On Friday 25th August,
Brendan Davids, Tim Bacon, Wayne Ritchie and I arrived in Morocco. Our goal was
to each tick a white marlin off the list. Our trip started off badly when our
connecting flights, which were booked almost a year in advance, were cancelled
and our flight had to be redirected to Dakar. To add to the frustrations, when
we finally arrived in Casablanca, all our luggage had gone missing! Most of our
tackle and all our clothes were a no show, in a foreign country with very
unhelpful people who can’t speak English. After hours of frustration, we threw
in the towel and headed to the hotel in Mohammedia. With no choice but to go
clothed shopping, we headed into the market. It was noon on a Friday and being
a Muslim country, almost all the shops had closed for Mosque. We did eventually
find a small shop with a very limited selection of shorts and vests, but
beggars can’t be choosers.
It was a real motley crew that
stepped onto the boat “7 Days” on the first day. After a quick briefing from
John Huntington, we headed out to sea. The first stop was at a buoy outside the
harbour where we caught a live well full of mackerel before the long hour and a
half run out to the fishing grounds. We were warned that the eclipse a few days
prior had also shut down the bite so we were not expecting fireworks. Having
never fished for whites before, we were a bit out of our comfort zone,
especially with none of our tackle, so we were reliant on a few shoddy teasers
and make shift tackle combos to get the job done. We started out with 2
mackerel and 1 halfbeak, all rigged as swimbaits. We then had 2 daisy chain
teasers and a dredge. We fished in about 130m to 150m of water with a
temperature of around 23 to 24 degrees. The day passed without much action
other than one fish missing the swimbait and another in the teaser for a few
seconds but not interested in the pitched live mackerel.
On Sunday, still with no luggage,
we put to sea. The mackerel were full up so it didn’t take long to fill the
well and head to the grounds. This time we decided to leave the swimbaits and
only focus on the teasers. We had one hookless lure on the rigger, two
moldcraft squid chains off the bridge, one dredge off the transom. There were 2
bridled livies in the well and a dead pitch bait on 30Lbs spinning rods. We
also had a 50Lbs rod with a big lure ready for anything that came up. At about
11am, we found a current line with a temperature break and almost immediately
had a fish in the teaser. Brendan pitched a live bait to it and after a few
missed attempts, the marlin grabbed it and wolfed it down. After a long feed,
Brendan flicked over the bale tightened up. The fish stayed down for a bit
before coming to the surface. On the first jump, we were shocked at the size of
the fish. We were expecting fish around 30kg, but this fish was well over 50kg!
It gave a great fight with countless jumps before I could get hold of the
leader. I let go a few times but eventually got it under control and released
Brendan’s first white Marlin. 
The lines went back in and
moments later there was another fish in the teaser. Wayne and I pitched livies
to it but the fish was not interested and faded off. We made a turn in the same
area and the fish popped up on the teaser again. Unfortunately, it still
ignored the livies that were pulled in front of its nose and faded off. A short
while later, a fish swimming under the right teaser. I pitched a livie but the
fish just faded away. Only then did Brendan and the Captain say that it was a
blue of over 200kg! Luckily it didn’t decide to chow. There seemed to be a few
fish in the area but they didn’t commi
When the next fish came up, two
baits were pitched at it. The fish swam past the small bait and smashed the big
mackerel. I fed it for quite some time before tightening up. The fish took some
line then made two jumps. On the last jump, the bait came flying out of the
fish, pulling the hook with it. Immediately I started retrieving the bait. When
it was close to the transom, I saw two electric blue fins behind it. I opened
the bale and the fish grabbed it again. After feeding it, I tightened up. This
time the fish stayed down for about 5 minutes before its first jump. Again, the
bait went flying, but the hook stayed put. I was shaky on the rod, just praying
that the fight would go my way. There was a huge sense of relief when the
leader came onto the tip. The deckhand leadered the fish and after a few more
jumps, the leader parted. White Marlin… Tick!
Wayne and Tim were up next but
despite having another 2 whites and a blue in the teasers, none would switch to
the bait. On arrival at the mooring, we received word that our bags had arrived
at the airport. This meant we were in for a long night! Brendan and I made the 2-hour
trip to the airport, battled queues, customs and lost baggage agents for another
2 hours before an hour and a half trip back to the hotel… But at least we had
our luggage.
On day 3, things went a bit
easier. The 10 hook sabikis reduced our bait catching time significantly and we
were off to the grounds in record time. We put out the upgraded dredge and
daisy chain teasers and stood by with an arsenal of proper pitch rods. Having
caught my target fish, I took residence in the tuna tower hoping to spot a few
fish for Wayne and Tim. We had just turned along the current line when two fish
came up on the teasers. One ate Wayne’s live bait but spat it before he could
hook up. We turned over the same spot and this time three whites came up. Tim
threw a stick bait at one which had a good swat at it but no hookup. The other
two half-heartedly chased the baits before turning away. On the next turn, the
three fish came up again. One of them charged at Wayne’s bait at high speed and
jumped clear of the water, missing it totally. They seemed to be more
interested in the larger lures behind the teasers than the live baits presented
to them. We had a bit of a brain storm and decided to pitch only dead baits at
them rigged with chugger heads. After about 10 minutes, a fish came up on the
teaser. Wayne pitched a bait and the fish switched perfectly and ate it. After
feeding a bit, he hooked up to his first white marlin. The fish gave a great
show before subduing it.
Trolling commenced and it was not
long before Tim had a shot at a fish. It moved back and forth between the
teasers just glancing at the pitch bait. Finally, it keyed in on the mackerel
and ate it. Tim did an excellent job and hooked up perfectly. This fish was
very strong and did not want to give up. It sounded between jumps and made a
few good runs but eventually Brendan got it on the leader. Now the pressure was
off as everyone had their fish. Now we could relax a bit.
Brendan was up for round 2 and
this time it seemed too easy. The fish came up on the teaser, a bait was
pitched and the fish came straight onto it and chowed. The hookup was good and
after 15 minutes, Bren had his second white on the leader. I was now in the hot
seat and reluctantly left my perch upstairs. As my luck would have it, 2 more
fish came up in the teasers in the next hour but both faded off before seeing
the bait.
The skies cleared throughout the
day but the fish were very quiet. At about noon, a fish came up on the right
teaser and Wayne made the perfect pitch. The fish immediately ate the bait and
when the line came tight after the feed, the fish took to the air. It made
three hectic jumps and as we were beginning to backup on it, the hook pulled!
Unlucky.
With that, our Moroccan trip came
to an end. The goal was to each catch a white marlin and we achieved that, so
we were happy. The trip back was thankfully far less eventful than the trip
there and everyone made it home safe with more stories to tell.
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