Blue Marlin On FIRE At The Sand Bank...6/10

[capt josh]

Well amigos there's good days...and then there's...

I called Manny early on Saturday morning to see what he was up to and ask if he or Juan wanted to come along with Herk and I to the sand bank...as luck would have it the boys were waiting for Clarke and Drew to show up and they too were thinking exactly as we were...VAMANOS a el banco arena for some blue marlin!!!

We left late saturday night and after a quick stop in an attempt to make bait on the way out to Cabo Corrientes steamed all night long at 8 knots...crossing the NE corner of the bank just before grey light and leaving us just enough time to get everything rigged before eagerly wetting the lines...

The day got off to a fantastic start when a small blue about 200#'s crashes the right short corner Pro Soft Grand Master not five minutes after deploying the spread...with eyes a little bigger than it's stomach the fish decides to leave the XXL soft head and crashes the Bart Miller Marlin Breakfast on the short right rigger instead...it's an epic inside out bite that leaves a hole in the water a lot larger than the fish that's just made it...ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ...they are hungry this morning!!!!

Herk musters his way into the Braid stand-up gear as the fish goes ballistic...tearing a swath from one side of the spread to the other as the boys and i frantically clear lines...

But...just as we get set to start backing down the rod snapps to attention as the marlin manages to throw the single hook rig...well it's still one hell of a way to start the morning and we're in great spirits as we re-deploy the spread...

A short while later two sailfish come greyhounding towards the two Melton Cherry jets i'm running long of each rigger...just like a pair of hefty bull dorado these sails are literally flying out of the water towards the jetheads and the countdown is on...5...4...3...2...ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ hook-up!

Not the blue marlin we're looking for but quite a spectacular show indeed...Herk does a great job of pinning one and releases it in short order...the other fish throws the hook and earns it's freedom...no problemo...back out go the giant killers...

We get the spread set up again and troll another half mile when a nicer blue pops up on the Pro Soft black and purple...it's a good fish around 300#'s that proceeds to crash the Pro Soft twice before peeling off and engulfing the Marlin Breakfast once again in a nasty mess...ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ we're off and running again but same result...the fish manages to throw the single hook stiff-rig after a brief tussel...

By this time Manny and the boys on Aleta have seen or hooked just as many fish but are fairing much better in the hook-up to release ratio than we are...going 3 for 3 on their first blues and by noon we all know we've made the right call to head down there as between us we've already raised 6 blues, and as many sailfish and striped marlin...

Despite our streak in the morning the afternoon bite shut the door on us...and i have to admit while i was happy for them...it was a little hard listening to Manny call in "HOOK-UP!" every 30 mins or so...but their good luck turned tough in the afternoon as well as i think they failed to release another fish after a 450#er they nailed just before noon...despite several more shots later in the day...they were HOT yesterday though...i'll give em that...

With absolutely perfect water conditions and flat seas you can't ask for a much better day of blue marlin fishing...two boats raising nearly 20 billfish for the day...much of them blue marlin thanks to Aleta...and a whole hellofa lot of fun out there...

Looking forward to the next one...

[Bullshipper]

Josh,

Nice past, glad to hear the fish are back.

I know you and Herk also do a lot of bait and switch, which I would like to try, as its hard for my to really hook a high % on the plastics too.

Does the bait and switch result in a higher % of solid hook ups in your opinion?

[capt josh]

It's really tough to say but yes...i would have to agree with you...Clarke and the boys on the Aleta had dead and live bait while we opted to stay with lures and they caught their first 3 fish on bait...then they ran out of bait and went with lures and missed every fish that came to the spread after that...

But that was yesterday...and one day does not make a good study...my best marlin fishing day EVER came last June when we went 7 for 9 on blue and black marlin...all on lures...

But overall...i'd have to say yes my hook-up to landing ratio is way better with bait...once that circle hook goes in it rarely comes out during the fight...

Also...most of these fish were small...under 300 pounds...and we were using very large 14" - 16" lures trying to target the biggest fish out there...small fish on large lures often means thrown hooks...when a big girl comes up to eat she usually does a fairly good job of it...making it a lot easier for us to imbed the hook properly...

[Bullshipper]

I also think that the survival rate after release would be higher with a single circle, than with single or multiple J hooks in lures.

But without a tower, I think the bait and switch will be harder to pull off.

[Two Up]

I disagree, when using J hooks in lures there should be almost no chance of the hook going past the mouth region, wheras there is a chance of gut hooking fish when using circles, ive had 4 marlin gut hooked out of 20 or so over the past couple of years ( all circles were non-offset eagle claws ). When using lures all but 1 swam away healthily, the fish that died ended up being tail wrapped.