PanamaJack
04-05-2006, 21:22
I guess if there's one thing that we all probably share in common it's the adrenaline rush, or expectation thereof, experienced in hooking into a big Blue Marlin. But how large do they grow? That question must have exercised men's minds since they first started angling for them.
Where do we start? Well if there's one certainty about Marlin it is that they start life as a fertilised egg.
An egg only a tenth of the size of a Trout egg. And one of perhaps twenty million or so that a female may release during each breeding season. For the ensuing larvae, should they survive, and estimates suggest that fewer than ten in a million will through to maturity, their life expectancy will be measured in just tens of years. Perhaps thirty or so - certainly not the eighty plus of some Sturgeon, or even 55 years as in the case of Freshwater Eels.
So the largest I've positively been able to identify is an Atlantic Blue Marlin taken off Gran Canaria, in the early seventies. It weighed 1841lbs and was taken on a handline by three commercial fisherman, fishing from a small skiff. Very much shades of Hemmingway's 'Old Man of the Sea'. It engulfed a sixty pound Yellowfin Tuna they were playing.
I've no reason to doubt the veracity of this story, I heard it, first hand, from one of the fisherman - Francisco Ortego. Those of you who may have fished the Canaries, out of Puerto Rico, during the eighties will undoubtedly remember Francisco as the skipper of Carmen Primero.
Then the biggest Pacific fish I can track down is an Hawaiian fish, usually referred to as Choy's Monster - a fish of 1805lbs, taken in 1970 from Honolulu. Incredibly it was landed on rod and line - albeit two anglers played the fish, effectively eliminating it for World record consideration.
I suppose that's where reality ends and speculation begins. Or is it?
There've been reports of commercially long-lined fish of supposedly over 4000lbs. But I recall a Belgian angler, Charles Chtivelman, who still holds the 50lb World record for Bluefin Tuna, once telling me about the carcass of a Blue Marlin he'd seen in a Tahitian commercial cold store. That must have been some time in the mid- to late seventies. Minus guts it weighed 1100 kilos - 2400lbs!
I've spoken to Ted Legg, one of our Club members, at length on this subject. When quizzed he could graphically recall four really big fish in the five seasons he'd fished the Azores. But how big were they? He'd readily described their sheer presence in the water, their bulk - liken to being 'round like a Bluefin'(Tuna), their total control, the way they jumped, the way they swum. But the one thing he wouldn't do was to speculate just how large they were.
Ted has had firsthand experience of big fish, he's gaffed an 1144 pounder - the current 50lb Atlantic Blue line class World record. The fish he was describing though were quite different to one of these 'regular granders'.
Then there was also the fish hooked up on Double Header, from Faial in the Azores. The fight on 130lb test, with a very skilled 'big fish' angler - Mel Immergut - in the chair, lasted some 9 ½ hours before the Marlin broke the line. (They believe it was panic-ed by the close presence of a Mako Shark.) Although they had an early shot at it on no subsequent occasion were they able to turn its head for a gaff shot. This was with very experienced crew on the deck. It was totally unperturbed, it just kept swimming! And even, on occasions, sped off presumably chasing bait shoals! Similarly, when asked, Don Merton the skipper of Double Header would not venture a guess as to its weight. And Don has seen a number of authenticated 'granders' - Blues and Blacks.
Were they just so large that the skippers were concerned of being ridiculed if they'd put on estimate on their weight? Probably.
So have we reach the limit of angler and tackle capability with these really large fish? Can they ever be caught on lures? Or would one require to 'even up the odds' with a 'J' hook and bait to stand any chance?
I'd certainly be interested in any stories of MONSTERS you've heard of, but also your views on this subject.
Dave
Where do we start? Well if there's one certainty about Marlin it is that they start life as a fertilised egg.
An egg only a tenth of the size of a Trout egg. And one of perhaps twenty million or so that a female may release during each breeding season. For the ensuing larvae, should they survive, and estimates suggest that fewer than ten in a million will through to maturity, their life expectancy will be measured in just tens of years. Perhaps thirty or so - certainly not the eighty plus of some Sturgeon, or even 55 years as in the case of Freshwater Eels.
So the largest I've positively been able to identify is an Atlantic Blue Marlin taken off Gran Canaria, in the early seventies. It weighed 1841lbs and was taken on a handline by three commercial fisherman, fishing from a small skiff. Very much shades of Hemmingway's 'Old Man of the Sea'. It engulfed a sixty pound Yellowfin Tuna they were playing.
I've no reason to doubt the veracity of this story, I heard it, first hand, from one of the fisherman - Francisco Ortego. Those of you who may have fished the Canaries, out of Puerto Rico, during the eighties will undoubtedly remember Francisco as the skipper of Carmen Primero.
Then the biggest Pacific fish I can track down is an Hawaiian fish, usually referred to as Choy's Monster - a fish of 1805lbs, taken in 1970 from Honolulu. Incredibly it was landed on rod and line - albeit two anglers played the fish, effectively eliminating it for World record consideration.
I suppose that's where reality ends and speculation begins. Or is it?
There've been reports of commercially long-lined fish of supposedly over 4000lbs. But I recall a Belgian angler, Charles Chtivelman, who still holds the 50lb World record for Bluefin Tuna, once telling me about the carcass of a Blue Marlin he'd seen in a Tahitian commercial cold store. That must have been some time in the mid- to late seventies. Minus guts it weighed 1100 kilos - 2400lbs!
I've spoken to Ted Legg, one of our Club members, at length on this subject. When quizzed he could graphically recall four really big fish in the five seasons he'd fished the Azores. But how big were they? He'd readily described their sheer presence in the water, their bulk - liken to being 'round like a Bluefin'(Tuna), their total control, the way they jumped, the way they swum. But the one thing he wouldn't do was to speculate just how large they were.
Ted has had firsthand experience of big fish, he's gaffed an 1144 pounder - the current 50lb Atlantic Blue line class World record. The fish he was describing though were quite different to one of these 'regular granders'.
Then there was also the fish hooked up on Double Header, from Faial in the Azores. The fight on 130lb test, with a very skilled 'big fish' angler - Mel Immergut - in the chair, lasted some 9 ½ hours before the Marlin broke the line. (They believe it was panic-ed by the close presence of a Mako Shark.) Although they had an early shot at it on no subsequent occasion were they able to turn its head for a gaff shot. This was with very experienced crew on the deck. It was totally unperturbed, it just kept swimming! And even, on occasions, sped off presumably chasing bait shoals! Similarly, when asked, Don Merton the skipper of Double Header would not venture a guess as to its weight. And Don has seen a number of authenticated 'granders' - Blues and Blacks.
Were they just so large that the skippers were concerned of being ridiculed if they'd put on estimate on their weight? Probably.
So have we reach the limit of angler and tackle capability with these really large fish? Can they ever be caught on lures? Or would one require to 'even up the odds' with a 'J' hook and bait to stand any chance?
I'd certainly be interested in any stories of MONSTERS you've heard of, but also your views on this subject.
Dave