Blue Marlin Dream came true

**Mike Fisher** · 07-08-2006, 22:21

Italian customer Fabio Steccanella had only one dream in mind when he contacted Mike at first early 2006, " i want to catch a Blue Marlin ".
we figured out together when the best time during the 2006 Blue Marlin Season on the Dominican east coast would be, fishing out of Punta Cana, so at the end i decided by weather/moon/tide predictions to recommend the days before the full moon in august, so Fabio chartered my 42ft Bertram Shekinah with charter captains Jose Manuel Mota and Luis Alberto Caridad and their mate Chino for 5 consecutive full days starting Saturday August 5th til Wednesday august 9th.
the first day, saturday, Sea was very calm, no waves, slow breeze, more the conditions for a boat ride, so he brought his wife Ariana with him. til 1PM they got only 1 Blue Marlin up in the spray but failed to attract him enough to take the lure, no hook set, no fight and then the weather changed quickly, by 3PM they run in under heavy rain and thunderstorms, weather conditions can change fast like that during hurricane season.
day number 2, sunday morning, Sea on 5-6 ft, winds around 15 knots with higher gusts, the wife stayed at the resort. that day the boat did 9 hrs and again it was not a successful day, only 3 Blue Marlins up and no hook set nice, no fight, sunday night the crew changed all lures/hooks, if an equipment is without luck on one day it will never work.
today is day number 3, the boat is still out, but Jose Manuel Mota sent me the report for the first half of todays trip by mail.
at 11:40AM Jose set the hook on a Blue Marlin female, 9/0 Penn reel, 50lbs line on, the hooks set right and Fabio has the first Blue Marlin fight of his life. the fight lasted 11:40AM til 2:06 PM, 2hrs 26 min, during that time the crew of 3 had no chance to give their customer a hand, he wanted to get his fish on his own, no help wanted, and he won. Manuel told me by phone a minute ago that Fabio is barely able to walk right now, but he has still a very wide smile on his face.
lines are wet again, they have 2 more hrs left today and of course wednesday and thursday are two more days to beat the size of todays female, the crew counts it on an 300+lbs, so there's plenty of space to top this weight upwards.

i will download the pics from the cams tonight and post them by tomorrow afternoon.

tight lines
Mike
Mike@MikesMarina.info

**PanamaJack** · 08-08-2006, 11:43

Thanks for the report Mike, and Congratulations to Fabio.

You never forget catching that first Blue Marlin even though, in my case, it was 27 years ago. I can still remember my 'death grip' on the reel handle - gripping it much too hard - and in those last few feet with the swivel in full view having to lock my left hand around my right wrist to be able to wind.

Looking forward to seeing the photographs.
Dave

**Mike Fisher** · 08-08-2006, 14:20

hi Dave,
my first one had only 180lbs, i fought him sitting in a comfortable fighting chair and it took only 25 minutes on a 80lbs Penn with a 70lbs line, but i wasn't able to open my hands first, grabbing the pole like i have to kill the equipment. Fabio was fighting the whole time standing up using a fighting belt, he didn't want the comfort of the fighting chair.
take care
Mike