I had made a promise to my son Matthew who is 12, that this year he would get a Marlin. So I took the easy option while on holidays for 10 days at Nelson Bay, I left our boat at home and went out with Ivan on board Ambition . Ivan was fantastic with Matthew and really looked after us.
I must admit I was a little sceptic and thought it may still be a little early in the season for a high probability, after all, how many times have you gone out and not even had a strike or you do hook up but loose one, however there had been some captures.
So on 20th January 2010 we headed out at 7.00am. Now my dad had caught Marlin, I had caught Marlin and now it was Matthews turn (third generation to catch a marlin)
Five 24kg outfits were set up and around 12.30pm, 86 fathoms in perfect weather the centre shot gun out rigger released. Out she came, head shaking, tail walking black marlin. Matthew did an excellent job on the rod and Chris our deck hand had the trace then tagged and it was all over in 20 minutes with the help of Ivan’s boat manoeuvring.
So an extremely excited son had gone marlin fishing for the first time, hooked up on his first marlin, landed and tagged his first marlin. Not bad considering many people take years and a many attempts before they get their first marlin.
We estimated the black Marlin to be between 75kg to 85kg, perfect size for a 12 year old boy on 24kg tackle on a perfect day. I am a very proud dad who has taken great pleasure in seeing the joy and excitement his son gets from fishing.
A big thank you to Ivan and crew of Ambition
Cheers
Martin