Marlin fishing
Marlin fishing or billfishing is offshore saltwater game fishing targeting several species of fast-swimming pelagic predatory fish with elongated rostrum collectively known as billfish, which include those from the families Istiophoridae and Xiphiidae. It is considered by some fishermen to be a pinnacle of big-game fishing, due to the size, speed and power of the billfish and their relative elusiveness.
Of all the billfish species, 10 of them are of the most interest to blue water anglers: Atlantic and Pacific blue marlin, black marlin, white marlin, striped marlin, Atlantic sailfish, Indo-Pacific sailfish, longbill spearfish, shortbill spearfish and the swordfish.
Fishing for marlin captured the imagination of some sport fishermen in the 1930s, when well-known angler/authors Zane Grey, who fished for black, striped and blue marlin in the Pacific, and Ernest Hemingway, who fished the Florida Keys, Bahamas and Cuba for Atlantic blue marlin and white marlin, wrote extensively about their pursuit and enthused about the sporting qualities of their quarry. These days, a lot of resources are committed to the construction of private and charter billfishing boats to participate in the billfishing tournament circuit. These are expensive purpose-built offshore vessels with powerfully driven deep sea hulls. They are often built to luxury standards and equipped with many technologies to ease the life of the deep sea recreational fisherman, including outriggers, flying bridges and fighting chairs, and state of the art fishfinders and navigation electronics.
Blue marlin
The blue marlin of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans are more widely pursued by sport fishermen than any other marlin species. Their wide distribution in tropical oceanic waters and seasonally into temperate zones makes them available to many anglers, and their potential to reach great sizes and spectacular fighting ability makes them a highly desired catch to some anglers.Biology and life history
Blue marlin are one of the world's largest bony fish and although adult males seldom exceed, females may reach far larger sizes well in excess of. A Pacific blue weighing caught in 1970 by a party of anglers fishing out of Oahu, Hawaii, aboard the charter boat Coreene C skippered by Capt. Cornelius Choy still stands as the largest marlin caught on rod and reel. This fish was found to have a yellowfin tuna of over in its belly. In the Atlantic, the heaviest sport-fishing capture is Paulo Amorim's fish from Vitoria, Brazil. Commercial fishermen have boated far larger specimens, with the largest blue marlin brought into Tsukiji market in Tokyo supposedly weighing a massive.Large blue marlin have traditionally been amongst the most highly prized angling captures, and a fish weighing, a "grander", has historically been regarded by blue and black marlin anglers as the benchmark for a truly outstanding catch. Today, much effort is still directed towards targeting big blue marlin, but smaller blues are also sought by anglers fishing lighter conventional tackle and big-game fly fishing gear.
Blue marlin occur widely in the tropical oceanic waters of the Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific, with many fish making seasonal migrations into the temperate waters of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres to take advantage of feeding opportunities as those waters in spring and summer. Warm currents such as the Gulf Stream in the western Atlantic and the Agulhas Current in the western Indian Ocean serve as oceanic highways for blue marlin migration, and have a major influence on their seasonal distribution. Blue marlin have a limited ability to thermoregulate, and the lower limit of their temperature tolerance is thought to be in the region of about although individual fish have been caught in cooler temperatures. Larger individuals have the greatest temperature tolerance, and blue marlin encountered at the limits of their range tend to be large fish. This wide distribution brings blue marlin in contact with anglers in many parts of the world.
Blue marlin are eclectic feeders preying on a wide range of prey species and sizes. Scientific examination of blue marlin stomach contents has yielded organisms as small as miniature filefish. Common food items include tuna-like fishes, particularly skipjack tuna and frigate mackerel, squid, mackerel, and scad. Of more interest to sport fishermen is the upper range of blue marlin prey size. A white marlin has been recorded as being found in the stomach of a blue marlin caught at Walker's Cay in the Bahamas, and more recently, during the 2005 White Marlin Open, a white marlin in the class was found in the stomach of one of the money-winning blues. Shortbill spearfish of have been recorded as feed items by Kona blue marlin fishermen. Yellowfin and bigeye tuna of or more have also been found in the stomachs of large blue marlin.
Fishing techniques
Fishing styles and gear used in the pursuit of blue marlin vary, depending on the size of blue marlin common to the area, the size of fish being targeted, local sea conditions, and often local tradition. The main methods used by sport fishermen are fishing with artificial lures, rigged natural baits, or live bait.Natural bait fishing
The pioneers of blue marlin angling employed natural baits rigged to skip and swim. Today, rigged baits, particularly Spanish mackerel and horse ballyhoo continue to be widely used for blue marlin. Also, the American eel is considered to be one of the best rigged baits due to its natural swim tendencies when properly rigged. Trolling for blue marlin with rigged baits, sometimes combined with an artificial lure or skirt to make "skirted baits" or "bait/lure combinations", is still widely practiced, especially along the eastern seaboard of the United States and in the Bahamas, the Caribbean, and Venezuela. Rigged natural baits are also used as "pitch baits" that are deployed after fish are raised to hookless lures or "teasers".Artificial lure fishing
Blue marlin are aggressive fish that respond well to the splash, bubble trail, and action of a well-presented artificial lure. Trolling with lures is probably the most popular technique used by blue marlin crews today. Hawaii is recognized as the birthplace of lure trolling for marlin, with skippers operating from the Kona Coast of the Big Island of Hawaii developing many designs still used today. The earliest marlin lures were carved from wood, cast in drink glasses, or made from chrome bath towel pipes and skirted with rubber inner tubes or vinyl upholstery material cut into strips. Today, marlin lures are produced in a huge variety of shapes, sizes, and colours, mass-produced by large manufacturers and individually crafted by small-scale, custom makers.A typical marlin lure is a small, medium to large artificial with a shaped plastic or metal head to which a plastic skirt is attached. The design of the lure head, particularly its face, gives the lure its individual action when trolled through the water. Lure actions range from an active side-to-side swimming pattern to pushing water aggressively on the surface to, most commonly, tracking along in a straight line with a regular surface pop and bubble trail. Besides the shape, weight, and size of the lure head, the length and thickness of skirting, the number and size of hooks, and the length and size of the leader used in lure rigging all influence the action of the lure: how actively it will run and how it will respond to different sea conditions. Experienced anglers often fine-tune their lures to get the action they want.
Lures are normally fished at speeds of ; faster speeds in the range are also employed, primarily by boats with slower cruising speeds traveling from spot to spot. These speeds allow quite substantial areas to be effectively worked in a day's fishing. A pattern of four or more lures is trolled at varying distances behind the boat. Lures may be fished either straight from the rod tip, or from outriggers.
Live-bait fishing
Live-bait fishing for blue marlin normally uses small tuna species, with skipjack generally considered the best choice. As trolling speed is limited because baits must be trolled slowly to remain alive, live-baiting is normally chosen where fishing areas are relatively small and easily covered, such as near fish aggregating device buoys and in the vicinity of steep underwater ledges.Blue marlin angling destinations
Areas where bottom structure creates upwelling, which brings deep nutrient-rich water close to the surface, are particularly favoured by blue marlin.Atlantic
In the western Atlantic, blue marlin may be found as far north as George's Bank and the continental shelf canyons off Cape Cod, influenced by the warm current of the Gulf Stream, and as far south as southern Brazil. In the eastern Atlantic, their seasonal range extends northward to the Algarve coast of Portugal and southward to the southern coast of Angola.Atlantic blue marlin were first consistently caught by sport fishermen in the early 1930s, when anglers from Florida began to explore the Bahamas. Authors such as Ernest Hemingway and S. Kip Farrington did much to attract the attention of big-game anglers to the Bahamian islands of Bimini and Cat Cay. After the Second World War, and especially from the 1960s onwards, anglers began pursuing and finding blue marlin in destinations all over the tropical and subtropical Atlantic.
;Bahamas
The Bahama Islands have long been popular destinations for fishermen seeking blue marlin. Bimini, located at the eastern edge of the Gulf Stream, has the longest history of blue marlin fishing in the islands, dating back to the 1930s and 1940s when anglers such as Michael Lerner, Ernest Hemingway, and S. Kip Farrington fished there. From the 1960s, more outlying areas such as Walker's Cay and the Abaco islands have developed as blue marlin grounds. The Bahamas is home to one of the most intensely competitive tournament series in marlin fishing, the Bahamas Billfish Championship.
;Bermuda
The banks lying off the hook-shaped island of Bermuda consistently produce blue marlin. Many Bermudian fish are small specimens in the class, but every year much bigger fish in the and larger class are caught. A giant boated aboard the Mako IV, skippered by Captain Allen DeSilva, in 1995, stands as the largest blue marlin caught in Bermudian waters. This fish is also one of the largest blue marlin ever boated in the Atlantic.
A series of tournaments attracts many top-notch boats and crews from the United States every summer. Visiting boats and crews join a small but well-equipped and experienced fleet of charter vessels.
;Brazil
Blue marlin are fished by sport fishermen operating from several locations along the Atlantic coast of Brazil. Blue marlin have been encountered as far south as São Paulo, and are regularly hooked and caught in annual tournaments held offshore of Rio de Janeiro. However, the majority of international attention has thus far focused on Canavieiras, the gateway to the Royal Charlotte Bank, an extensive area of bottom structure that holds billfish, tuna, and other pelagics in great numbers; and on Cabo Frio, where an annual tournament has produced several fish weighing in excess of.
The city of Vitória is considered one of the finest locations for blue marlin fishing by many anglers. Fishing is a popular activity in Vitória, attracting fishermen from other states and countries due to the large population of marlin and sailfish off the coast of Espírito Santo. Largest of the many big blue marlin caught at Vitória is the International Game Fish Association all-tackle record, held by Paulo Amorim, who caught a blue marlin that weighed.
;Cape Verde Islands
This cluster of islands in the eastern tropical Atlantic has proved to be an outstanding blue marlin fishery since it was first seriously fished in the 1980s. Blue marlin may be caught year-round in Cape Verde, but the best fishing seems to take place between March and May when large numbers of blue marlin concentrate in island waters. Blues encountered off Cape Verde range widely in size, with many fish of and good numbers of larger fish in the class. The biggest catch from Cape Verde waters is a fish caught in September 2006 near the island of Saint Vincent by angler Barry Silleman fishing with skipper Berno Niebuhr. Incidental catches include wahoo and large yellowfin tuna.
;Mexico
In the eastern Yucatán, charter boats operating from Cozumel, Isla Mujeres and Playa del Carmen encounter blue marlin in addition to numerous white marlin and sailfish from late March through July, when the waters of the Gulf Stream bring billfish through the area. These blue marlin of the western Caribbean tend to be smaller. While large specimens can top, fish are far more common.
;Portugal
Although blue marlin are being caught in increasing numbers on the Algarve coast of Portugal, the main centres of blue marlin fishing in Portugal are the oceanic islands of the Azores and Madeira.
The small port of Horta on Faial Island is synonymous with blue marlin fishing in the nine-island chain of the Azores. The season normally begins in late June or early July and continues until weather conditions put an end to the fishery in mid- to late October. Weather conditions can be unpredictable at the end of the season, but in midsummer when the area is dominated by the Azores high, the seas can be very flat.
Although blue marlin can be found close to Faial, boats seeking them often select three banks that serve as productive feeding locations for these fish. The Azores sits in the northern extreme of blue marlin distribution and the fishery is dominated by large fish. Large fish are average here and every year fish of and above are encountered. The Azores is home to Atlantic blue marlin records for, amongst others, IGFA -line classes.
Blue marlin fishing in Madeira was pioneered by local anglers in the 1960s and 1970s, and a number of large blue marlin were caught during the 1980s, but the focus for most visiting anglers tended to be sharks and the prolific schools of bigeye tuna. After the mid-1990s, however, the attention of blue marlin fishermen was drawn to the island after several exceptional captures, including eight fish weighing over in 1994 alone.
Between 1997 and 2000, blue marlin fishing in Madeira, along with the other Atlantic islands, underwent a severe downturn, blamed by many on the strong El Niño event of 1996–1997. From 2001 onwards, conditions began to improve, and the seasons of 2005 and 2006 have seen Madeira return to some of its former glory. June and July appear to be the premier months for blue marlin fishing. A small fleet of charter boats operate out of the small marina in the island's largest town, Funchal. The most popular fishing grounds are situated on the south coast of the island, sheltered by the high cliffs from the prevailing northeast trade winds. Fishing generally takes place within a few miles of the island and many great fish are caught well within of the shoreline. Lure fishing is the most successful method with a wide variety of medium to large artificials from various sources being successful.
;Spain
Although a number of blue marlin have been brought into ports along the Atlantic coast of mainland Spain, the subtropical archipelago of the Canary Islands is by far the most prolific blue marlin grounds in Spain. Blue marlin appear seasonally in the Canary Islands between May and October, with some individuals having been caught earlier and later in the year. The average size of blue marlin encountered in the Canary Islands tends to be large, in the class, including some very large fish upwards of. Smaller fish in the class also make an appearance at times.
Sport fishing boats may be chartered from the main islands of Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, and Tenerife; from the smaller islands of Graciosa and La Gomera; and from Puerto Rico de Gran Canaria on the island of Gran Canaria, which has historically been the main destination for marlin fishing there and still boasts the largest fleet of charter boats in the islands. In recent years, La Gomera has steadily gained attention amongst European and international marlin fishermen with numerous blue marlin catches, including fish over. Blue marlin are caught both offshore and inside the island's shelf, which often holds abundant schools of bait fish, mainly mackerel and scad.
;United States
The Outer Banks of North Carolina have long been known for their blue marlin fishing. Since the early 1950s when Ernal Foster on the Albatross I made the first charter fishing trips for blue marlin, Cape Hatteras has been known as an important destination for the sport fisherman. Other important fishing centers include Morehead City, home to the famous Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament, and Oregon Inlet. The proximity of the Gulf Stream and of the continental shelf edge in the Cape Hatteras area create a productive combination of current, blue water, and ocean temperature that attracts a wide variety of gamefish including blue marlin.
While the average size of a blue marlin is typically, big fish inhabit these waters. North Carolina was home to the former all-tackle world record Atlantic blue marlin, a fish that also stood as the world record for class tackle for over 17 years. The state record, which stood for many years at, was finally exceeded by a blue taken off Nags Head on 15 August 2008.
;Venezuela
Venezuela's La Guaira Bank has some of the most prolific blue marlin fishing in the Atlantic. Blue marlin are present year round with particularly good numbers in spring. Trolling with ballyhoo baits using relatively light tackle, often in the class, is popular for the variety of billfish species that can make an appearance in these waters.
;Virgin Islands
The island of St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands is one of the most renowned blue marlin destinations. Full moons from June to October can accompany some intense blue marlin fishing in the area known as the 'North Drop'. Lure fishing, trolling natural baits, and bait and switch are all popular. The former all-tackle world-record Atlantic blue of was boated there.