World Record 190 Marlin in one day released

[Ace1st]

Believe me, I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers here, but I JUST DON"T GET IT!! I mean, catchin a 190 marlin in one day! !!

Wheres the intimacy? I mean, one rod, one fisherman, one fish. The hookup, the fight, man against fish, give take, give take, who wins, its all lost. Its all about numbers, and for the sake of what? A record? Braggin rights? What?

Have we forgotten what brought us to this sport in the first place? The first time I wet a cricket on a canepole, it was the pull, me against that ole' shellcracker, he tried to go into that brushpile but I pulled him out!

I mean for me, its the rush, watchin the strike, that screaming clicker, give and take, give and take, wrestlin with a beast thats swam these oceans since the beginning of time. Take a picture, high five and lets go hook another. Then the reverance for the fish, hey man remember how hard he fought? How he spooled us three times? Damn he musta jumped five times! Yeah, for me, thats what I like to remember,the fish, the fight......................not just the numbers. Other than the bill through the tuna tubes, I'd bet you can't remember anything special about any one fish, just the numbers of how many were caught.

Well, thats my rant for the start 08'.

[hotrodmarlin]

Will send you a DVD when its done, been to busy and away but hopefully the DVR back up can be edited well enough into a good video of both.
The TV crew onboard should have the 30 min DVD completed by tomorrow holding thumbs.

can I get a copy? can you post it on here?

Ace - sorry you don't get it... I do and I think it's awesome!!!

[Finnseeker]

Believe me, I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers here, but I JUST DON"T GET IT!! I mean, catchin a 190 marlin in one day! !!

Wheres the intimacy? I mean, one rod, one fisherman, one fish. The hookup, the fight, man against fish, give take, give take, who wins, its all lost. Its all about numbers, and for the sake of what? A record? Braggin rights? What?

Have we forgotten what brought us to this sport in the first place? The first time I wet a cricket on a canepole, it was the pull, me against that ole' shellcracker, he tried to go into that brushpile but I pulled him out!

I mean for me, its the rush, watchin the strike, that screaming clicker, give and take, give and take, wrestlin with a beast thats swam these oceans since the beginning of time. Take a picture, high five and lets go hook another. Then the reverance for the fish, hey man remember how hard he fought? How he spooled us three times? Damn he musta jumped five times! Yeah, for me, thats what I like to remember,the fish, the fight......................not just the numbers. Other than the bill through the tuna tubes, I'd bet you can't remember anything special about any one fish, just the numbers of how many were caught.

Well, thats my rant for the start 08'.

Hi Ace,

Firstly the Marlin in Cabo/Mexico have been devestated by long liners and commercial fishing, we beat the Norma 029 law with all our funding that would have allowed them within 5 miles of the coastline and the purpose of our tournament www.wcbrt.com is an all circle hook all release money event to practice, promote and encourage the locals and educate them our marlin are in peril and the rest of our fishery if we do not act.

Secondly I can tell you that there were so many memorable moments releasing all these fish, healthy and fiesty , the DVD will show you how much fun it was actually we had doubles, tripples , quads going in all directions and when we had two fish hooked up on both corners and jump at the same time clearing the cockpit from left to right and right to left right over the boat and past both anglers and leader guys, I disagree we had many many memorable moments.

The first record we did not expect to set 179 in one day a month earlier the fish kept biting and biting and it was wide open so we kept going until we ran out of bait. This last record 190 a month later was during a fishing tournament and neck and neck with the other boats/teams.

Firstly the value in releasing a fish very fast is that the fish does not build up lactic acid or get stressed out by a 286 lb gorrilla ( me ) with full drag and a boat at my disposal to pull the fish around for more than 20 minutes. All the tagging studies have proven that all the fish fought longer than this did not survive and or probably wont and fall prey to sharks etc. I agree any gorilla can pull a 120 - 180 lb stripped marlin around with 50 or 80 lb line and 15- 25 lbs drag and use a boat as an anchor. Where is the sport in that ? As a World karate champion I did not find it fun kicking the ass of smaller opponents, no challenge and not even a fair fight. Rather I would look for the biggest and take him on ! Now thats a challenge - kind of pick on somebody your own size or bigger. Call me crazy but then again I love a challenge.

Come with me to Brazil and its me 286lbs vs a 1000 to 1200lb blue now thats a challenge in rough seas.

The intention to release these fish quickly and without as much harm to them as possible, stress, lactic acid build up, circle hooks so they are not gut hooked are and were our intentions. We have proven time and time again that with these quick releases these fish did go right back and continue to feed in the baitballs.

We not fishing clickers and hard drags we sight fishing and casting to the fish once we spot them on the surface and baitballs. Many troll around with heavy tackle, heavy drags and between 6,5 knts and 8,5 knts then a fish strikes and all that line is out there way out there.

How many fish have you seen jumping waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay behind a boat and I mean waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay behind a boat either gut hooked and on heavy tackle, lure, etc only to see that same line after many many minutes, sometimes longer than an hour break off ? Now you have a gut hooked fish with 600 meters of fishing line trailing behind it and an exhausted fish. This line has the potential to entangle in something else and kill the fish or other species if the fish does not die.

Bottom line its not a great result and not good so im not quite sure why you disagree with a quick release of a healthy fish all lit up. We do NOT pick them up take them out the water and take a picture with the anglers holding its gills, dragging it over the side and onto the boat for a photo op. Take a photo in the water keep the fish healthy and release it healthy.

Well we differ and yes we all have amazing memories of these fish eyeball to eyeball and all lit up in the water then set free. The hooks disolve out within 3 days and the barb within a day. Thanks to the Eagle claw hooks and appreciate your input.

[Finnseeker]

can I get a copy? can you post it on here?

Ace - sorry you don't get it... I do and I think it's awesome!!!

Absolutely I will let you know when I get them and send you one no problem

[Ace1st]

Well at least we can be cordial enough and agree to disagree. I'm certainly no "World Karate Champion", but at 6'3" 320 lb, I have wrastled with some nice fish and threw a few 300lb calves to the ground to cut their cashews out. Then again there was that bar fight at Crazy Zacks, but just as I told the Judge, "I didn't start it Sir" " He pulled a Knife", buts thats another story!

Although I'm not in disagreement of releasing a healthy fish by no means. I think you missed my point regarding the "Intimacy" thats lost as far as sheer numbers are concerned.

I applaud your efforts to regulate or outlaw longline fishing and wish you luck in the future but I am afraid that a tournament showing such huge numbers of fish being caught by so few boats could be used as ammunition to fuel an arguement by commercials showing an over abundance of marlin in the area. Just as you, we are seeing that off our Atlantic Coast regarding the Swordfish Stocks. As landings increase by recreational fisherman, commercials are fighting tooth and nail to return to the very grounds that they raped years ago in the 70's and 80's. In essence, the commercials are using the increased landings as ammunition to gain entry back into this important fishery. I think that a tournament with potentially hundreds if not thousands of fish being hooked in such a small time span may be a shot in the foot to your efforts in keeping the commercials out.

Good luck in your quest. And go easy on those marlin in Brazil......you Big Brute.

[Bking]

Finseeker and ACE, I applaud the debate. That is the way all disagreements should be handled here ! First Class guy's!!!

[Finnseeker]

Well at least we can be cordial enough and agree to disagree. I'm certainly no "World Karate Champion", but at 6'3" 320 lb, I have wrastled with some nice fish and threw a few 300lb calves to the ground to cut their cashews out. Then again there was that bar fight at Crazy Zacks, but just as I told the Judge, "I didn't start it Sir" " He pulled a Knife", buts thats another story!

Although I'm not in disagreement of releasing a healthy fish by no means. I think you missed my point regarding the "Intimacy" thats lost as far as sheer numbers are concerned.

I applaud your efforts to regulate or outlaw longline fishing and wish you luck in the future but I am afraid that a tournament showing such huge numbers of fish being caught by so few boats could be used as ammunition to fuel an arguement by commercials showing an over abundance of marlin in the area. Just as you, we are seeing that off our Atlantic Coast regarding the Swordfish Stocks. As landings increase by recreational fisherman, commercials are fighting tooth and nail to return to the very grounds that they raped years ago in the 70's and 80's. In essence, the commercials are using the increased landings as ammunition to gain entry back into this important fishery. I think that a tournament with potentially hundreds if not thousands of fish being hooked in such a small time span may be a shot in the foot to your efforts in keeping the commercials out.

Good luck in your quest. And go easy on those marlin in Brazil......you Big Brute.

Hi Ace, I completely agree with you that this could give the commercials ammunition and the law makers the wrong impression that the fishery is healthy when in fact its not.

Cabo has some 160 - 200 charter boats going out every single day targeting various species, more than any other fishing port in the world and what we were trying to bring to the MX 's attention was that if every boat killed or did not release a marlin or use circle hooks that they no better than the commercials themselves. Our results have paid dividends and the local fleets are now taking heed and practising so this is a major hurdle in the right direction.

This still does not stop the 80 - 100 seiners from sneaking in during the night slaughtering all the tuna, dorado, swordies, marlin and bait they can. They still do this and the MX authorities turn a blind eye to this. Its an ongoing battle and no laws like in the USA to protect, patrol or apprehend them.

Just as I disagree with providing satelite tagging info to the general public, who gains, us ? Scientists ? NO WAY - the ones that gain from this are the commercials who know the migratory pattern and know where when how to set up and nail the remaining fish either traveling to and from spawning grounds or during spawning. This information is to readily available to them and has given them lateral movement to move beyond the reaches of the law.

Our tournament is new going into our 3rd year with 28 teams in the May event so we growing and yes its a lot of fish for a few teams, the teams are world class but then again the IGFA world championships have 63 teams a week before us. Its hard to say that responsible fishing with circle hooks releasing marlin tournaments are bad. What are we to do if we cannot catch and release or promote our conservation efforts.

I do agree less information to the commercials is best however they listen to the radio's and the local chatter amongst other boats and they pay some of the locals for info so its not a perfect world. Perferct would be to cerate a 200 mile commercial fishing free zone from any land and that would put them out of business.

We have manged to push the MX ruling back and looking to further extend the zone thanks to working with the Billfish Foundation and several others we hope that we can prevail even more

Im from South Africa and yes have wrestled with a few cattle and wild game myself and not a " Rocky Mountain Oyster fan " I would remove them no problem but draw the line with regards to eating them.

Looking forward to the Brazil challenges in a few days and thanks again for the response. If you ever in Cabo look me up lets go fishing and promise to let you enjoy your fight with the marlin as long as its less than 20 minutes then im freeing him.

[Ace1st]

Finnseeker, I plan to return to Cabo in the near future and would love to take you up on that invite to fish. I will be traveling to Guatemala for some action at Casa Viejo Lodge in March, so hopefully I'll have some stories to share. And as stated before, Good Luck!

[cblocal]

That was an awesome exchange guys. I'm not the smartest man alive but I feel I learned something from y'all.

Thanks for the great debate

[Finnseeker]

Finnseeker, I plan to return to Cabo in the near future and would love to take you up on that invite to fish. I will be traveling to Guatemala for some action at Casa Viejo Lodge in March, so hopefully I'll have some stories to share. And as stated before, Good Luck!

Ace1 - you welcome anytime just pack your bags and let me know. You will enjoy Guatemala some great action there. Fishing in Brazil has ben good this season so they expecting a great season