left both of us playing feisty Dorado at the same time.

Catch Summary

Garry

• 2 x Bonito
• Small Dorado (Mahi-Mahi)
• Large Dorado
• Sailfish
• Half of a 350lb Blue Marlin

Steve

• 2 x Sailfish
• 2 x small Dorado
• Large Dorado
• The other half of the 350lb Blue Marlin

Overall Summary

What a day! Us anglers all know that one fish can make your day. This one made our day, our trip and for me at least, my year. I will never forget it (unless we get a bigger one before this week is over!).

Tomorrow we are trying our hand at inshore fishing while the tide is favourable in the hope of catching something else on Garry's list - the Roosterfish. Fingers crossed.

This is the route we took today