4th July Marlin !!
Capt. Bob Baker
July 5, 2009
Boca Chica - Saltwater Fishing Report
Had a charter for one person yesterday, THE 4th.
The guy, Dave Sutterland, called and asked if there was anybody who might want to split a charter.
We don´t have a whole lot of people waiting around the docks looking for fishing buddies, says I.
So, he and I headed out to Isla Ladrones, where you can actually catch every species of game fish that swims here.
Started out pulling two feather rigs for bonitos. I took it as a good omen that we had 3 in about 3 minutes.
Bridled two and set them astern, one long , one short.
Passed over ¨Bajo Ocho¨number and BAM !, long rod bends almost into the water.
Dave has the belt on and he´s pumped. Line peeling off. Out there you never know. We´ve been bottom fishing for cubera snapper with live blue runners or whole live bonitos and come up with black marlin, so I had to wait a bit to make a judgment as to what was straining Dave´s back.
For what seemed like ten minutes, the fish just pumped and peeled line. Dave did well when he had a chance to gain some. I just kept idling toward deeper water, which is not far from that number.
Finally, Dave starts to really get the upper hand, but me, always expecting the UN-expected, cautioned him that the fish was coming up, for sure, but was also going away hard, so to stay on his toes.
And then, Ka-Splot !! a nice black marlin, about 250 lbs. breaks water, slaps his tail a couple of times, and heads down again. Fine, now we know what we´re hooked to. Dave has only seen marlin in fishing magazines. He is yelling things I can´t understand at the sky, but it looks like he´s happy, so I just agree.
Fish that take a circle hook and are hooked in the corner of the mouth , the purpose of the hook, fight so very much harder than a fish hooked in the belly with a j-hook. The only billfish that fight any harder are those hooked on fly gear. I realised a long time before I ever came to Central America that circle hooks catch more fish, and allow an angler to release short or un-wanted fish, tired but otherwise unharmed, back to fight another day.When you catch a 100 Florida snook on circles and live shrimp in a day, and can only keep two in the slot, returning that many fish to fight again makes you a believer.
How many roosterfish we´ve released, after a picture, I can´t even count. Sails, jack crevalle, blue fin trevally, so many sent back unharmed, not bleeding.
After 5 more jumps, and a deep sounding, Dave had the fish just off the port side, and I had the leader. He was tired enough, so I decided to try and get my hook back, and not just cut the leader next to it´s lip.
All went well, except when I told Dave to put the rod in a rod-holder and grab his camera. That fish must have been wanted in another country for something, because he didn´t want any pictures. Almost broke my left wrist, and I had to let go , or go gimp.
We still had the other bonito tied off to a cleat, and the 3rd dead one for chunks, so we went back to the same spot we hooked the marlin and did some circles with the live bait. No takers, so we dropped another rod with the bloody head of the dead one down and BAM! I had that rod in my hand, the fish hooked itself, and handed it off to Dave so I could get the livey cleared.
Dave is grunting, holding his breath, saying something un-repeatable under his breath, and hanging on!
A few minutes later, an absolute beauty of a gag grouper comes into the light.
Gaffed, slapped on the deck, and then a lot of WHOOPS! and HOLLERS! 38 pounds on my scale.
A lot of dinner.
We went trolling after that, looking for a dorado . But instead, 10 miles towards Punta Burica, we find some birds diving and put some small feathers and Yo-Zuri deep runners out, and BAM! , a double hook-up. Football class yellowfin tuna, about 10-15 lbs. each. One for me, one for Dave. Find the birds again, troll through, BAM! another double. Two more , same size. Dave says it´s O.K if I want to head in, he´s had a day he´ll never forget, and wants to go to the ¨super¨to find lemon juice and wasabi , something else he´s never tried, sashimi !!
Another holiday on the water, in Panama.
Things are going to really start getting HOT here in a little while. The annual WAHOO bite is going to start soon.
from August on into December. Black marlin will continue very strong until October, with a few blues mixed.
Very large yellowfin tuna will increase in numbers , the next two months being the best chance for a hog over 200 lbs.
Inshore, or bottom fishing, is good all the time.
Dorado have been a little scarce, but some boats have hit them. Just not me.....YET!!
Contact me at : [email protected]
GOOD FISHING, WHEREVER YOU ARE !!! Capn Bob
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