Early morning wake up call

On Saturday 7^th January, Hansie and I launched Mitsufishi off Richards Bay. The weather forecast was great so we decided to fish for marlin. After a short run to the ledge, we put out a spread of lures and worked out way south. The water was a good colour and there were a few good showings on the reef. At about 6:30, I trolled over a good showing in 80m. There was some bait down about 30m so we were pretty sure there might be a fish around. Probably within a minute, Hansie saw a marlin grab the right long lure. The reel took off and the small black went mental on the surface. It greyhounded for a few hundred meters then doubled back straight towards the boat, almost joining us on the deck. The fish turned away from us and too

k some more line while the deck was cleared. Hansie was a bit hesitant to get into the chair, but when he saw that I had no intention of doing so, he had no choice. The fish stayed on the surface and I could back up on it so that Hansie could gain line. As we got closer, we could see that the fish was tailwrapped and belly up on the surface. I quickly grabbed the leader, unwrapped the tail and grabbed the bill to revive it. Hansie got the boat going forward and we could get some water moving over the gills. After probably 20 minutes, the fish started kicking and shaking. When it was released, it hung in the water for a bit before righting itself and swimming off. It was a black marlin of about 70kg.

It was a great way to start the day, but unfortunately other that a window shopping marlin later that afternoon, there was no other action.