YOUR FAVORITE PIC OF ALL TIME ***WINNER***

[fat2na.com]

Well, the posts in the thread were truely awesome. It made our job extremely difficult with the caliber of pictures submitted. This contest was to post a picture that told a story and with a brief explanation could capture the readers attention and provoke imagination, putting the person observing the picture into it. Some of the pictures did exactly that. While most of us, hardcore fisherman or not, certainly have a truely incredible experience that would qualify as a real "Fish Story". The premis of this contest was the capture of a moment during that experience that would tell the story for someone who wasn't there to experience it.......also proof that it actually happened.

We contacted the few authors of submissions we felt fulfilled these guidelines to get the whole story. While, certainly, each person most definatley felt that the moment they captured could possibly be the most memorable in their history on the water.

The picture and story that we here at Fat2na Sportfishing Inc. felt said a thousand words was the following....

It was a submission by a man named Jaques or Merry Marlin and the story is as follows:

This blue Marlin was caught on October 12, 1997 on my 22' Mako. I lived for 2 years in Dakar, Senegal and we did a lot of billfishing....
That day I had invited Guy & Annie Herman who had decided that the year was over for them and they'd focus on hunting as he had gone 13 days in a row without a fish...
Steve Nelson the fella cowboy holding the rope, in the picture, was a missionary who caught his first sail, blue and white marlin on the little Merry Marlin. One day, while hauling a 250lb. yellowfin over the gunwale he busted 3 of my teeth with a gaff handle but he was still a good buddy!!!
The morning of October 12th, 1997 we put lines in at our magic spot on the shelf approx. 10 miles from shore, the coordinates were easy to remember 14 35 N 17 35 W...
Fifteen minutes into the day we had a fish on, the fight turned sour as the fish sounded, wrapped its tail and came in almost dead. Unrevivable it had to be boated, it ended up weighing 525 lbs...
We pulled only 4 lures all day, released a sail and missed another fish. Around 430 we were about to pull lines in, around our favorite 14 35 50 / 17 35 50 which is where we usually ended our day.
A Big fish hit as I was bringing the Bimini top down, Guy jumped on the rod, sat on the cooler and we satarted reeling in the other rods. The Penn International 50 TW with 80lb. dacron was on it's way to being spooled. We chased the fish barely avoiding the worst!
30 minutes into the fight it jumped, when we saw it we realized it was one of those big fish that almost always gets away....
30 minutes later it did a nice show once again on the surface, it was a beauty. Guy was bitching that my boat was crap not having a fighting chair.... He was hurting bad, he's not a big fella and strapped in the harness with the pressure of the gimble was making him throw up! (He fished a 23 Panga alone with his wife and guided the boat while Annie would fight on the chair. They Never faught a Blue Marlin more than 45 minutes. Her best was over 400 kgs. They've just retired in Panama...)

Back to the story...... after touching the leader a few times we finally got the chance and sunk the steel into the big girl after about 1 hour and 30 minutes. We were determined to load it in the boat. We already had the 525lber in the boat which helped bring the gunwale down and surprisingly, she started to come aboard fairly easy for it's size. We often had big fish but not 1500 lbs worth...

That's when it started to get crazy,...water started slowly at first but as the fish came further into the boat the water started rushing into the cockpit through the engine cutout in the transome, still we had 1/2 of the fish in the water and the outboard engines were also submerged. Lots of exitement followed but we had to get the fish back out and tie it to the side of the boat, it was just too big and too heavy for the liitle boat. We could only get one of the outboards running and we couldn't get on plane. Finally, we got the second 85HP Yamaha cranked up and we were on our way...
We only got 4 pictures in the boat as we were out of film! Nice having digital cameras today!
The fish weighed in @ 461.5 kgs or 1017 lbs and that is still the biggest blue caught on rod and reel in Senegal.
The story of that day brings back good memories! Makes me wanna catch a nice bluefin.
Cheers, Jaques.

Jaques will be receiving a limited edition, custom, light tackle rod built by Rais Rods, a Fat2na Sportfishing Inc. Company.

The first picture below is the winning picture and the second is an additional picture of the fish after it was weighed with Annie, Jaques and Guy.


For all of you that submitted your pictures, they were truely great. It wasn't easy picking a winner. Hopefully everyone will agree that we made the right choice. We will try to have more picture contests in the future, if not on SF.com, on our website www.fat2na.com.

If you or anyone you know would like a custom rod or rods, gaff or harpoon built please consider Fat2na Sportfishing Inc., Rais Rods LLC., or Hitman Gaffs and Harpoons. We also do comprehansive rebuilds and renovations.

Thank you for participating in our contest and have a safe Holiday Season.

Best Regards,

Crew of Fat2na Sportfishing Inc.

[Ponce]

Great picture and great story. Congrats Jacques!

[Roddy Hays]

I've seen that picture a couple of times over the years, and when I saw it in this thread I was pretty sure it was going to be a front runner for winning. I never knew the story though and I always thought it was a fish from the east coast. Great stuff.

I'd add though, that I grinned the first time I saw the pic, and I've grinned ever since when seeing it - would you even THINK of using rope that size on a gaff-head that big, for a fish that large ! I think the knot used wins a prize too !

Good choice, fellas.

[FAT CAT MX]

I do believe you made the correct choice.

[merry marlin]

Wow.... Thanks fellas and a Big Thanks to Fat2na!
Roddy I had to smile on your comment, that little black rope and special knot served us pretty well on many occasions!!! I sure was foolish to try and bring that baby on board but was never cowboy enough to gaff a green mama...
Another bad picture that fish, now you'll love the wrap around the bill!!! Had to jump in the water after that to get the lid of the livewell...
MM

[algdog]

it's amazing that boat did not sink
the amount of water in that boat, along with that fish.

great picture.

[shoefish]

An excellent choice for sure- congrats on a catch of a lifetime!