Marlin Spear Thread

[tom@marlinstar]

Tom,

Roger on the Miami show. Been there, done that, too many times! I used to hang out with an infamous and nefarious group of rowdies that I dubbed, "The Miami Mafia" that hung in what at the time was the Guy Harvey Room, which was invitation only at the time and then invaded various night spots every night. We actually got banned from one, but another, a favored Cuban restaurant, actually opened up just for us one night when they were supposed to be close. The whole staff eventually joined in and we partied until very late that night.

"The Mafia" consisted of a bunch of the best known pros, who were also among the craziest partiers, both day or night, I ever met. Included were diverse personalities like Frank and Jocko Johnson, Roddy Hays, Peter Foley, a young Jose Wejebe, some insane Aussie captains, including Jack Erskine, some others, and a young Guy Harvey. Guy is thought of as a kind of "mild mannered reporter for the Daily Planet" and he pretty much earns that accolade. But he started out as a friend to many us, so like a moth to a flame, he participated in most of our escapades, most of the time with that "deer in the headlights" kind of look on his face. The show was no big deal, but the partying hurt ya bad!

Funniest thing to me was Bart Miller, an old and dear friend, who knew the entire gang, but who remained sane and aloof and declined to participate in our shenanigans. Instead, he stayed in his booth, which was down on the main floor, not in the Guy Harvey Room and he sat in that booth like a king on a throne, while hordes of people came to "worship" him and buy the hell out of his lures. Man, that guy used to RULE that show, God bless him!

I don't know if you've heard, but none other than Peter Wright is coming to the Long Beach Show and giving a bunch of seminars. Now there's a true master and true legend of our game. He is someone I'd just love to hear speak. It's a real disappointment that I probably won't be able to do it.

Man, those all-black lures are right up my alley! No doubt in my mind that they are seen by the fish and then get annihilated. Black IS beautiful, baby, and the fish love it! Stands out like a sore thumb and in the world of the fish, "He who stands out...dies!" Wonderful stuff, Tom!

Here's one of my own personal "upside down" lures, plus the mighty Allure Petrolero...

Hi Fred....I would love to share some of the same Miami stories but in reality it was basically 12 - 18 hour work days. The fact that someone infected our crew with some sort of bush pig H1N1 virus didn't really facilitate the desire to venture out as well.

I will definitely check out Peter Wright's seminar(s)....there is no better resource for learning than to be able to soak it all up from someone who lives on the water and better yet up in the tower.I had the same privilege in Miami listening/learning from Kevin Nakamaru.

Look forward to seeing all of your products and meeting Chris.

Peace ~T

[Captain Fred Archer]

Ha, ha! Sounds like you've been there and done that, Bert!

And if you have, you know that it ain't just the knees that know it, eh? !

Maybe the worst thing about gettin' old and beat up is that you start scaring women, children, and dogs, instead of wowing some babes.

So sad!

[Big Jay]

Glad you liked the vid guys! When you take a step back and watch it...it's just amazing how graceful they are. Truly one of natures marvels. Reminds me of the first time I ever saw one flying through the water all lit up.

[Captain Fred Archer]

Thank you again for posting that vid, Jay. In a day of over used superlatives, that one truly is for real and truly wonderful. It took me back to seeing that sort of thing over and over again from my tuna tower down in Cabo. "Pack attacks" on teasers were common down there, yet every time that they happened, they took my breath away.

The striped marlin's beauty, grace, speed, and aggressive attacks truly are a sight to behold (it's much the same with their kissin' cousin, Mr. Whitey) and the bait and switching that we did so much of put them right at our feet and doing their thing. Marlin fishing simply doesn't get any more exciting than that.

That's why we developed an "idiot proof", very simple technique for deploying the pitch baits for the times that our passengers got just too excited by what they were seeing to do anything more than point, jump up and down, and shout stuff like, "Holy shit! Looka that! Looka that! Looka that!". That actually happened a lot, so we came up with our "no brainer" pitch system.

I hope you checked out the "Rocking Mag Bay" video down below that Igloo Man (Capt Chris Jones) recently posted here. Not only is there non-stop tuna, mahi, and marlin action in it, at about the six minute point there is a short sequence of two stripers after a real bait ball that not only shows their awesome colors, but shows it at normal speed, to give viewers an idea of just how aggressive and fast marlin are when they're after a meatball of bait. It also shows how "attached" they get to a ball and ignore everything but a bait flushed out of it...in this case one of the marlin almost runs right into the boat! Check it out if you haven't already...I think you'll get a kick out of it.

And thanks again for posting that great video, Jay. Now, I'm off to watch it again.

"Pitch that *****!"

A B&S fish getting baited and another hooked up (see the line from the guy in the chair?)