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Catching a Black Marlin
The Connolly’s had a great time in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. My parents, Bill Sr. and Kay, my brother Bob and his wife LaVondra, and Shirley and I take a trip every 2 or 3 years for some fun in the sun. The following fish story was the highlight of the trip.
The six of us went out Monday on the “Anticipation”, an incredible 38’ fishing yacht with all the amenities of 2/2 home. Bob and I caught a few tuna and Shirley caught a Barracuda which bit Luis, one of the deck hands, pretty good. He said something in Spanish that I didn’t understand but the meaning was clear. “He thinks he can bite me, well I’ll be having him for dinner.”
We were planning on all going out again on Wednesday but Shirley and I decided to stay in town and do our own thing. So Bob, LaVondra and Mom and Dad left at 6am. First they had to catch their own bait. They trolled for a few hours and caught 6 or 8 Bonita (bait fish), weighing 5 to 10 pounds each, then headed out to where captain Ed said the big ones are, (about 40 miles off shore).
They had a few strikes. Something would bite half the bait fish but not get hooked. After 6 hours George, the other deck hand, spotted a school of tuna. Dad told Captain Ed that catching tuna would be better then not catching anything at all, so they reeled in all the lines, changed all the rigging for tuna and headed for the school. Immediately the tuna disappeared. That figures, but they trolled for a couple of hours anyway.
It was 2pm and everyone was exhausted. With a 3 hour trip back to the Marina, Dad & Bob decided to call it a day, however, Captain Ed was determined to help Bob catch a trophy fish. They reeled in all the lines and changed the rigging back again for big fish. “We may be heading home but we’re at least going to have a line in the water and troll as we go in,” said Captain Ed.
ZZZing!!! Nothing can describe the sound of reel spinning out of control when a big fish takes hold. The boat came alive! Bob jumped in the fighting chair, George set the hook and gave him the pole. ZZZing!!! Another one! They offered Dad the chair but he declined. With 3 Marlins and a Sail Fish already mounted at home, Mom said that there was absolutely no room for another. Dad decided not to set the hook and let the second one go. It was about 3 pm.
About 200 yards out, Bob’s fish jumped clean out of the water. “Marlin,” captain Ed said, “should take about 2 hours to reel it in. 300 pounds I reckon.” Bob, George and Luis took turns reeling. Finally captain Ed took the pole. “Woah! A lot bigger than 300 pounds.” They would reel for over an hour, get the Marlin close to the boat, then ZZZing!!! Off he went again, taking all the line you just reeled in, and a little more. This happened several times and even became comical. Finally, almost 5 hours later the Marlin could fight no more. He died from the fight but better club him just to be sure.
The four of them looked over the back of the boat, staring in wonder and amazement. What came to mind was the quote from the movie JAWS... “We need a bigger boat”! They never could get the Marlin on board, at least not all of it. One hour later, 6 feet of the marlin was in the boat with the other 8 feet hanging out the back. It was 8:30pm and the sun would be setting soon. Time to head home.
They pulled up to the dock around 11pm. Everyone who usually helps unload and weigh the catch had called it a day long ago. So, Luis and George’s family came out to help which cost Dad a few extra ice cold cervezas, (beer.) Oh, I forgot who I was sending this to, you all know what cerveza means!
17 hours on the water. Almost 6 hours of using every muscle in your body fighting the Marlin and pulling him on board. Was it worth it? “Absolutely!” my brother says. He loves to eat pescado (fish) and brought back 5 very big ice chests full of Marlin filets. But that was only a small portion of the meat. The rest he gave to captain Ed, Luis, George and their families.
So it was just shy of 14 feet long with a 74” girth. And captain Ed was right, it was a lot bigger than 300 pounds. And are you ready for this? My little brother caught a...... 933 pound Black Marlin. Sushi anyone?
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