Almost pulled it off....

[Parapapam]

With last week's reports of Skillies so close, I had to take a shot. There has not been a reasonable chance that a 23 foot boat can try to catch a Marlin since the days of old… at least to my knowledge….

The crew, consisting of Cape Rover, Cape Fisherman and my boys, were all seasoned fishermen. They knew that we had a better shot of "catching" by heading a little further west. But we had all caught our share of 36 inch bluefin in the past. We wanted a small boat NE Marlin.

Part of the adventure actually started earlier in the week. The boys saw birds from beach and finally realized that by using the kayak, there was fishing within reach while Dad was at the office. They paddled out and nailed 15 bluefish in an hour. The next day, I received a text “Dad, you won’t believe this. Call me.” This time they were chasing bones… While they waited for the bones to circle, they drop jigs to the bottom and pulled up some scup and three sea bass. Following the last sea bass was a 5 foot shark (which I assume to be a brown shark). Well, what does any normal fish crazed 12 and 13 year old boy do when in a kayak with a 5 foot shark? Right. Keep one bass thrashing on the surface and live line the other down to the shark. Luckily (in my mind) they didn’t hook up. But they knew where to get scup for our offshore trip and went back and filled my makeshift live bait pen with scup.

Back to the main part of the story…

After a choppy ride through Muskeget, we headed south and I was hoping for it to slick out so that we could see the Skillies on the surface. It took some time for the surface to smooth out. In the meantime we trolled a fairly standard spread. But the lure I watched the closest was the WWB bird – bally combo.

By around 7 am we were pretty dialed into a 62 to 70 degree break over a distance of about a mile. The main part of the break went from 66 to 68 in about 30 yards. Birds, peanut mahi and bait sprays held promise. We had caught a few 2 pound mahi when the rod clicked a few feet. Thinking mahi, I reeled it up about 4 cranks and then it hit me. Marlin! I dropped it back, reeled it in, watched it whack my bird, drop back, feel it take, let it run, set the hook, comes loose and it fades away. Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda!!! This Winter I will be thinking about my mistake…. If I dropped back on the first hit instead of taking the first four cranks, who knows? That is the skillful part of Skillies.

We had done something I never thought possible on my boat. We baited and partially hooked a Marlin!! Next year we will land one!

The rest of the day consisted of working the huge break and finding many sharks. But the highlight was watching an estimated 200 pound thresher maul the bar I run about 20 feet off the transom. He whacked away in frustration for 30 second while we tried to drop the bar back to him. Like our Marlin, this was not meant to be.

After another great day with Rover and finally getting to meet Cape Fisherman we went back to the Hooter to weed through bluefish for some bones who never showed. We set out on a low probability mission and almost pulled it off. The NE Small Boat Marlin will have to wait until next year. Time to head east.

Mike

[tmack92]

great report, if it was your first time fishing and you were using old gear and rotted line you would have caught that fish, those first timers always do

[backman]

that's OK - we had much the same situation as you - saw one tailing, put the lures in front of it while rolling a scup back into the spread; nothing.....just a tail.

[waggles02673]

Great report Mike. I sent you a PM.

Jon

[simonsez1]

Awesome story, I hope to get my boys on one this week! Nothing like NE marlin!

[JoeyM]

sounds like a great time Mike!

[Regulator 26]

We fished south of the Claw/ North of the fingers Sat.in 72-74 degree water so we weren't even thinking Whites. We had my nephew and his girlfriends father with us, and promised the father the 1st fish unless one of two things happened. The first was that if we hooked a White it was mine. The 2nd was that if we hooked anything on the Accurate set up (the one that hasn't even been tested on so much as a bluefish in 2 years) that it was also mine. We've got a 5 rod spread set for Tuna; green machines long on the outside, one behind a bird; a blue/white skirted ballyhoo on Stb on the Accurate, and a pink on port; and a blue/white on a flat line clip skipping in the wash up close. Turning back to the spread from checking the temp gauge I see an explosion on the flat line and watch the line come out of the clip and the rod (TLD 25) go down like in slow motion. As I’m yelling fish on I see it do a cartwheel with it’s tail in the air. My head is telling me “not a Tuna, a Marlin” and I yell out Mahi! WTF!!! Before I can pick up the rod it pops back up, and the fish is gone. The inevitable “F-Bombs” ensue. So we’re still trolling, and here comes whitey again, headed for the blue white skirted ballyhoo on the Accurate. Another explosion, and the rod goes down to the rail, the drag screaming. The fish is running hard from Stb to port right through the rest of the spread. Everyone trying to clear lines quickly, with lots of passing over and under to get it done. I pick up the rod and hang on; the fish finally slows and stops, so I turn the handle; The handle turns and the spool doesn't. I lift the rod & reel down a couple of times getting back some line; the fish apparently doesn't like this much as it takes off again; then slack; or not quite slack. The fish is running towards the boat and moments before I’ve put the reel in 2nd speed; I shift back and reel - reel - reel, and come tight again. The fish takes off again straight back, and does one low greyhounding leap. We see a long thin dark backed fish, but can’t see a bill. The run slows then stops, and like the last run it feels like it’s running back at us again. Reel - reel - reel, and still slack reel - reel - reel, and it’s over. More “F bombs”

The day didn’t get much better. We hooked a decent Tuna, again on the Accurate, So I took it. I didn't know until later that my wife had told our guest that the next one was his and that the 2 exceptions were off the table after the Marlin. We got the fish boatside with leader tip to the rod a couple of times. My nephew grabbed the leader, and the fish took off. Now holding the main line he tries to manhandle the fish back, and it heads under the boat; nephew holds on close to the boat while I try to get the rod tip out away from the boat. The line hits the chine and breaks. NOT our day!

We're puzzled by the white in 72-74 degree water; I thought you only found them in the 66-68 range. We're now questioning our temp gauge, and even more so after a post from someone else fishing the same area reporting cooler temps. We checked the Rutgers charts back at home and they showed the warmer temps that we saw, not the cooler ones. We’ll be checking the gauge before next trip, but does anyone else have any temps from Sat south of the claw/ north of the fingers?

[clt_capt]

You called your shot and came damn close to a home run - Congrats.

You'll have lots of time to think through what you did right and what you didn't do - Make the next one count.

[Reel Pursuit]

Nice job and good effort Mike. You do realize that you've ruined the boys for life?

[Parapapam]

Nice job and good effort Mike. You do realize that you've ruined the boys for life?

Pete, as Mike (Cape Fisherman) told my youngest (Alex), "You know, young man, you are developing a very expensive addiction?"

Thanks guys. My other (very limited) Marlin experience was on Skipjack. So to paraphrase Larry, "Sometimes the best trips aren't all about catching. They are about the experience."

Mike