Fish Report – Tuna Trip aboard the See Ya, August 9,10,11,12.
Big Game trip shifted from Tuna to Marlin
The Catch:
Striped Marlin, on Monday Aug 12th 2024
1/2 inch short of 8-feet fork length. 95 ½ inches.
28 minutes of fight.
Weight 123 #
On 50# monofilament line.
Fishing aboard the See Ya with Capt Carl Lambert, we were on a mission to find Big Tuna.
We flew the Kite with Flying fish. We ran Mad Macks at long distances etc. No Joy. Despite seeing puddles and even active "leaping tuna" we did not get a taker for any of the flying fish. One good strike that missed. A good portion of boats were up in the same zone. Farther out than we normally go.
End of day three...
On the second morning we had very good luck catching fresh flying fish and stocked Carl's flying fish tubes with 22 fish and more in the bait tank. The tubes did a very good job of keeping them alive until time to re-bait the kite.
After 3 days on the Tuna grounds, for zero fish, we learned about a batch of marlin had made it up nearby and were in front of Catalina Island. On our last day, we went to work the area on the way back to MDR. The first marlin spotted in the lures did strike but it didn't stay hooked. It sure did tease Carl on his set up.
Several boats were hooked up and/or had released marlin in the area. So the game was on.
We spotted the 2nd marlin up on the surface, in the lures, after some strategic maneuvering. It was looking at my port outrigger lure. The fish moved off. Our deck hand, Camron, saw it eyeing the starboard short corner. Then it came back to the port outrigger and slammed it good. Snapped it out of the outrigger clip and I moved to man the rod. Took the Penn International 30 two speed reel up to full strike setting and put pressure on it to firmly set the hook. The marlin had broad shoulders and was strong. It ran hard. The first big run took me all the way to the knot. Finally,* the boat went to reverse, and I got 6 turns on the spool and the battle went on. I had to grind hard in low gear when it was down deep.
(* The other lures were retrieved and stowed so we could maneuver. It was a terrible thing to look at the end knot and know any second this line will part. Only seemed like a long time. Luckily it didn’t break.)
Several runs later it showed itself and danced a little bit on the surface. When a marlin is up and thrashing about this is a dangerous part of the fight where they often throw the hook and get away.
Over the next 20 minutes of battle the discussions went round on release vs take. Marlin lovers’ are long on release and rare on take. Especially when they are members of the illustrious Tuna Club of Avalon. 3 of the anglers aboard are Tuna Club men. For me... MDRAnglers and I have released our fair share of Marlin. I elected to keep or take this fish. It seemed to me a good time to get a full weight on it to earn First Marlin and Largest Marlin and earn Carl, on his new boat, the First Marlin Flag. After all, it seemed hurt from this brutal battle.
It was tricky boat maneuvering for Carl, for an agonizing few minutes as the fish was doing its best to not come up. We shifted to starboard and back to port many times. It successfully ran short bursts away from us several times. We were up to the leader at times and had the “double” to the rod but it pulled away again and again.
Gaffer, Steve Morse, landed a perfect hump placement near to the head. Using a very sharp reversed barbed gaff he sliced through the toughest parts of the fish right behind the head. Leader man Camron got a gaff onto the tail. Now the fish is fully under control. I could put down the rod with just a little Slack and a medium drag to help lift the fish. I grabbed the bill and we hoisted it aboard the boat.
Capt Carl reminded us of the location of the bat. (Also called the priest) I personally put the marlin to sleep with a few taps on the head. We got the transom door open and maneuvered the beautiful billfish aboard. It took most of the depth of the cockpit deck. It lit up with exquisite purple stripes. The purple stripes on its sides and the top fin colors were electric and beautiful. The hook set was in the lip and in the small soft gap between hard bony parts. We iced it and put it under wet towels for the ride home to Del Rey Yacht Club.
And the photos say the rest.
Success. Found the Fish. The Fish bit. It stayed hooked. The team executed. The big game fish was landed. All of those parts are hard individually and for all of them had to come together and work together. It is hard and a super fun achievement in fishing. The bill and mouth of a marlin is boney, and it is really good when the hook sticks. The tenacity at the boatside takes toughness of the angler and the patience of the team punctuated by fast action at the point of landing the fish. An exhilarating thing.
28 minutes of hard fight. At the beginning I was sure it was going to spool me. It almost did. I was down to just the knot for far too long. Looking at a really good knot at the end of that spool! When I re-spool I’ll be thinking about this and tie a good knot. Boy, I got lucky with this one. We saw that it had Big shoulders and knew we were in for a hard fight.
Just ½ inch short of full 8 feet in length at the fork. Weight of 123# on the new DRYC certified scale.
Tight Lines,
Keith Lambert -<”><
The Crew…
Capt. Carl Lambert
Anglers Steve Morse, Keith Lambert, Daniel Rubin
Deckhand Cameron
On the catch Steve Morse is the Gaffer, Cameron was the leader-man, Keith Lambert the Angler.
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