A fishy story - worth reading!

[CASTSA]

UNEDITED VERSION - please excuse

Divide and Conquer.................Make your dreams a reality

The first time you have the pleasurable experience of seeing a Marlin come clear out the water attached to your line makes your emotions flow like the Nile in the rainy season, panic, doubt, excitement, confusion, hesitation and obviously you feel intimidated by this huge mass of silvers and blues breaching the water. Some compare this first experience to standing at the alter getting married for the first time. Wobbly knee’s and a deep urge to cut the line and run the other way. Now if I was on a Marlin boat, pulling Mold Craft’s Soft Heads on the continental shelf and fishing with a Penn International with 80lbs IGFA rated mono strapped into what they call a FIGHTING CHAIR then this experience would have been one that I was armed and ready for.  The reality of the situation was that on this day at Aliwal Shoal I had the duty of skipper on a beautiful summer’s morning on one of my favourite boats the “Pelagic” while a very close friend and owner of the Pelagic Gareth Brockett dived over this amazing eco-system. Now before I had agreed to this post I did mention to the boys that there is no way that being the fisherman I am that I would sit on the boat enjoying the fresh air while they did what they do. Also the gents at Penn had just armed me with the new Penn Conquer 5000 spinning reel with a solid 20 - 25lbs drag to test. So I was blatantly honest and made it crystal clear that while the crew was in the water looking at the fish I would be on deck pulling a few lures to temp a Wahoo, or a Tunny to test this new reel. I have always been a huge fan of the Penn brand, I think every angler has grown up with a Penn of some sort in his hand, tried, tested and proven throughout the years. So as you can imagine I was battling to contain my excitement almost to the point of rushing the divers overboard to get anything in the water. The current was north to South which is always good in this area and the water was warm, blue and it just looked fishy. We hit the mark and the boys were in the water.
Right game on!! When it comes to warm, deep and blue almost purple water my favourite colour is turquoise blue when it comes to lure selection. The glow under the water is enough to turn your lazy common bottom dwelling Bronze Bream into a fierce pelagic hunter, well not quite but I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this. Armed with 30lbs Berkley Fireline I was ready to put the breaks on anything that had a chomp at my lure. The first pull I got hooked into a tank size Bonito which I thought was good but to be honest had no chance with the tackle I was using, first run and one fish not bad going. After releasing the fish unharmed I thought I would pull the lure a little faster, create a little havoc under the water to get fish buzzing a little. So I put the boat in gear and set the same line as before going against the currant from South to North, next minute when I looked back at my reel was getting smoked because there’s no ratchets type system with a spinning reel to alarm you when you have a fish and this fish had in the matter of a few seconds half emptied the reel. Now being the only one on board I had slipped the motors into neutral and grabbed the rod. With a smile on my face I thought I had hooked the Wahoo I was looking for and decided to apply a little pressure to the drag, tighter and tighter and tighter, OK big problem this fish just seemed to change gears, literally getting faster and faster as the drag was set tighter. 

OK PANIC stations I can see the gold of the spool and I was now running out of braid. Luckily I keep the motors running so I slipped it into gear and followed the fish trying desperately to get some braid back on the reel. I’m not sure if anyone has experienced this before but trying to follow a fish, steer a boat with one hand, get some line back on the reel with the other while trying to get the attention of the divers in the water with your feet flapping frantically in every direction possible is not an easy task. Well I did catch up to the fish, stopped the boat and buckled down to put huge pressure as I was now around 500m away from the divers. As I tightened up I noticed the fish coming to the surface and I automatically thought it was going to be a big sailfish or record breaking Wahoo.
 Absolutely NOTHING in my fishing career could have prepared me for what was about to happen next. With my polarized sunglasses I could see this huge submarine like shadow under the boat and the first thing I thought was I was now being harassed by the government for unpaid taxes. As I noticed the shadow it took off at an alarming rate I held on and put full breaks. The fish broke the surface and my knee’s turned to jelly. Before me was this 350lb Black Marlin which seemed to levitate in the air staring at me for what seemed like five minutes not ten metres from the boat before it imploded back into the water almost splashing me on the boat and heading for the horizon at the speed of sound. NOW WHAT!! Divers, water, sharks, and other boats everything was going through my mind until I looked down and I could see the gold of my spool again.
Obviously I turned the boat to follow, this happened four times and this fish would just accelerate to ridiculous speeds the more pressure I applied. Ok panic stations, I’m over a kilometre away from the guys in the water and I need to break this fish of a lifetime off and get the guys to safety. I held on ready to part the line and the funny thing was it actually towed the boat - GO FIGURE. The 30lbs Fireline was strong enough to tow the boat. Plan B, in the distance I could see a boat nearby and I start to waive frantically to get the attention of the skipper which I did and he approached obviously under the impression that I was in trouble, which in my eyes I was in the world of trouble. When the boat arrived I tried to see if the crew had any angling experience and it looked like they were trawling some lures themselves so I explained the situation that I had a 350 Lb Black Marlin with serious attitude problem on the end of this line and I have divers in the water. His eyes turned into saucers and after I explained the plan, which he would now have to take this rod and fight this Marlin while I picked up the diving crew.
Well his eyes almost popped out of his head. Explaining that all he had to do was follow the fish with the boat when the reel looked like it was about to empty he felt he had the confidence to get the job done. Fantastic, not only am I having the best experience of my life I’ve got someone else involved and they too are having theirs. Brilliant, WHAT A DAY. I pulled the hand break on the Pelagic and shot off to get the divers who by this time thought I had left them to the sharks.


Luckily I found the dive team straight away and after a frantic hustle to usher the boys in the boat, I told them the story and Gareth was super charged because he had just seen a fish of that size in the water. So with everyone buzzing, the Pelagic shot back to the boat which was now on the horizon heading straight to Australia.
We eventually get to the boat, but with a new task at hand. We need to get the rod back from what can only be described as an over enthusiastic angler fighting a Marlin having the time of his life. We gave our thanks and with a little persuasion I managed to get the rod and we were straight back in the action. Everyone involved did extremely well. Desperate times, desperate measures.
Unfortunately after two and a half hours, countless jumps and almost seven kilometres away from the hook up point, one of the hooks on the lure straightened and with this monstrous fish only fifteen metres from the Pelagic we all witnessed the lure pulling free with such ease almost as if someone had pushed the slow motion button on the remote and with a dramatic shout and panic we watched while this beauty of a fish disappeared into the deep.

Yes I was heart broken obviously but having the chance to fight what can only be described as the King of the Ocean on such light tackle was by far the best and most invigorating experience of my angling career.


Wesley Peens
CASTSA

[CAPTAIN MORGAN]

A hell of a good story!!! - if it is true?

[CASTSA]

100%

[shagnrelease]

Hard lines there Wesley!

Greg

[Rods]

Talk about the one that got away. Sorry you lost the fish Wes but what a story you have. Better luck next one.

[CASTSA]

To be honest, just getting that fish to the boat a few time and seeing it light up in all its glory is more than enough for me...makes for fun reading ;-)

[benniejordaan]

Nice story.. Your story??

[CASTSA]

Yes, its worth sharing...was a crazy adventure

[benniejordaan]

Awesome story, nice one to share with your kids and something to remember!

Thanks for sharing it!

[RusticRainman]

Great read. Thanks

[Big Van]

Great story. It felt if I was with you on the boat when reading the story. I know the pandemonium on a boat when it happens when a marlin visits. Can just imagine how it must feel when you are alone. Even though it broke of it was your fish. You came eye to eye to it. He was the winner this time but must watch out for next time the battle is not over it was only one round. Well done!!!

[TUNAMAN]

Fantastic read. Thanks Wesley and yes they are awesome fish and an experience next to none.

[super_daav]

Awesome story!! That must be the experience of a lifetime!

[Kona]

Great story
P.S Im never going diving with you.

I had a mate over from the UK same situation Whale shark swam past and they decided to follow and have a swim with it. When they returned they could not find the divers in the water. Divers had a good 3km swim had to dump all equipment etc.
Great when your on deck not great when your in the water.

[Gerhard]

Sounds like you had a lot of fun... 

[CASTSA]

Thanks for all the comments guys........

Kona, I know I felt terrible but I knew the reef and how long they had to reach the end of it and that gave me a good idea as to how much time I had to play with.....but yes it was a little nerve racking......Especially at Aliwal Shoal, world reknown for giant sharks......

[Kona]

You should be ashamed of yourself.

For handing over your rod, I would have asked them to go pick up the divers in the water and carried on with my MARLIN