We made it to Chub Cay last week in search of Marlin... Three words can describe the trip best... Dolphin, dolphin and more dolphin...
I've always wanted to try and catch a marlin from my own boat, so I pulled together an equally eager gaggle of forum members to join me in the quest: Jorge (Playing Hooky), Rob, Juan & Chuck.
After what seemed like a solid month of 20+ knot winds, we made the crossing to Bimini last Saturday in 2-3 foot seas, and it just got better each day.
We basically trolled marlin lures all around the pocket for 5 days and never saw a single marlin... Sure, we had a few suspicious multiple knock-downs and hooked a few mystery fish that pulled a good amount of drag on 80 before parting ways, but no definitive marlin sightings.
To some observers, the trip may seem like a disappointment, but not to me or any of our crew members... We experienced 5 days of the best dolphin fishing I've ever seen. The dolphin were thick - every day, all day long.
We had come prepared with 60 rigged ballyhoo and over 120 unrigged... We quickly discovered that trolling meat was not wise if we were to have any chance of finding the man in the blue suit. It seemed like any time we put any meat in the water the baits would last only seconds. The first three days we trolled plastics - almost exclusively. We even tried to find areas not infested with lunker dolphin, but it was tough.
By the last few days, we relented and simply enjoyed the awesome dolphin fishing. I don't think we ever saw a fish under 15 lbs. Most of the fish were in the 20's and 30's. The biggest fish we kept was 38 and lost a much larger one boat-side.
I could not have asked for a better crew. They fished their buts off for 5 days and were a joy to share the experience with. Hopefully, we can do it again next year...
Really enjoyed your report. Fishing where I do in the eastern Atlantic, it's almost amazing to see these good-sized dorado so prolific that they're regarded as a nuisance. We'll see good numbers of peanuts and also pompano dorado sometimes (bright-blue marlin candies) but could sure use a few of those 20 to 30 lb class grownups. That's a worthy ambition - to catch a marlin from your own vessel. Hopefully you'll have plenty more opportunities this year. Where do you fish out of?
We were there also, the bite was insane. We eat dinner next to y'all on Sat night. I believe that was your first night there. Were going back Thurs, can't wait. Good job on the fish.
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