Fish Of A Life Time 400 lb Blue Marlin 30lb leader Lady Pamela 2

August 8

Today was one of the best days of my life. It started with a simple pick up of guests for a trip on the Lady Pamela I. On the way to the boat ,the gentleman said that he wanted to go marlin fishing for the whole eight hours. I explained to him that blue marlin fishing was boring and that you probably wouldn’t get a bite, but that we would accommodate him desired as I dropped him off at the Lady Pamela I. How wrong I was! I went to the Lady Pamela IV to start my day. We had six anglers on a split charter; Mark from Canada, and Fabio from Brazil. We left the dock at 8:10 a.m. We started trolling the first four baits, got the outriggers out, and instantly had four Atlantic bonitos hooked up. The next 30 minutes was nonstop, as I made a pass after pass in a 100 feet of water. We caught four kingfish up to 15 lbs and a mahi mahi around 10 lbs. We hooked another big bonito on the right rigger and Leo the mate asked who hasn’t caught a fish yet. Mark jumped right up and grabbed the rod. As Mark was reeling in the fish Leo and I saw two huge swirls behind the boat. I told Leo it was a big fish so Mark kept reeling in more line. He was cranking away on the 30 lb. reel, loaded with 30 lb. Sufix^®fluorocarbon line. Then all of a sudden this huge blue marlin started jumping away from the boat. I floored the boat in reverse because the fish was spooling the reel. He had just inhaled Mark’s 10lb bonito, and he was off to the races! The fish greyhounded away from the boat for over 400 yards; it was the craziest thing you would ever see! The next 5 hours of the trip was constant battle. The marlin finally came close and we harpooned the fish; that lasted 10 minutes before the harpoon pulled out and the fish just about spooled the 30. About an hour later Lady Pamela brought us another harpoon and we waited for our anglers to get the fish back to the surface. When it did, Leo didn’t hesitate to throw the poon. On the second throw he got him and we hooked the back of the harpoon rope to a 50 lb reel just in case the buoy went under. Darned if that fish didn’t take the buoy and all of our line on the 50. I had Leo grab a 130 lb reel, hook it to the 50 and throw the 50 overboard. It took another 300 yards before I told Leo to push up the drag on the 130. We were already one hour late and I did not want to be there all day, so we took our chances. It was a long slow battle getting this monster from the deep blue to the surface, but we did get him and the 50 too!. We ended up three and half hours late to the dock after the five and half hour battle that was one for the books. I have to admit that when the Lady Pamela I charter returned with their load of kings and bonitos, they were dismayed to see that marlin hanging from the tower. That was the fish they were looking for!