Last Saturday, our trip began like many others, but it turned into the most dramatic battle with a big fish, in my 30 years of offshore fishing. Normally we don’t post a lot of details in our reports, but this one deserves it. And the story may offer encouragement and lessons, to others who pursue big fish in small boats.
The crew included Cory and Chuck who are strong 20/30-somethings, and Lamar and myself who are ~60. And we are fishing from a 24 McKee with twin Yamah 150’s. We left Edisto Marina, adn put lines in near 226 soon after 6 am. There was a good break and some flyers, but we had only one slinger shortly after 10 am.
A small billfish came through the spread, and we made a loop back through the area. then Chuck spotted a dorsal and tail in the propwash, adn frantically screamed “Marlin, marlin, marlin”. The fish shot past the daisy chain, and inhaled a naked on the starboard outrigger. Chuck grabbed the rod, dropped the bait back, then set the hook and yelled “clear the lines”. And the battle was waged.
We run two 50-wides and the rest 3-wides, but often said, when the big fish hits, it will be one of the 30’s. And it was. Specifically it was a 30-wide Tiagra with 40# Momoi, and we gained new respect for both reel and line that day. But, back to the fish.
When the lines were in the reel was still screaming, so I turned the boat at a 45 degree angle with the line, and we regained some line. For the next 30 minutes, the fish made some long runs, went down twice and made two runs at us. But we reacted well and the hook seemed to be set. By then we realized it was a serious fish, and put the harness onto Chuck and the belt. But even with the full gear, fighting this fish without a chair was rigorous, and Cory relieved Chuck. We all wondered what it might look like.
Then the water exploded, adn she put on a dazzling show, not far from the boat. She jumped several times, greyhounded 150 yards, and stood on her tail. Each time she fell back, the sea exploded. Her size and beauty and power were
