Report - Picture Report of Blue marlin in Venezuela

[chumtini]

Incredible pics!!!!! Keep 'em coming. I'll be waiting

[Squidnation]

OK - Here is the sailfish pics and some other assorted stuff. We saw a ton of sailfish on this trip. Many more then expected. Sailfish are a blast to catch but when there are so many blue marlin in the area we decided to keep the nakeds in the bait box. So our hook up percentage on these little buggers were less then steller.

Here is a shot of Fightin Lady owner Don on a Blue that had dug deep.



This one is for you Hubris - This is the Ron Levy, whitey's dad hard at work on one of the most exciting Blue Marlin fights we had all week.



Whitey taking it to a blue with Mate Brett Jamison standing gauard.



Here is a sail that ate our Black Mini Chugger





Whitey on a tough little blue marlin



gettin the release on a sail



Hey Stalker, this picture is available for purchase



Your typical Spring Venezuelan bait box. Damn I love this picture



He's in the spread and everyone is on there game. Andy is out of the picture but he is on the left flat.



A nice sail at boatside



Here is a sail at boatside that ate our blue and white mini chugger



This little guy is gettin a little too close





another little sail that ate our red Mini Chugger



Goin Home



Ron and Whitey at the end of a great day





Prime Time

[Swami]

Great shots as always Bill!

[fish4bills]

Great shots as always Squid! Pretty work on your fishing.

In these photos, of the fish that I can see the hook set, none are hooked in the corner of the jaw. I was wondering what % of the fish that you caught were hooked in this fashion?

[Shortfin]

Bill what a volume of shot's

You guy's looked like you had a stellar trip

[castoff]

Sounds like a great trip. This makes me want to go back sooner than the fall. I guess I'll just have to buy some time with the developing striper fishing here in Long Island Sound. There really isn't anything that compares to a Blue Marlin teaser bite.

[whitey]

Originally Posted by fish4bills

In these photos, of the fish that I can see the hook set, none are hooked in the corner of the jaw. I was wondering what % of the fish that you caught were hooked in this fashion?

It's funny you should mention that because we were talking the other day about how almost every fish was hooked towards the bill instead of the corner of the jaw.

[Squidnation]

Originally Posted by fish4bills

Great shots as always Squid! Pretty work on your fishing.

In these photos, of the fish that I can see the hook set, none are hooked in the corner of the jaw. I was wondering what % of the fish that you caught were hooked in this fashion?

Very good observation Fish4bills. The answer is close to zero. I have an opinion on this but am waiting until I speak to the capt about my thoughts. No one noticed this until we all viewed the pictures and then it became glaringly obvious. I will tell you that our total percentage was about 50% which is less then what it is with nakeds and about even to what it is with j hooks. what really screwed our percentage was a terrible day on the sails on the first day. had this been the fall where it is more whites and sails then blues we would have been trolling all nakeds.

But from my understanding from talking to the fleet at the marina, they all use the chuggers in the spring because they generate more blue marlin bites.

[Double D]

Great shots Bill. I like that one of Ron getting a facefull

[neilinov]

Bill

When you look at the lure box the chuggers look like they are set behind the hook. I was assuming that the chugger was sacrificed during the hookup, but in all the pics the chuggers are still attached to the leader. Am I missing something? How do they get in front of the hook after hookup? Can you show how they are rigged?

Thanks