First Marlin
Just back from a month at Ningaloo. The weather was pretty ordinary this year, and the fishing wasn't flash, with a few highlights, but I'll cover that in another post. Towards the end of the stay, we were plagued with fresh Nor-easters. Forecast one morning promised a reasonable morning with the wind getting up very strong before lunch, so I pushed the crew ( wife) to be going early--plan was to troll south with the wind in hope of picking up a sail. So north in bit on close out of the wind, then set the two gar, skirt and teaser out with the wind behind us. For a change, i asked her to drive, while I spotted, and, for the first time in the trip, put the Gopro on the headmount. Wind was freshening quickly, with the downwind gar being blown over the teaser, so I replaced it with a Halco bibless. Good strike on that about ten minutes later, which luckily went under the pattern and headed to sea at a great rate. CXleared the deck very quickly and chased it out recovering line. Run was fast , but straight, and deep, and I picked it as a big tuna. remembered I had the gopro on my head, and turned it on about ten minutes in. Not long after the line started angling up--I made the joke-" be funny if it jumped" meaning I would have a sail on, and a fair size black marlin broke the surface! Shit suddenly got real.
it dived again, and fought deep --ten minutes later I had it close, and got a couple of half jumps, right alongside before it powered off again. Got it close again and it dived around the leg--a quick free spool and motor lift saw it free, and then back into it. The last ten minutes, about 35 minutes in, were agony--The wind was stengthening, I was cramping, and the fish was coming in 20mm at a time. Finally got the leader on the reel, handed the rod over, and grabbbed a bill. Simple unhook with the big singles, swim it for as far as i could physically manage, and watched it swim off. Video stopped at 41.38, meaning it was about 50 minutes all up.My initial estimate of 100kg would be pretty close--the 'long" length was 3100-3200, which would translate, according to the tables, to a short length of 2400-2500, which makes it a good 100kg? Anyone with experience in this, please feel free to comment.
Gear was my all-rounder, the bottom-bouncer, bait floater, mackerel and sail troller Shimano T-Curve 200 deep jig with a Tyrnos 12 loaded with 50lb Fins, 80lb Jinkai and a Balco bibless minnow in the stripey(purple) pattern. Thge pain was transferred to me via a cheap old plastic gimbal bucket, no kidney harness
dano83
Posts: 790
Date Joined: 25/05/12
That's an awsome catch mate
That's an awsome catch mate well done
Krusty
Posts: 714
Date Joined: 27/11/15
A stroke of luck followed by
A stroke of luck followed by a great result ....awesome...well done
My fishing spots are so secret........... even the fish don't know where they are !!
MJ
Posts: 362
Date Joined: 23/06/09
Well done Ralph
Great fish on a Tyrnos 12!
Looks solid at least 100kg
meglodon
Posts: 5981
Date Joined: 17/06/10
What a beautiful looking fish
Fish like that are to valuable to be caught only once. Letting them swim off allows our next generation to share the excitement of a great catch just like you did.
Well done, a great catch and release.
resurgence
Posts: 575
Date Joined: 23/04/14
140-150
A short length (lower jaw to tail fork) of 240-250cm would translate to about 140-150kg.
Good fish, well done!
Deleted
Posts: 6265
Date Joined: 26/04/14
bloody ripper
bloody ripper
ranmar850
Posts: 2702
Date Joined: 12/08/12
Long length was measured by
Long length was measured by holding bill level with rear canopy mount (fish still in water, never came out)--I was careful with this. Tail extended to at least the rear side of the outboard leg , possibly longer. This would be a long length of at least 3100. I subtracted 400 for bill, and 200 for fork of tail. Sound about right? I'll get the video together tonight and post it by tomorrow--fish was obviously tired at the end, but not bronzed. Tail beats were regular and strong when I let go the bill after swimming it for some time. Beautiful fish, aren't they--my only ambition up there had been to catch a little 40kg black on top of the sails we usually target.
Oh, and the hookup was in 35 metres of water with a strong tide running from the north.
Stevo81
Posts: 1278
Date Joined: 16/04/12
Awesome!
Awesome!
•••••••• Electrical Contractor NOR ••••••••
Doc
Posts: 691
Date Joined: 29/05/16
Nice catch there, good to
Nice catch there, good to see him swim off
Dean78
Posts: 40
Date Joined: 05/01/15
Epic, can only
Epic, can only imagine!Thanks for the tale
Gertcha
Posts: 80
Date Joined: 05/05/14
Bloody Awesome !
Bloody Awesome !