The lure thief caught on Camera – Striped Marlin

[Scent Blazer Lures]

Hey Raiders, a couple of weeks ago we lost a lure that was down-rigged to our Troll Pro with a rubber band. I surmised that the line somehow got caught around the camera cord and the lure couldn’t release. Something took it or it got snagged on something like a big lump of kelp and it busted off.

We finally have had the time to go through the footage to find out what happened, it was Stripped Marlin and wow it really wanted that lure. Here are a couple of stills from the video.

Check out how many tags are in this Marlin! So we ended up hooking 2 Marlin on that day now that we’ve seen that footage. It’s a bummer the lure didn’t release and we didn't have the opportunity to try and land the Marlin, but I am really glad we got the footage. It’s good research material for us which shows us how Marlin attack a bait or a lure which will ultimately help us figure out the best methods to catch one.

We will post the video shortly on YouTube and we’ll include some footage on the lure and how we setup our Troll Pro.

In the meantime if you want to try Scent Blazer Lures please go to our website www.scentblazer.com. We have been braining the Dolphin Fish on our lure chains and the lure packs are good value starting from $99.95.

Peter

Edited February 5, 2014 by Scent Blazer Lures

[REEF MAGIC CHARTERS]

Hey Peter... Nice shot of the striped marlin. If they are tags they are terrible shots. I think you will find they are remora not tags in the fish.

Cheers

Damo

[Paikea]

Great post and pics, thanks for the info.

Cheers

Paikea

[boattart]

There some good shot especially as stills of a GoPro. It looks to be quite close to the surface given the amount of light. Can you recall how deep the downrigger was? I think you'll also find the "tags" you refer to are parasitic type worms that dig in to the skin. They are more common on Black Marlin but no reason they wouldn't be on Stripes as well. Julian Pepperell wrote an article last year I think in Bluewater on them and other parasites.

Edited February 5, 2014 by boattart

[Scent Blazer Lures]

Hey Peter... Nice shot of the striped marlin. If they are tags they are terrible shots. I think you will find they are remora not tags in the fish.

Cheers

Damo

hey, I think you're right, they don't look like tags now you mention it

we caught a marlin off Port Stephens a few years ago that had about 5-6 tags in it, so I guess my first impression was that they were tags as well

its like a high speed bus service for those little ramoras

[boattart]

I mentioned this post to Julian Pepperell and he replied " The parasites that look like worms are actually a highly modified copepod (crustacean), called Penella (means 'feather') .They burrow in as larvae, and their head parts form an anchor while the body grows long, with filamentous gills at the far end" and he suggest it is actually a Black Marlin. The dorsal is not as high as a striped and the pectoral appear more Black shaped and definitely appear fixed and that Blacks can show distinct strips like those in the shot.

[Scent Blazer Lures]

No probs, I think we are getting to the bottom of this. I sent the photos to a guy at the Sydney Museum and he said they look like some kind of hook worm as well.

So it's gone from tags to Remoras to worms.

You might be right about the type as well, it might be a black. My first impression is that it looks a striped marlin because of the stripes, but all marlin have stripes. It is quite chubby around the head which is more like a black.

Does anyone here have an opinion on the type of Marlin it is and how big it is? The lure in its mouth is about 7 inches long.

Edited February 6, 2014 by Scent Blazer Lures

[Jumbofin]

Hi guys,

Great photos! I reckon it's a black.

We hooked a fish a few weeks ago and its first jump near the boat had me calling it a black because of the distinct black/purple colour along its back, silver belly and pectoral fins fixed outwards. But once we had it next to the boat I noticed faint stripes very similar to the fish in the photo. As its dorsal fin was too small for a striped marlin and having not seen a black marlin for a very long time, the stripes had us confused and started thinking a small blue marlin instead.

Once I got home and reviewed the gopro footage it was clearly a black marlin, stripes were not visible on the video at all and pectoral fins fixed the whole time.

The fish in the photo seems to have a dorsal fin too short to be a striped marlin. If the footage shows its pectoral fins fixed then maybe that would be a good indicator of it being a black as well. Either way, shame you didn't get to bring it to the boat mate.

As far as weight goes, at a guess, between 80 - 100kg but I'm no expert. I bet the footage is awesome, looking forward to seeing the strike!

Cheers

[GerardC]

Curved pecks & short dorsal, I'd put good money on a black, and Dr Pepperal's professional opinion!

Cheers.

[Scent Blazer Lures]

I mentioned this post to Julian Pepperell and he replied " The parasites that look like worms are actually a highly modified copepod (crustacean), called Penella (means 'feather') .They burrow in as larvae, and their head parts form an anchor while the body grows long, with filamentous gills at the far end" and he suggest it is actually a Black Marlin. The dorsal is not as high as a striped and the pectoral appear more Black shaped and definitely appear fixed and that Blacks can show distinct strips like those in the shot.

no probs, yeah I'd think its black as well now. The head has a bit of curve to it, the striped marlin seem to have a more streamlined head shape

The lure was attached to troll pro, so I am guessing it was only about 2 metres underwater, maybe a bit less.

[Scent Blazer Lures]

Curved pecks & short dorsal, I'd put good money on a black, and Dr Pepperal's professional opinion!

Cheers.

No probs, you can't argue with the doctor

Yeah I would guess around the same, somewhere between 200 and 240lb on the old scale.

[Baby Karlos]

Awesome shots