Aloha all,
We took some friends out today never expecting to have such a great day. Sam, Aaron and Kieth met Bob and I at the docks for a day of fishing and the normal bs. We left the harbor about 7am and went to work the Maile pt ledge. We picked up one Kawa Kawa(about 2 pounds) and continued to try for a bigger bait for a half hour after which we moved on out to S-bouy(about 3 miles). On arriving at S-bouy we found it alive with small tuna(aku) and proceed to catch baits, but they were all too small. We were looking for something 3 pounds or bigger. Suddenly the left outrigger slammed down and we were hooked up to a big blue marlin that was leaping all over the ocean and pulling line of f the Penn 130sw at an incredible rate of speed. We had been pulling a 7inch chrome jet head behind a Moldcraft bird teaser for tuna and this Marlin had inhaled it.
Sam was up in the chair and the rod was passed to him as the Marlin continued jumping about 200 yds astern. I was maneuvering the boat in an attempt to keep the fist from taking too much line as Sam struggle under the stress of a big fish on heavy tackle. Suddenly, ten minutes into the fight the line broke and the line was limp. We had broken off the first fish of the day but we were all pumped up from the excitement of watching the fish.
Disappointed, we returned to catching bait and almost imediately got one just over 2 pounds. Bob quickly bridled it and dropped it into the water and started to let some line out when another blue marlin swirled on the bait not 15 feet behind the boat. Bob expertly dropped the bait into the fish's mouth and gave him enough slack to allow the fish to swallow the bait. He screamed, "He's got it" and I gunned the throttles to set the hook as Bob pushed the drag up to 45pound strike position. The rod keeled over and we were hooked up.
Keith was on the fish and working hard as the fish raced across the left side and took off down sea. I spun the boat and keeping the fish off the port bow I raced after him. After a frantic race for a few minutes the fish changed direction and we maneuvered back down on him. Keith was learning on the job and really working the fish. After what seemed a long fight(about 30 minutes) we brought an nice blue marlin(185 pounds) to gaff. After taking care of the fish, we returned to the S-bouy and we decided that we had enough fish and would release any others that were caught.
By this time, we had attracted a crowd at S-bouy. It seemed that word had spread of the tuna and marlin action and 4 charter boats and 5 smaller private boats were now working the area. Bait was hard to come by with the marling breaking up the schools, but today was to be our treat and we caught another 2 pound bait almost immediately. Bob quickly set it up and we began the wait.
It would not be long, the rubber band stretched to maximum and broke and Sam climbed into the chair while we set up on the fish. As I gunned the throttles the fish went airborne and started greyhounding for Tahiti. I spun the boat in hot pursuit. Sam was screaming that the dacron backing was coming off the reel and I was full throttle in pursuit of this fish. I wasnt catching him and he showed no signs of slowing down. More line was coming off the reel and I was thanking my lucky stars that I had just filled that spool with new line as we were down to less than 100 yards left on the spool. With that much line in the water the added strain of the water on that 800yds of line is a lot. So much that it is often impossible to recover that line even if the fish stops running. But like I said, this was our lucky day and the fish stopped and we started gaining line.
I started to feel a little more comfortable(if you can be confortable fighting a marlin) as we regained over half the line and the fish sounded. Now began the back breaking work of bringing the fish up from 500 yards down as he tried to remain in the depths with his head down. Sam was up to the task, however, and brought the fish up 2 to 3 inches at a time. After almost 45 minutes on the fight the fish started to come to the surface and finally came to the boat. Unfortunately the fish had been foul hooked during the jumping spree and was all but dead and we were forced to take the fish. It fought like a much bigger fish because of the foul hookup but was still nice at about 180 pounds.
Well we were all spent and excited at the same time. we had fought three and landed two marlin and it was still before noon. Aaron had still not had his chance in the chair and so we decided to try for one more. Bob and I talked about setting the hook early to make sure that we would have to best chance to release a healthy fish.
Back at the bouy things were dead slow. The small aku were still dimpling the water but they would not bite for anyone. Several of the boats were taking strikes from marlin while trolling artifical lures. I thought of switching but figured that we should not change our winning formula.
Bob brought out the killer bait catcher(a clark spoon 00rbm) on light spinning tackle. He dropped it into the water and immediately picked up a small bait. Earlier in the morning we were rejecting baits of this size but now we figured that we better try it. Bob bridled the small bait with an 8/0 southern tuna hook and we set back to wait.
After about 20 minutes, Bob wisecracked "Man its taking a long time this time". Unknown to Bob, I had just turned to where I had seen a marlin swirl and I wisecracked back. "just waiting for you guys to get ready, we will get one now". Not 30 seconds later the marlin took the bait and was immediately hooked up. Aaron took the chair as we watched this marlin greyhound towards the boat. He was frantically cranking the reel and I was gunning the throttles in an attempt to keep the line tight. The fish was coming straight at us and then suddenly changed his mind and went down. This Marlin was smaller(about 80 pounds) but full of energy as Aaron brought him alongside the boat. This fish was full strength and could easily survive release so Bob reached down to attempt to work the hook out of the fish. The hook as caught directly in the tip of the lower jaw and as Bob reached for it, the fish jumped up and almost stabbed him. After a wrestling match at the leader we again attempted to remove the hook without success. Looking at the position of the hook, we decided that the fish could probably remove it himself better than we could, so we cut the leader right at the hook. He swam indignantly into the depths.
We looked at each other, it was 5 minutes before 1pm. "Its been a great day guys, lets call it here, what do you say?" Every one agreed that we had enjoyed one of the greatest days of fishing that we had ever had so we returned to the harbor.
Thanks again guys for a wonderful day of fishing
aloha, hank :C)