Lets talk Small Boat Blue.....

[offshore]

Marlin fishing !!

I am still humbled by the nice fish we hooked while strictly targeting Blue Marlin on my boat last week. Just the shear power and strength of that fish makes me wonder what I could improve on as far as set up, strategy, and putting a system together to strictly fish for Blues. I have always been a meat fisherman but after boating releasing the first blue on my boat last year I have become increasingly enamored by these fish. Last week was the first time We have ever put together a spread for blue Marlin and actually stuck to our guns and ran it all day. We did not release a fish but we raised and hooked a exceptional fish which eventually jumped off.

First off I know we did some things right but I also know we did some things wrong. I fish out of a 25 Contender and would like to discuss setups that might work on my boat or other smaller boats.

I first feel that we did not keep our setup simple enough. I believe we were trying to many things at one time. We were running way to many lines for this type of fishing mainly because of total lack of experience. You will laugh but we were running eight lines and two teasers. Looking back at how long it took to clear the spread once the Marlin hit I realize that this was a huge mistake. It took way to long to clear the spread for a fish this size. I also realize that fishing with only three on the boat it is essential that everyone has a roll and very essential that they play that part.

So here are a few basic questions, there are more but this will be a good start to the discussion.......
1. What is your system for setting and managing lines?
2. How many lines do you like to pull ?
3. Any specific pattern you like to Troll?
4. Do you like your pattern tight to the boat or further back?
5. Speed I know this is a subjective thing depending on lures but how fast do you like to troll?
6. Do you run teasers?
7. What is your cockpit system once the fish is hooked up?
8. How do you deal with dolphin wanting to destroy your spread?? These guys take up way to much time. We started the crank the drag down and skip them to the boat System!!

Thanks ahead of time!! Mark

[PiratesPride]

I was actually about to ask some of these same questions, I fish out of a Jones Brothers capefisherman and was wondering what some of the small boat billfish tactics are. I look forward to learnin some new stuff.

Will

[JRJBfishing]

Hey PiratesPride,

What size Cape do you have?? We are down in Topsail and have a 26'...

Great thread by the way, looking forward to hearing some great imput....

I hooked a monster (500plus) last year and have been dying to get back after them ever since... I don't think the vision of that big fish tail walking away will ever go away..

[Ultralite]

I've done 400 lb blues out of a 16' runabout at the East Cape. On boats 26' and under, keep it simple, run no more than 4 lines. Teasers are for entertaining bored crews, which you shouldn't have on a small boat. Clear as many lines as you can, but if you need to turn and run on the fish, then by all means do so and just leave the other lines in. You can clear them later.

[Gringo]

Hmm...Interesting thread. As the owners of a 25 foot Contender, living in a place supposedly known as potentially good Marlin territory, during the part of the year best known for Marlin, and being someone who knows nothing about targeting these particualr fish, we are pretty interested in any advice on this very subject.

For starters in our case, are Penn 113H's and Torium 20's too light?

Any info on what kind of lure or bait these bad boys like?

[Ponce]

I hope some guys small boat billfish expereance will jump in on this thread, those are great questions. As another small boat guy I'm very interested in what guys have to say on this.

[dubb]

I'm no expert on this subject. But I have read articles quoting several big name billfish captains that say the guy with the most crap in the water wins.

My opinion is use teasers close to the boat that can be cleared quickly, such as dredges, daisy chains, spreader bars, anything that makes a ruckus. With two dredges and two teasers off the riggers thats alot of bait in the water.

Then depending on how much crew you have pull 4 to 6 hook baits.

[Anders]

Marlin fishing !!

So here are a few basic questions, there are more but this will be a good start to the discussion.......
1. What is your system for setting and managing lines?
2. How many lines do you like to pull ?
3. Any specific pattern you like to Troll?
4. Do you like your pattern tight to the boat or further back?
5. Speed I know this is a subjective thing depending on lures but how fast do you like to troll?
6. Do you run teasers?
7. What is your cockpit system once the fish is hooked up?
8. How do you deal with dolphin wanting to destroy your spread?? These guys take up way to much time. We started the crank the drag down and skip them to the boat System!!

Thanks ahead of time!! Mark

I have not done a lot of small boat marlin fishing but since hardly anyone is helping I will give you what I have atained from reading a lot on this forum.

1,2,4,&6- Set as many baits as possible on as few lines as possible. Pull 4 spreader bars and have a pitch bait ready with two dinks on the longs, but have everything tight. make it look like a school of bait fish. I believe for marlin fishing teasers and big bats are a must. You want the dinks for the whites and sails. but if you just want a blue and the dolphin to leave you alone, keep the pitch bait handy and stay away from the dinks.

3. No specific, I have a lot of bars and a couple big teasers
5. 7 to 9 knots
7. one man driving, one fighting, the rest reeling in lines and throwing them in the front of the boat
8. use more artificials, less dink baits, bigger hooks, if you catch some smaller dolphin, rig them up and throw them out as a teaser, what do you think the marlin are there eating?

Hope that helps

[Anders]

For starters in our case, are Penn 113H's and Torium 20's too light?

Any info on what kind of lure or bait these bad boys like?

penn113H and torium 20 have definitely caught marlin before, but not a lot of them. The reels are not big enough and are not setup to handle the constant pressure put on them multiple times to land fish that big, invest in some bigger quality reels and it will pay off.

Marlin have eating everything under the sun, $250 artificials and 2 liter mountain due bottles, stick to something that represents the average bait in your waters and with similar colors.

[merry marlin]

No boat is too small to catch blues and big blues....
The biggest fish in Senegal came to the beach on a small traditional wood boat with 15 HP Yam one man and two hand lines. 525 kgs weighed in 3 pieces...

The best marlin machine I've fished on apart from big money boats is this small 23Ft Panga with twin enduro 40 Yam... The best teaser engines ever made!!!



When you don't have bad seas and don't have long runs and the back pocket can't afford the big rig this is the ticket. Guy and Annie ran 6 rods faned out on the back of the boat. All soft heads Moldcrafts or homemades.
A fighting chair in the front and let the fish pull the boat till it's ripe to come for the release or gaff.
4 X 30 liter Jerry cans in the front rarely burned more than 90 liters of gas for a full day at 10-11kts.



I fished along side him in a 22 mako with twin 85's. Only put 4 rods. Started the day with lures then switched to two big baits 10 and very short on the riggers with the leader not even touching the water and two lures if it was slow or the weather was rough. With the light weight riggers we had the baits very close short as we ran big baits (those welcome fresh mahi's or other fish 10 to 20lbs. If you're bothered by the mahi's that is a good thing, you know the ultimate predators are around...
(If the Big Rock had been 3 weeks ago there would have been a Blue massacre around here... )
No fighting chair, we'd sit on a cooler if it was a big one.

Small boats if they can make it to where the fish, are just as efficient and certainly a very rewarding way to fight some monsters. You may not have the comfort of a big rig backing up on the fish with a big chair. Far more pleasure to be had on a small boat (when the weather is nice...............and the run out not as long as here.............)

Guys & Annie's biggest fish on that Panga brought to the scales was around 800lbs the biggest on our Mako was 1017. We both missed some bigger ones...
MM