[gman]

Hey guys, as you know I am in Cabo on business and decided to try out my new gear. The objective was to cast to billfish. Well quickly plans changed. I arrived at the dock and found out that there was a big swell offshore, which i decided to ignore, good thing becuase it ended up being beautiful.

They told me that all the billfish were being caught on the bottom, thats right the bottom. Ive fished the globe and have never caught Marlin with live bait on the bottom.

The mates were trying to make bait when i busted out my heavy duty jigging setup which consisted of a shimano blue rose 4815 with a stella 20K. I picked out a Samne jig and dropped it to the bottom but half way there i get nailed but in a second its gone OUCH

I was sharked as Makos were around, I grab the closest jig which was a shimano butterfly jig in pink and quickly send it back down. After several jerks ...Im on.

I think its a tuna or a Cubera snapper becuase its fighting straight down and taking drag at a fast pace, when it starts to rise. All we see now is silver so we think its a wahoo and then all hell breaks loose. A very large Striped Marlin is walking on water, dancing and jumping with a 9 oz jig in its jaw. 15 minutes goes by and the mate stops taking pictures and grabs the leader when the fish literally almost jumps in the boat and the hook pulls.

They told me they have never seen a marlin take a jig before down there

It was a released fish technically becuase he had leader but would have been nice to get some shots with it. I do however have shots of him airborn.

I then continue jigging although the plan was to cast when a school of tuna surfaces atleast 60 yards away the captain tells me I will never reach when I race to grab my casting set up. Perfect cast right in the school, two long strokes and the mangrove studio volador has me hooked up to a small yellow, then a skipjack, then another yellow.

I slow trolled the mangrove studio popper and had a marlin surface but he missed it and never came back

I ended up with 1 striped marlin, 1 Mako shark, 2 yellowfin, 1 skipjack and atleast 12 dorado all on my own gear. Satisfying after they told me i was crazy

Will post pictures when I return

 

[Bazztex]

Man that's great when a plan comes together... Nice report!

I've never heard of any Marlin taking Iron but that's a cool deal!

Sounds like you had fun in breaking their tradional methods.

360 Tuna.. bringing knife Jig fishing to the world!

Bazz

 

[paul708]

great report glenn..marlin on a jig Very nice

 

[lite-liner]

Gman, that is an excellent report! Like everyone else, I haven't ever heard
of a striped marlin being hooked while vertical jigging. how deep?
Ya know, I may be wrong, but you may have just one-upped Kil Song
Cant wait to see the pics!
congrats
-Brian

 

[gman]

thanks guys,

Liteliner it hit around 300 feet deep, and it stayed deep for several minutes but when it decided to come up it was like a rocket. I appreciate the props but my name shouldnt even be mentioned in the same sentance as Kilsong. He is the master of jigging as I am just lucky. thanks again

Glenn

BTW congrats on a great Venice trip

 

[fishordie]

Yo G,

Two years ago, following an Epic Cow tuna trip on the Excel, we were just outside of Cabo and the Stripped Marlin were everywhere. I got 7 Marlin, all released (Some intentionally and others billed the mono), in 2 hours on Spanyid Raider jigs and one Braid jig. This was all caught on film by Inside Sportfishing but ended up on the cutting room floor as this was supposed to be a big tuna movie. I have had Marlin hit the Raiders before so this was not unique. It was nuts but Marlin will absolutely hit a thrown jig especially when they are lit up.

Jamie

 

[ksong]

I appreciate the props but my name shouldnt even be mentioned in the same sentance as Kilsong. He is the master of jigging as I am just lucky. thanks again


Glenn, I am embarrassed.

Jamie,
I also read that striped marlin hit jigs quiet often.
Wow, 7 striped marlin on jigs !
Are you interested in fishing Cape Town, South Africa ?
Cow fishing there is quiet impressive.

 

[fishordie]

Hi Kilsong,

I would be all over that. Let me know when you have in mind. My only concern is these days you never know if your jigs will be held up in customs or security. I suppose I could send all that stuff in advance. I like to use my own gear.

Jamie

Glenn, I am embarrassed.

Jamie,
I also read that striped marlin hit jigs quiet often.
Wow, 7 striped marlin on jigs !
Are you interested in fishing Cape Town, South Africa ?
Cow fishing there is quiet impressive.

 

[ksong]

Hi Kilsong,

I would be all over that. Let me know when you have in mind. My only concern is these days you never know if your jigs will be held up in customs or security. I suppose I could send all that stuff in advance. I like to use my own gear.

Jamie
Jigs should be in the check-in luggage.
Tuna fishing in Cape Town is good until the end of Dec and they disappear until Spring. I am thinking about going in late Nov. If so, I have to sacrify GT fishing planned.
Here is an e-mail I got from a guy in Cap Town this morning.

There have been ALOT of big Tuna around the last two weeks out in the deep. This is the time for the bigger, angrier fish, with numerous fish in the 80 to 90 kilo class coming out off recreational boats, and I'm sure the commercials have been into them too...
Apparently their are some real cows out there... I know of two boats that had 80W's spooled with 80lb string with drags set at 18 kilos!!!
I'm sure these fish were either huge Big Eye which we get here sometimes or Bluefin.... We used to get HUGE bluefin in the bay here many years ago... So close the guys used to hook them on plugs cast from the shore at Cape Point... of course none were landed as trying to turn a 900 pound fish on 1940's tackle was a waste of time....
The largest Tuna that came in while spinning off the ledges at Cape Point was a YFT of 186 lbs taken in the 60's by Jackie Wheeler... on a bamboo rod too!!!
These fish are long gone unfortunately due to the longliners and netters...but the big YFT's come pretty close sometimes still...

Apparently the Longfin ( Albacore ) are thick out there too, so thick in fact that the boys have been battling to get baits past them at times to the YFT's below.. but good sized Ablies too, some of them pushing the 65lb mark, which is good fun on a light stick, or popping gear...

 

[gman]

Ok, I asked them to bring me rooster fishing today and they told us they are out of season but after hours of casting into a raging surf I ended up with 2 small rooster fish in the 10lb range. I had atleast 20 fish follow the popper but they wouldnt commit. Also caught several Mahi and a jack along with some pesky alligator looking fish that destroyed my shibuki lures.

Will post pictures when i return, I am trying to get out of my meetings on thursday so i can try casting for marlin again

 

[gman]

fishlordie ...thats awesome congrats. I wasnt saying it was unique, the captain told me he never heard or saw of anyone who ever did it before down here. He even asked me for the jig so I gave him another one ...good karma

 

[fishordie]

Hi Kilsong,

I would love to plan it for next year though I am supposed to be in New Zealand in Jan/Feb 09. Maybe I need two big trips that season. This November I will probably be on a 16 dayer here on the west coast as it looks like the action is heating up. I also have a 15 day in January though I have scheduling problems. I hate it when work creates problems for fishing. Let me know your schedule for next year and hopefully I can join you.

Jamie

 

[ksong]

Jamie,
The guy in Cape Town is arranging the trip for me to fish on a private boat.
If it happens, I'd like to go before Dec. 31 as I have to use 75000 mileage by the end of this year. This is a scounting trip and I might go back again next year with other fishermen if the trip is successful.

 

[gman]

Yesterday i had one of the best days I have ever had. I went out looking to get my striped marlin on a popper and lady luck granted my wish ...not once, or twice or 3 times but 4 and the 4th was a special momment i will never forget

a Blue Marlin was sunning itself before it succombed to my popper, A full report and pictures to come

 

[bunile]

How small was it ? I had 2 maybe 80/110 lbs. nothing to worry about. But great weather and pretty ocean. The "julio" deck hand wanted both of them , I guess he eats them or what was he going to do with it ? I never heard of eating marlin ,young blue might have tasted good but they had some bugs or parasites growing on the skin. Like barnacles !!! Adds to the flavor I guess. Caught them trolling , kind of slow actually and not very deep.

 

[gman]

day 1 shots with butterfly jig in Marlins mouth

 

[gman]

enjoy the shots

 

[gman]

Its 1:30 pm, I need to be back at my hotel by 6:45 becuase I am speaking in front of 400 people at 7:30pm at an awards banquet.


I open up my camera at the dock and i have a blinking battery light ...oh no I think to myself so I put it in dry storage incase i get a fish onboard


On the boat by 2pm and off we go. The plan today is to troll teasers and some dead butterflied goggle eyes without hook to entice a strike and then I was supposses to cast to them. We were fishing along the coast where there is a bank but in route I hear Marlin, marlin, marlin and he guns the boat to a spot he saw a finning stripey. I cast a Volador lure right in front of him totally un prepared and he doesnt move, second cast I basically hit him in the head and Im tight

1st - The captain thinks I fould hooked him in the bill as I actually hit him (LOL)and after 15 minutes on my stella 10000 he is at leader as he is guiding him to grab his bill the leader parts and he swims away with my friggin lucky lure. Oh well no pictures as the camera was still in dry storage and I had a low battery

2nd - We start trolling and immdiately get bit on the short squid bars he was dragging so I grab my zenaq rod and stella and cast another shot directly in the area with no luck. Second cast and I am tight far away from the boat. Marlin starts tailwalking and after 20 minutes he is boatside for a great release. Very small fish maybe 80lbs and an obvious baby

3rd - The next 20 minutes only produces a mahi and then the long rigger with the dead bait gets nailed. So I go to grab my casting rod but I hadnt changed the leader so I dropped back a live bait and I get tight on 20lb test line with 50lb leader. What a fight, everytime I would gain he would take but you know Glenn cant fish with 20lb line so this story doesnt end good. Gone at color

Its now 4:30 and we are atleast 30 minutes away, the captain had re-rigged my rod with the big Magrove studio popper that looks like a dorado and put it way for me when I told him I would rather call it a day becuase I need to leave. I start putting me gear away but in 10 minutes he would scream again this time he says wait, wait ..he pulls up slowley and there its is sunning itself

He screams Blue, its a Blue Marlin see how dark he is ... go get your rod. He said you have one shot on this one as he will spook so throw it over him. So I cast past him and pop that hge bad boy popper right past him but he doesnt move until its 10 feet past him then he zeros in on it and EXPLODES on it. White water everywhere Im tight and high fives are going around but i need to land this fish. He tells me to fish it with low drag so i dont pull the hook.

4:45, 5pm, 5:15 and he is still down deep, everytime i get line he takes it finally at around 5:20 he surfaces again we pull him boatside and we get him in the boat. In 2 minutes we take about 5 pictures and then my battery goes dead but not before i get some shots with him.

Im so glad I saved my battery all day in hopes for a great fish, this time I came out on top

Glenn

 

[thenewkid]

nice catch man small rooster but its a rooster all the same you must have been pleased catching that marlin, i know i woulda been. really nice pictures and thanks for the report, hey is that the rod you used when you caught that blue shark on a popper?

 

[gman]

enjoy the shots guys