What to do When Marlin goes nuts

[Capt Carl]

Good advice above -- try to keep a corner aimed at the fish. You are using the boat to help at this angle as you idle forward. It gets interesting when they really take off, and then push those throttles forward! Try to keep a shallow angle to the fish, especially if there is any chance of it getting ahead, and hopefully not across the bow. Get that angler to reel as though his life depends on it, because the whole crew will be on his butt if thats why we loose a big one. Slow it down as the fish does, and the angler gets back tight on the fish. Turn and get your stern in the general direction of the fish, again at about 45 degrees, and continue the fight. Continue the "Marlin Dance" forward, backward, all over the ocean until the fish finally tires, and hopefully you get to leader the fish on the side (not off the transom) of the cockpit. Be ready to drop the leader, and do it all again if the fish is too green. There is a lot more to it, but I hope this gets you started in the right direction.

[Capt_John]

It depends on the type of boat you're on. If you're on a center console style boat, you want to go forward and parallel to the fish while you angler is reeling like mad to keep the fish tight. NO SLACK!!. This is where a lot of fish are lost. If the fish is on your port side, then go forward while making way a little more starboard and vice versa. Move the angler beside you at the wheel about T-top distance for this part of the fight. As the fish settles down, move the angler forward and fight from the bow. This way you and the angler are seeing the same thing. Throw in good communication between you two and you'll be fine. Just keep the line tight and pay very close attention to where to fish is headed. Let the rod and reel beat the fish while you keep your boat behind the fish away form the angle of the line. As the fish gets closer, use the advantage of being to walk around the smaller boat. Use the boat to keep the same angle on the fish occasionally reversing the boat a little to add some pressure to his head to plane him up some for your angler to gain some line. Other than keeping the lines away from the outboards, you should be okay.

On a bigger sportfish or inboard, when the fish charges ahead of you go forward and away like on a smaller boat except make the distance starboard or port a little more. You're gonna have to get the line behind your riggers for the angler to keep up and regain the bow in the line that's underwater that you can't see. This will be easier on stand up tackle, but if the angler is in the chair, make sure there's someone on the chair turning them towards the fish. This is a very important person. Once you're tight on the fish, Then keep the boat at a little downwind angle of the fish if possible and keep the line tight with your engines as well as the angler reeling. I like to bump forward one engine at a time when I can to plane the fish up after it settles in. If you have a squirrely fish that's just going nuts, then you need to be more aggressive on your boat handling. Keep the line tight, a good angle on the fish, and stay calm. If you do all of these things, you should be okay. A bunch of guys love to backdown and fill the pit for no real reason other than they think it's cool. You can end up doing a lot of damage to the boats in the long run, especially your transmissions and trim tabs. When you're getting dumped and the fish is diving deep, or the fish is on top and you're trying to gain line quick for a quick relaese, it's fine and time to get on her quick. But not too many times other than that. I've always tried to use the wind and water conditions to help me out. Just depends on what the ocean is like that day. I'm sure there are plenty of guys that do it different, but this is the way I was taught and it has been working for me very well.

[saltshaker30]

I am not sure of Your experience level Hotshot but I have a feeling You can do it! No disrespt intended SaltShaker but I have seen more than a few crazy fish escape when given slack line and time . I wish some Pro's would chime in on this one . I am curious to hear some input. A good tip I was taught was to try to keep a corner aimed at Him for the first 1/2 of the engagement (like that term ?) and the transom to the fish for wiring. Allow the Mate to gain control and have Him walk the fish boatside for a release.

Who said anything about letting the line get slack? If the fish is charging past the boat and getting in front of you, keeping the line tight should not be much of a problem. More fish are lost trying to do to much than anything else. If you want good info from a pro, you just got some. For the last 26 consecutive years someone has paid me to help them catch Blue Marlin and trust me nothing beats experience.
I am anxious to hear from the "Pros" also.

[Fishin Fool]

One more tip..

Chase down the bow in the line, not just the fish. Be mindful of where the fish is and where he just came from.. Remember, don't give him any slack..

[Patudo]

Almost all my experience has been lurefishing larger blues and I get the impression that the smaller fish on bait ie in Venezuela could be a bit of a different ball game. Anyway, I think there are two different scenarios: a fish that starts running ahead of the boat almost immediately on the hookup or did he peel off a fair amount of line first before making a turn and running ahead.

Having a fish come forward within the first few seconds of the bite is much less common, from what I have seen, which is just as well because you need to be a little lucky - unless he bit down and set the hook by himself, he won't have pulled against the drag very much and the hook may not have set. There's very little to add to Capt John's advice except that you don't want to come really tight on him as he's facing the angler (like a windshield wiping fish) as that can pull the hook right there. Hopefully the line drag in the water will keep some tension on him until he is ahead of you and pulling drag - your chances are a little better on a rigger bite as there is more line in the water. Also, when the rod tip is facing forward in a cockpit boat, angler and crew need to make sure the line is clear of any outrigger halyards etc that could damage it.

If he pulled off a reasonable amount of line before turning around it's more or less similar to a fish heading directly away from the boat because he'll have pulled drag for several seconds and there is going to be a belly in the line which will keep some drag on him. You can expect quite a few fish to double back at some point during the run - whether because the lure is beating on their side and making them swing around or whether the drag of the line has the effect of swinging then around I don't quite know. In any case, so long as line is coming off the reel (it's common to see the line dumping into the water in a completely different direction to where the fish is moving) you're good and your crew should concentrate on clearing the cockpit. We normally fish with just four or five rods so clearing the pit is usually pretty quick, but if you hooked up while tuna fishing with a big spread you're going to have to work quickly. Likewise, the lighter the tackle and the less line on your reel the faster you're going to have to work and may not have the luxury of being able to clear all lines before chasing. Try and get one side clear first so the skipper has a clear lane to go after the fish.

If he has run ahead of you, he's saved you the trouble of turning the boat to chase him, which is nice. If it's dead flat and you can see everything some guys will head directly for the fish with the angler winding the belly out of the line and "cut him off at the pass", but if it's rough it's better to follow the line (hi visibility line is a godsend here) along whatever permutations he threw at you. When following a fish this way your progress is going to be more or less dictated by how quickly your angler can wind, so be careful not to overrun your angler's ability to turn that handle.

[hotshot1]

Thanks everyone A lot of knowledge being shared