Marlin

[Ketchman]

So tell me guys, when you're out there fishing Marlin or just billfish in general, what do you catch other than Ono, Mahi, Sailfish or White Marlin. I've read the reports from past posts and the fishing sounds pretty fantastic there when you're out there fishing the deep. Are White's generally fairly small? In small I mean small for Marlin. The largest I've caught is 427# Blue and it really wasn't all that big for a Blue

[Capt. Fred]

Generaly when I'm fishing for marlin I don't catch anything! Where I fish out of Hatteras NC if you want blue or white marlin most folks go to the deeper water (100fathom +) and fish that. I usually fish much shallower than that and rarely venture out to the deeper water to target marlin.

You can catch bills in the shallower water around here. Mostly sailfish but there have been some big blues caught in close. We got a sail in pretty close a couple of years ago.

I am usually meat fishing and don't consider myself a marlin fisherman at all but once or twice a year I'll go deep and put out the teasers and big plugs and give it a shot. Due to our lack of success at it iwe get very little positive reinforcement to try again until the embarassement of defeat has worn off.

We have caught the random mahi, tuna, or wahoo doing it though so it's sometime not a complete waste of time.

[TunaTeaser1]

You won't really see any whites around here bigger than 90#. Right now boats are catching yellowfins, blackfins, dolphin (mahi), wahoo, sails, whites, and blues on the troll. You can pretty much put out a basic spread and have a shot at all these species or cater your spread more to a specific fish if you choose.

Fred, I think if you gave billfishing more time you would see more results. It's hard to get frustrated if you're really only doing it once or twice a year. Now would be the time to do it a few days in a row and I'd think you'd be surprised at what came up.

[blueh20pc]

I'm like Ken (Capt Fred) and really try not to drag anything for Bills, and I don't try and target them either. Meaning I drag around smaller baits than most in the same waters.

Mostly I will get good sized Gaffer dolphin (Mahi, ONO) on the smaller lures, but occasionally have been teased with White Marlin and Sailfish. Most White's in NC go anywhere from 50-90 lbs, Sailfish a little smaller.

If I had an arsenal of bigger tackle, I might be tempted to try billfishing, but I hear it's addictive, seriously addictive. And I'm one of those guys who can get addictive quickly. I've been a compulsive gambler for 17 years now. And that's card playing, not billfishing, which would get me into trouble real quick living in NC money wise.

I do hear rumors from Headhunt and Offshore about their plans to get hard into the billfish action this summer. I have seen both of them catching up Spanish Mack's this spring in order to bridle them and go billfishing.

Maybe they are thinking about the new rule changes at the pirate's cove big game tournament and are going to enter in the less than 30 foot class?

[Ketchman]

I don't get as much of a chance to fish Marlin as I'd like living in Washington, and wasn't introduced to it until taking a vacation from Alaska to Hawaii one year. In Alaska I fished, addictively all salmon species and steelhead was by far my favorite, with cutthroat running a close second. Sockeye in July was a kick too,,,,As for Marlin when I lived in Kona I spent many days out fishing Black and Blue with little but some success and handlining yellowfin,,,,,now there's a fun way to catch a big yellowfin. We'd listen to the radio for floaters and go after Mahi Mahi when we could. You guys sound like you enjoy your fishing over there that's for sure, it's good to hear

[vettnman]

I haven't targeted billfish at all. I got lucky last year and caught and released a nice sail beside the boat, and I've had white marlin whack the ballyhoo I was trolling with a quick hookup and then a spit of the hook. Last june during the fish and fest, Alan(headhunt) and I saw several marlin and sailfish basically sunning on the surface. I lost count of billfish after seeing the 8th one. I may decide later on to try my hand at billfishing, but right now I'm enjoying meat fishing too much.

Chris, I didn't know you were a card player. We're hooked on playing poker tourneys around here ourselves

[blueh20pc]

Yep, saw that fish get released, you did a good job Dave, being singel handed and all.

As far as Gambling, get me anywhere near a blackjack table and I'll lose everything I have and everything I'm ever gonna make for the next five years.

And it's just like fishing, I'll go 20 hours straight playing BJ without sleep. I learned that the hard way when I was younger.

Playing Poker, even on-line is dangerous for me . I could seriously get into it, like really seriously. I'd rather think about mowing the grass or doing some maintenance on the boat. Cause once I start, I'm gonna end.