The Classic Striped Marlin Lure Spread

Alistair Arkell walks us through his current spread for striped marlin, before taking us on a journey through some of the classics to be found in Kiwi anglers’ lure bags.

Game fishing lures are probably the most discussed topic on New Zealand fishing forums and social media, perhaps because we don’t have a vast resource of gamefish and the hot bites only really occur for a short time, so talking about lures is the next best thing – especially in the long cold winter months.

My gamefishing experience only goes back to around 2005. Unfortunately, this means I missed the hottest period of New Zealand game fishing – the 1998/99 and 1999/2000 seasons, with record-high air temps and sea temps bringing large numbers of marlin and tropical visitors to our waters. In this late 90’s period, wahoo made more than the odd appearance – a real rarity this far south in the Pacific. Yellowfin were thick on the ground and to the pro fishermen of the time, they were a nuisance that interfered with the marlin fishing! After doing some quick research, it was likely the record-high sea temps in the Indian Ocean in this period potentially pushed down under and kept things warmer than expected for a year or two.

A number of the lures that make my ‘go to’ spread below were hot items in the late ‘90s to the mid-2005 period of game fishing. I’ve been a student of the game for some time now and have had a rather costly attraction to game fishing lures!

I must admit that I’m down to my lucky last of these classic lures and once these go, I’ll have to rethink my spread. With two young children in tow, my commitment to bluewater fishing is not quite what it used to be, but I expect my time will come again soon.

Some classic spread options, from left: Moldcraft Wide Range, Pacific Big Eye in Fruit Salad, Pakula Rat in Black Betty, Kilwell Pacific Hawaiian Poo Brown and Pakula Lumo small Sprocket.

My spread for striped marlin

Short Corner: My spread for striped marlin starts with a Pakula Rat Black Betty on the short. It’s a big aggressive lure which is probably more at home in a blue marlin spread, but it’s for precisely this reason that I run it on the short. Its violent, aggressive, sweeping action looks magnificent and after you’ve run it once, it’s very, very difficult to pull it from this position. Most importantly, it raises and catches fish. Typically, the short bait is the least productive lure in the striped marlin spread but run a Rat in Black Betty and you will not be disappointed! The Rat does need to be pegged down to the transom and onto a roller troller via a #32 rubber band as it won’t run quite right straight off the rod tip on the short corner, but this is no big deal. It is common to have to run a lure like this on the short, especially if you run your lures as close as I do.

Long Corner: I use another relatively big lure for striped marlin on my long corner: the legendary Poo Brown, made famous by skipper John Gregory and crew aboard Primetime. It was the first game lure I purchased from the once-popular Westhaven store WS Laurie’s. No longer available on the market, the Poo Brown became legendary in Northland fishing. Its actual name is the Kilwell Pacific Hawaiian KP615, and you’re lucky if you can find one for sale these days. It hasn’t been the fish magnet for me, as it has been for more esteemed fishermen. However, it seems to work well in my spread, and it looks so good popping and smoking that I’m loath to swap it for another lure.

Short Rigger: The short rigger is my favourite position to watch in a spread and has always been my most productive for striped marlin. Hands down the best striped marlin lure on the planet is the Kilwell Pacific Big Eye KP m583 in the famed colour Fruit Salad. I’ve seen more stripeys caught on this lure when run on the short rigger than any other. King Bank, West Coast, East Coast – it’s a killer. Again, it’s no longer available on the market, however, a variation of it is still produced, but it is much lighter in weight and with different skirts – a real shame. The lure used to pop up for sale regularly, but I rarely see it now. If you ever hear people talk about the Fruit Salad, this is the lure they are referencing. But like with all lures, as new technology emerged, the legendary Fruit Salad got shuffled out of people’s lure bags and on to Trade Me.

Long Rigger: A Jet Phantom in Evil or Lumo is my ‘go to’ for the long rigger. It’s a small bite-size lure that can be lethal on striped marlin. My current Phantom skirt fell apart on its last encounter with a marlin and needs to be redressed before next season. Traditionally, I would run a Lumo on the long rigger, but it’s hard to leave an Evil out of the spread, given its resemblance to jack mackerel.

I do not usually run a shotgun, for the sole reason that four sets of gear to pull in is a lot if short-handed on a trailerboat, and I like to get after fish quickly. Who knows if it affects how many fish I catch, but I’m not overly worried about it either way. The only other potential change to my spread is if I run a teaser. In this case, my Rat and Poo Brown come out, and a smaller more edible lure goes on the long corner, such as a small Sprocket in Lumo.

A lot of people will say I’m old school and need to get with the times with a full dredge set up. They are most likely quite right, but given I only marlin fish a few days a year, I haven’t the inclination to invest and instead will continue to rely on my classic spread which has worked so well in the past.

Where I have brought myself into the 21st century is with light gauge tackle. It’s a game-changer. There are some fantastic light gauge options on the market now. Black Bart, Owner, Pakula, Gamakatsu and the most popular Bonze are all great choices. I run a two hook, light 60-degree rig and file the barbs right down to allow the most effortless penetration. To complement this, we like to run 200-pound leaders, or even lighter on small lures like Phantom and the small Sprocket. A lot of people will scoff at this and say a minimum of 300 pounds is necessary. This is accurate if you are chasing blues or want to gaff your fish. But I only fish for striped marlin now and use wind-ons, so there is no need to have a good pull on the leader and as long as I get some cool photos, I’m a happy man.

The writer has the results to prove his classic striped marlin lure spread works.

Some other classics

When you only run four or five lures in a spread, there are many lures that sit unwashed in the tackle bag which are still worthy of time in the water. For me, these include…

Bonze Hercules in Black and Purple – This is one of Bonze’s earlier lures and if I’m going blue marlin fishing, it sits on the short rigger, all day every day. It’s a big aggressive lure that, as a winder, has been responsible for both of my blue marlin captures. So, I am of course very attracted to this lure. She’s a beast and a blue marlin magnet.

Moldcraft Wide Range – This is one of the most popular and yet basic lures in the world. It is made in the USA and is more of a blue marlin than a striped marlin lure, but I must confess that the smallest striped marlin I have caught was on a Wide Range. It was a little 65-70kg fish that somehow managed to consume this lure in the last hour of a week’s game fishing, where we had failed to raise a fish all week. It’s a great lure and one of my favourites that I will never part with. It became prevalent due to its very soft head and skirt, with the theory being that fish would grab it and be able to crunch down and assume they were eating a fish. Whether this is true or not, it is a great lure that works. It is also available in a huge range of colours and will not break the bank.

Zuker 5.5 in Black and Purple – This is one of the most popular lures in New Zealand, if not the most popular. I’ve never caught a fish on one, but we have caught marlin on the blue and pink version. It’s ultra-popular and easy to run. It has lots of skirts, which we always like to trim back a bit. It’s one of those can’t go wrong lures that you can run anywhere in your spread.

This Zuker 5.5 will create good splash and resulting bubble trail almost anywhere in the spread.

Pakula Beer Barrel – This may very well be the lure that made Peter famous locally before the sprocket. For those in the know, it was a killer. The Beer Barrel was around well before my time and I have never actually held an original in my hand. Peter did try and recreate this legend, but alas, it didn’t take off like the original Beer Barrel.

Joe Yee Apollo in Evil – This is another famous lure from the legendary Hawaiian lure-maker which has often been copied, and for good reason. Gisborne based angler Alain Jorion made several facsimiles, slightly changing the weight angle to give it a tight swimming action. It was on one of his copies that he caught the 473.2kg grander black marlin out of his home port, fishing 37kg stand-up from his trailerboat Freedom in 2002. Black Magic made a replica of Alain’s lure and created the Freedom Grand Slam in Evil and Lumo skirts in his honour. It is a mid-sized lure and Grant Dixon’s – who has several of Alain’s original heads – favourites. For Grant, it has accounted for several blue marlin offshore, as well as striped marlin locally.

Alain Jorion caught his grander black marlin out from Gisborne, trolling a home-made version of the Joe Yee Apollo. The Evil skirted model in front is Grant Dixon's favourite.

Pakula Lumo Sprocket – I’ve met some fishermen that run a spread of five of these lures as it’s been so good for them. Alas, I can’t claim any success on this lure, and for this reason, it doesn’t make my classic spread. Believe it or not, it’s actually a blue marlin lure, not a striped marlin lure. But it gets run in New Zealand all day, every day and has caught a lot of marlin here. It’s been voted into Marlin Magazine’s Top 10 Lures of All-Time list on more than one occasion and is a classic the world over.

An original Pakula Lumo Sprocket and the new version.

Old Blue – Noted gamefisher and charterboat skipper, the late Bill Hall, made this lure famous through his book Marlin Fishing as well as via regular mentions in his popular contributions to this magazine. Bill championed lure fishing early on in New Zealand after seeing how successful it was in Hawaii. Old Blue has since been produced commercially by Broadbill Lures here in New Zealand. Bill also promoted the doorknob style of lure heavily when he was an ‘influencer’ for Kilwell’s gamefishing products, but these seem out of favour today. You might pick up one in a bargain bin somewhere if you’re lucky.

Hooker Ghost – Noted gamefisher and light tackle specialist Guy Jacobsen established Hooker Lures in partnership with Capt. Frank Cunningham. A feature of their brand was the bubble material used in the manufacturing of the skirts. One of the best performing lures in the range was the Hooker Ghost, a squid imitation white and brown skirt on a medium plunger head.

The Hooker Ghost can be counted among the Kiwi Classics line-up. The squid imitation featured a 'bubble skirt'.

The above are the lures I consider classics. There are many top-performing ‘modern’ lures from the likes of Kiwi manufacturers Bonze, Red Gill, and Broadbill, to name a few, but they are subjects for a future feature.