Wanted to share this with my Edisto friends. Wife and I fishing Mixed Bag II out of St. Thomas Virgin Islands caught and released this Blue Marlin. We hooked two for the day and went 1 for 2.
Link to the youtube video here:
original here:
It looks amazing when it jumps . . . . then you see the size of the boat and it is even more amazing how big that fish is. Very cool video.
awesome fish!
Link to new enhanced video above and I’m posting some pics below the content.
Ok Gang, Now that I’ve pulled together some more video and pics of our first marlin, I thought I would share our story with everyone.
First of all this is our first marlin and something my wife had on her bucket list as the top one or two things she wanted to do in her life. The fish has been estimated at 13 feet long and 800 lbs. We caught this sow, on the North Drop off of St. Thomas, VI on Friday, Sept. 5, 2011 and were fishing out of Red Hook Marina, which is a neat little fishing village if you ever visit there.
Here is where the story gets wild. We were visiting due to one of my best friends’ wedding on Sunday. My wife and I went a couple of days early because next month, we are celebrating our 15th Anniversary and we wanted to do some scuba diving together and target our first Blue Marlin while we were there.
We got to St. Thomas on Tuesday and the rest of the wedding party came in on Thursday. Not thinking I could afford to book a charter on my own, we begged many members of the wedding party to help us defray the cost and go out with us on Friday morning. No takers, Thank God and our lucky stars. We were originally booked for Saturday on another boat with people we didn’t know. After talking with some people at Red Hook Marina in St. Thomas we started calling and booked a charter on a smaller boat that was less expensive, $800 for a six hour trip. Every charter told us we needed to book a 10 hour trip to target blue marlin and at a minimum 8 hours because it was an hour ride out and an hour ride back.
We booked the 6 hour trip anyway and were going to try our luck. We had two knock downs early in the day and the captain thought they were Blue Marlin due to the bite in the bait. My wife was up first, and we had another knock down. She reeled in pretty quickly and it was a small barracuda. At least we weren’t going to get skunked. I’m up next, and shortly thereafter, another knockdown, this
That is truly awesome! Thanks for sharing!
31 Contender
Carolina Skiff J16
Awesome once in a lifetime fish!!! LOL at flip flop!!!
great fish and great story…priceless!
2000 SeaPro 180CC w/ Yammy 115 2 stroke
1966 13’ Boston Whaler w/ Merc 25 4 stroke “Flatty”
www.sswaonline.com
great show!!!
18 Pioneer CC 115 Evinrude E-Tec
Semper Fi!
(**() what a fish.
Mark
Mako 262 Twin Yammaha F200s
Yeah, but do you consider a dog to be a filthy animal? I wouldn’t go so far as to call a dog filthy but they’re definitely dirty. But, a dog’s got personality. Personality goes a long way.
“Life’s tough…It’s even tougher if you’re stupid” John Wayne
Is this that spam thing I read about? Just curious/sayin…
That was a great fish no doubt, but a 156" fish would be a close to a world record and around 1200 lbs. She was a great 700 and 130-135"
Congrats
Tight lines,
Michael Mattson
843-224-3542
captmattson@aol.com
www.lowcountrysportfishing.com
Duke Blue Blood,
The name of the boat was Mixed Bag II and Captain Marc Blackburn. I think their website is something like stjohnsportfishing.com but I do know the company name is Mixed Bag Sport Fishing. Mixed Bag II was a 32 foot custom with a single diesel.
Captain Mattson,
You are probably right on. When we stated 13’, we were looking at the total length of the fish, including the bill. I’m a novice and went with what the boat captain and a couple of the taxidermy guys estimated. After some research, I realize proper measurement should begin at the lower jaw, so I think your measurements are probably right on. The one taxidermist I spoke with says they have a replica that is 156 and equivalent to a 700 lb fish and then they have a 162" that represents a 800-850. We are looking at purchasing the 156" and that is taking in the entire length.
If anyone has any recommendations for quality replica purchases from a taxidermist, I’m open to your suggestions. You can feel free to give me a shout 803 730 0757 tony or pm me here or reply to the thread.
Many thanks!
King Sailfish has a good selection of blues and does a pretty good job.
Just make sure when describing the length, you use the short measurement.
If you don’t know what it is, just tell them the estimated weight and they can help you.
Great job on the blue.
DBB
Nice fish Tony!
–BFC–
15’ Duracraft “Lettered Olive”
23’ Sea Ox “KALMwaters”
Truly a fish of a lifetime right there. Congrats on the blue and great job on relaying the story! Something to be pround of no doubt!