Black Marlin
We mostly fish them with live bait, usually Bonito, Skipjack or small Yellowfin. I attach the bait by it’s lip with a small circle hook tied to the big one. The big hook is crimped to 30 foot 250 lb. fluorocarbon leader. The leader attaches to a Sampo swivel tied by Palomar knot to 100 lb. high vis mono. The 100 pound line is loaded on Shimano Tiagra 80 Wides mounted on bent butt custom chair rods. The fish we see mostly go 400 - 700 pounds, the biggest were maybe 1,000 and the smallest was maybe 200lbs. It's been many years since one has died on us.
We slow troll baits, two from outriggers and two on down riggers. I present the baits up-current, trolling down-current over bait holding structure watching the lines to see when the bait becomes nervous. Two passes over the spot then on to another pinnacle, making my rounds over the Hannibal Bank, Isla Montousa or the reefs off Isla Jicarita. Blacks frequent structure lying in 300 foot deep water, this seems to be the magic depth.
When a bait is taken, the drop back will depend on what’s happening. Feel the line with your thumb & forefinger as it drops off the reel, it may go slack or it may scream off the reel depending on how or which way the fish is headed. Often it eats and stops right there. Hold the line in your fingers, if you can’t hold it...push the drag up and reel. If you can hold the line and it’s slack, reel to see if it comes tight. If you can hold it and it’s not slack, we go to neutral and wait because a fish is right here, now. Leave your bait in the water and feed it line so the bait will fall naturally. A fish will sit and stare at your bait falling, good chance for a second try.
I often stop the boat during a bite or keep it slowly moving forward on one engine. We want our marlin up close. Many other captains keep the boat moving forward during a bite, then gunning the engines when they think the fish has eaten, then keeping the boat moving forward until the cockpit gets cleared. This puts your fish a hundred yards or more away for the first series of jumps. All you see of the jumps is a small splashing black spot way out there! I want the hook-up to be close, we want the fish right behind the boat all through out the fight!
When your Black Marlin goes down and no longer jumps, I back down till we are right on top of it. Then you push the drag to sunset and hold 50 pounds of pressure with your legs while sitting in a fighting bucket on a full sized Pompanette chair. I move the boat slowly forward increasing the scope on your line. The fish will rise to the surface again, jumping again. You reduce the drag to strike position and the Bertram goes hard into reverse chasing the fish as you recover line.
When the fish is 30 feet from the boat we take the leader. The mate takes two wraps on the 250 lb. leader and holds his fists down near his pelvis locking his knees under the gunnel. I pull the boat forward and the fish normally takes one last jump away, breaking the leader at the hook. We get a bait back out and then start celebrating the catch!
We nearly never get a belly up fish. All our fish get broke off full of life! A typical fight goes fifteen or twenty minutes, full of jumps. When you see a photo of a big marlin held by his bill, that fish is near death and I blame the captain. When a fish over 400 pounds is along side the boat, it’s dying. Small marlin can handle it big ones don’t seem to. I break the fish off while it can still jump. Good for the photographer and good for the fish.
You stand a good chance at a few shots daily. The best time to be Black Marlin fishing is June through December. The fish are here year-round with many captured during the busy tourist season January - May. If I were to pick my favorite two months it would be August & December. My four best weeks ever were during May, August, September & November. June can be really good too.
The moon phase does not seem to matter. What really matters is keeping away from the new fleet of mosquito boats zooming in 60 miles from new mainland fishing lodges.