On 8th January, Joe Martins, his wife Kim and I launched their 20ft Glacier Bay “Aqua Joe”. Joe had been slowly getting his marlin tackle ready and desperately wanted to catch a marlin. He had asked me for advise with regards to rods, reels, lures etc. After a few weeks, he finally had everything he needed and we were ready to try it out. We left the mooring at 6:30am and headed north off Richards Bay. The sea was a bit rough due to a storm that had passed the previous day. After dodging logs and masses of reeds, we found clean water in 100m and could start fishing.
I set the spread with a Moldcraft Widerange and Bobby Brown on the long riggers and a Pulsator Bonito Smoker and Stripey tickler on the short riggers. With the lures swimming beautifully, I trolled deeper towards the 500m line. We were in about 350m when the port short rigger popped and a nice Dorado jumped out the water. Joe had the rod in seconds but due to a bout of seasickness, he handed the rod to Kim who brought it in without too much fuss. The lines went out again and trolling commenced.
The sea slowly got better and better and at about 8:30 it was quite pleasant. We came into an area where there was a lot of bait. The small skipjacks and yellowfin were jumping everywhere. This was definitely the place to stick around. Kim had bought a Moldtech lure the previous day and asked me if I could rig it up for her. It was a similar shape to the Bobby Brown, so I swapped the lures. Now Kim was also confident in the spread. At about 9am I was looking back at the lures when I noticed a strange swirl behind Kim’s lure. Moments later, a bill and dorsal came out the water and crashed the lure. I shouted as the rigger popped. The reel took off and a +-100kg Blue marlin launched itself out the water. It gave two or three jumps and then the reel stopped running ... it had thrown the hook! Unlucky! At least we had seen a marlin for the day. I checked and reset the lures and continued trolling. I heard over the radio that a few boats had strikes in 250m so I worked shallower. The sea went dead from 10am until 12pm but then the birds started dipping and the bait came up again. At around 1pm, I saw a fish come up behind the starboard long rigger and engulf the lure. The rigger popped and the reel took off. Joe and I cleared the other lines before Joe donned the harness and took up the rod.
The fish jumped probably ten times before it settled. I slowly backed up on the fish while Joe gained line. The fight lasted about 30 minutes and Joe had it next to the boat. When it came to the boat the colours had faded due to the hooks forcing its mouth closed. After explaining the drill, I took the trace and brought the striped marlin closer. Joe asked to load the fish because it was his first marlin and a dream come true. The fish did kick at all so I pulled the fish over the gunwale and into the boat where Kim snapped off a few pics. Joe was over the moon! Mission accomplished.
We reset the lures and trolled for about an hour longer. It was getting late and there was still a lot of work to be done so we upped lines and headed home. The fish weighed in just under 60kg.
