Chasing the elusive blue marlin

Our mission, which we chose to accept, was to catch a marlin each for two billfish virgins.

The location: Kona, Hawaii; the target species: blue marlin; the boat: Melee (formerly Marlin Magic), skippered by Bryan Toney; the anglers: Steph Hill and Miah Dixon, assisted by crewman Kev Hibbard.

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The background: Steph had won Tony Orton’s ‘Journey of a Fisherman’ promo prize, which included a Mac boat with a Honda outboard, Shimano tackle, and a three-day game-fishing trip to Kona, Hawaii. Steph had never been marlin fishing before, so any action was going to be a bonus.

Angler two, Miah, has several tuna and mahimahi to her credit, but despite spending many days chasing marlin in New Zealand and overseas, she has never been successful. She blames her father.

The fishing in Kona, despite being the middle of the season, was reported as ‘patchy’. A change in the current was affecting the results, although some good yellowfin were popping up.

Tony and Bea Orton had already hosted one group with mixed success; the large chunk of yellowfin they brought to our accommodation was a great welcome to Hawaii – a portent of things to come, perhaps?

The beauty about Kona is that fishing starts within five minutes of leaving the dock. As a volcanic island, it rises sharply out of the depths, so there is no long run out to the fishing grounds.

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Kona is the home of lure fishing, and nothing has changed much in that regard over the years. Our experienced skipper runs a conventional spread of four lures – a mixture of jet-heads and pushers – along with a couple of less-than-conventional teasers. One is a large spearfish imitation, the other a ‘mudflap’ yellowfin outline; these are run off the bridge’s teaser reels.

The geography of the ‘Big Island’ gives plenty of protection from the sou’easterly trade winds, making for very little swell, with just a light chop to ruffle the water. Brian gives his clients a good day on the water, leaving the dock soon after 6.00am and returning around 4.00pm, with lines remaining in the water almost continuously.

On the first morning the seas were relatively calm, but unfortunately Steph was suffering a little from all the travel, excitement and organisation that went into leaving two small boys at home with grandma while she enjoyed her prize trip.

Mate Kevin Hibbard gave the girls a thorough briefing, especially Steph, who was unfamiliar with chair fishing in general and heavy 60kg tackle in particular. Most Kona boats fish with the big guns out, just in case a ‘grander’ pops into the spread.

This was the time of year the giant blues were about, and with two female anglers having most of the chair time, Bryan was well aware a 1000-pound blue would break the women’s 60kg line-class record.

Within 30 minutes or so we hooked up, not to anything with a bill, but to an old sea boot. At least the hooks were sharp!

Upon re-setting, we didn’t have to wait long before one of the jet-heads was bit, a small blue doing a great disco-dancing routine as it sought its freedom. Steph was in the chair, concentrating on spreading the line across the spool while taking the occasional glance at her fish doing its haka 100 metres away.

The skipper only used the boat to keep a little pressure on the fish, allowing the angler to feel the pull of her first billfish. The smiles between the grimaces of concentration told the story, and it was not long before Kev had a good wrap on the leader and the fish was officially caught.

There was time for a few photos as Steph reached over to grab the bill before parting company with her first billfish. Mission accomplished … well, the first half, anyway.

An hour or so later, a big hole appeared where the jet-head had been, and it was Miah’s turn in the chair. From very early on it was evident this was not another billfish, but a yellowfin, which was quickly landed and brought on board. Later, it weighed 39kg.

Unfortunately, the following four days were to be billfish-free, although Miah did manage a 76kg yellowfin on day two. While tracing this fish, Kevin had to dump the trace, which subsequently caught his little finger and broke it cleanly. The situation might have been worse had Miah not had the foresight to back the drag off a little with the swivel at the rod-tip.

There were a couple of knock-downs and a small mahimahi, which was about the same size as the lure. It was not as though others in the fleet were doing the business either, but our crew stayed positive and worked hard to produce a result.

While Miah left with unfinished business, we all had the pleasure of fishing with the best on a boat that has a lot of history. And, like all fishing trips, there is always something to be learned, regardless of the results.

Lure rigging

Kevin shared a couple of tips regarding hook placement and preparation, which were filmed by Tony for a future edition of Journey of a Fisherman.

• Tip one: When using electrical tape to stiffen a rig, always use a good-quality superglue to secure the tape tag-end. This prevents it unravelling when the lure is run. Even the best electrical tape is not sticky enough to withstand the effects of water pressure over a day’s trolling. Gluing the tag-end keeps everything neat and tidy.

• Tip two: Should the hooks be set ‘up’ or ‘down’? Kevin likes to run his hooks facing down. He believes that when a marlin attacks a lure from the side, it’s rolled over into an upward position on the bite, making trhe hook more likely to latch into the softer upper jaw or corner of the fish’s mouth. A toothpick is used to hold the hook in position.

• Tip three: Drag pressure. A heavier drag pressure is used, with the mindset being the fish is either hooked or it’s not. If the initial strike is missed, Kevin winds the lure quickly towards the boat to try and keep the fish excited and in bite mode, especially if one of the ‘rigger lures run further back is hit. The whole spread is generally placed a couple of waves further back from where most Kiwi skippers run their lures.

• Tip four: Run the teasers in close. Bryan’s teasers were big and splashy, run off the ‘riggers and placed inside the short and long corners.

   This article is reproduced with permission of   
New Zealand Fishing News

September 2017 - Grant Dixon
Re-publishing elsewhere is prohibited

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