First Blue Marlin!!!!!!!!

**Reelin Sportfishing Charters** · 07-29-2009 01:47 PM

Late report from up North

With a rare open weekend day and the talk of small yellowfin tuna, the Reelin crew decided to do a long day trip. We left the dock at Sunday (7/19) 12 AM on a slow cruise of 15 knots. Sea conditions were a bit bumpy when we pointed the bow at the area of the Dip, so we changed our angle and headed for the Middle Ground. As we got into deeper water the sea conditions calmed somewhat for a fairly comfortable ride considering the tonnage of a 41 hatteras. We arrived at 14675 by 43450 at dawn and put out our normal spread. Right about when we hit the edge the inner rigger went down. After a decent battle the first white marlin of the year was released. We continued to troll to the west and trolled down to the edge of the Dip without a touch. Listing to reports from everyone one else, it appeared the bite was non-existent along the whole edge. The temperature break in the Dip that was present the other day was nonexistent with the temperature being a flat 71 degrees. We talking to another boat and learned that there was a break about6 mile west of the Dip, but the color was not quite right and there was no life in it. With that info we turned back to the east to head for the Tails. As we neared the area where we hooked our white marlin, the starboard outside rigger went down hard with the 50 screaming as I looking behind us to see a 500 pound plus blue marlin grey hounding. After clearing lines and some fancy boat handling we recovered 3/4 of the spool and settled into a battle with a brute of a fish. After several attempts of this fish to spool my 50 and 45 minutes latter, we billed an approximate 115 inch blue marlin. The hook was removed, lots of pictures taken and the fish was released to fight again. What a fish. We then trolled to the Tales and turned north on the east wall. At 14650 by 43350, we saw a mako on top with slicks and birds. A second or two later 2 rods went down. As we were clearing the lines, the starboard flat line got hit 10 feet from the back as a white marlin grabbed the lure and tail walked his way across the transom. With three rods hooked up, a legal yellowfin and mushy were landed. The white marlin was then billed and brought into the boat for pictures. The fish was released. Up back on the troll for the next two hours in the same area we took a nice 20 pound mahia and 6 small yellowfin, with only 2 making the legal length. Several other boats in the area did manage to connect with better quality fish in the 40-60 pound range, however they were not the norm. Back to the slip at 7:30 PM to end a long day.

PS: The blad guy billing that fish is my mate Phil who is 67 years young!