Jump to content

Blue Marlin On Popper Rod!

wacko

By wacko
in Fishing Reports

 Share

Recommended Posts

wacko FLATHEAD

wacko

Posted
Posted

Hi guys,

Well what a day!

I found myself free of things to do on Sunday, and as you do when you have some time on your hands.....you go Fishing!!!

So I hastily organised a trip out with good mates Rob and Drew. :)

The plan was to troll north/east of Botany, then set up a cube trail for tuna somewhere past the shelf.

Intentions were for Yellowfin Tuna... but in the back of my head I was thinking 'marlin' as we hooked and fought one last week.

I always rig my lures with the foresight that a marlin could also 'crash the party'..............well it happened!!!......... about 5 miles past the Shelf line and trolling back west.

We had a good spread of lures out.....Two 10" Pushers in closer......One 7" lure on right hand corner, a trembler on left hand corner...and for a bit of fun I ran a shotgun lure which was a small 6" Pakula Zipper in Hot pink colour.

Problem was....we left the outriggers at home so I ran the shotgun lure off my tall 7'6" Saltiga popper rod which was tall enough to clear the other lines.

This was matched to a Saltiga Reel and about 330mtrs of 80lb braid.

Murphy's Law usually sees good fish eat the smallest or most inappropiate rig in the spread..............sunday was no exception!!!! :wacko:

The Blue crash tackled the little Pakula and made for the horizon like there was no tomorrow!!!!

:1yikes:

Andrew was quick to clear the lines and Rob had control of the boat............by this stage I literally had 10 or 20mtrs left on the spool!!!! (You could see the metal of the spool under the braid!) A 'hyper drive' kinda first run, sizzling even under some heavy drag pressure.....I could smell the burn of the drag washers! :1yikes:

Rob spun the boat round' and gave chase hard!.........I wound like mad and found I re-gained about 3 quarters line back. With a bit of confidence I got stuck into the fish under hefty drag..........the fish replied with another blistering run of around 200mtrs!!! We ran the fish down hard again just to get some line back then things started to go our way.....

The marlin hung deep after the burn-outs and this is probably where I was wishing I had'nt hooked it on a Popper rod!!! (My back is destroyed!!!! lol)

Steady pressure put hurt on the fish (and us!!!).... a few more short, tired runs from the marlin....and an Hour and a bit later we had the leader in hand!!! :yahoo:

A decision was made to boat the fish and I can honestly say that this is the first Marlin I have killed (all previous have been released and swam off strongly). He won't go to waste and there are 3 family's who wont go hungry for a while!!!!

So there you have it, 90 odd kilos of Blue marlin caught on a small lure and a Popper/Threadine outfit!

Side note: We did about 3 hours cubing afterwards for zip yellowfin.....trolled on the way home and found good sized striped-tuna x4 and saw a free jumper marlin just inside the wide Fad off Botany.

Cheers guys, and sorry for the long-ass write up!

Will put up video at a later stage....

Wacko.

The marlin......

post-13416-127288665919_thumb.jpg

The lure that did the damage: Pakula 6inch Zipper in Hot Pink, rigged on 200lb Jinkai and a solid s/s single hook.

post-13416-127288667187_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites
350chev WHITING

350chev

Posted
Posted

Hi Wacko,

Awesome fish. I thought your story sounded familiar, i had spoken to Rob today and he told me about the marlin. He was pretty excited :yahoo: I still cant believe out of all the gear you guys were using the marlin had to smash the threadline

great effort :thumbup:

Daniel

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mako1 SNAPPER

mako1

Posted
Posted

That's an awesome effort wacko :thumbup:

It's always the way. You put the smallest lure

and outfit out and it gets taken by the biggest fish.

The striped marlin we got on Saturday took the smallest

lure in the spread too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
fishmaniac SNAPPER

fishmaniac

Posted
Posted (edited)

Awesome mate!

Well done on a great fish with a challenging combo. I take it you are happy with your saltiga outfit as I have seen you have landed a few marlin on it on youtube.

I'll have to give marlin fishing a decent go sometime soon...

Could I ask how long the shockleader you use is and how much strike drag you run? I also fish jigging outfits for tuna etc and am concerned that my briad will break when hit by a fish on the troll.

Andrew

Edited by fishmaniac
Link to comment
Share on other sites
The President FLATHEAD

The President

Posted
Posted

Wacko, great catch. But truth be said, when we buy such quality gear (spin) in the back of minds we hope to use it on such a fish. To actually achieve your catch makes purchasing the gear worth it. Well done.

The President.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
wacko FLATHEAD

wacko

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thanks to every one who replied! :)

Much appreciated! It is a special fish and one I wont forget!

I can't take all the credit for the capture though, team work driving and clearing lines etc......... and 45mins into the fight, I gave my screaming back muscles a quick rest and Drove the Boat while Rob fought the fish for about 20mins.......I resumed the fight and when the Marlin got close....I went to leader and tag/gaff duties....Andrew finished the fish off from the rod when I had leader in hand. :)

A nice team effort, and 3 of us on-board got to share some PAIN!! LOL :tease::1prop:

Cheers,

Wack'

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...