Marlin fishing is considered by many game fishermen to be the pinnacle of offshore game fishing, due to the size and power of marlin, relative rareness and difficulty of capture. It is also expensive, requiring considerable money to pursue as a regular hobby.
Blue marlin
See also: Atlantic blue marlinBlue marlin are possibly the most sought-after marlin species. Beautiful in form, capable of spectacular fighting ability and having the potential to reach great sizes, blue marlin have inspired and continue to inspire the dedicated pursuit of thousands of skippers, crews and anglers.
Distribution
Blue marlin are inhabitants of tropical oceanic waters worldwide, occurring both in the Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific. Spawning is carried out in tropical waters and many individuals probably remain in tropical waters year round. However, significant seasonal migrations are made into the temperate waters of the northern and southern hemispheres to take advantage of feeding opportunities as northern and southern waters warm in spring and summer. Although blue marlin have the ability to thermoregulate, the lower limit of their temperature tolerance is thought to be in the region of approximately 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit) although individual fish have been caught in cooler temperatures. 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. Larger individuals have the greatest temperature tolerance, and blue marlin encountered at the limits of their range tend to be large fish.
In the western Atlantic blue marlin can be seasonally 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. Some blue marlin are found at the southernmost tip of the continent, though whether they are Atlantic stock or Pacific stock is debatable, especially since an individual fish tagged in the western Atlantic was re-caught in the Indian Ocean off the island of Mauritius. Vagrant individuals have been taken by rod and reel as far north as Biscay (2005) and there have been claims of commercial captures as far north as south-west Ireland.
In the Pacific, blue marlin are seasonally found as far north as southern Japan and as far south as the Bay of Plenty in the North Island of New Zealand. Blue marlin in the eastern Pacific migrate as far north as Southern California and as far south as northern Peru. The southern limit of their distribution in the eastern Indian Ocean appears to be the waters of Albany and Perth in Western Australia, and in the western Indian Ocean blue marlin have been taken as far south as Cape Town.
Blue marlin have been found in the open ocean in thousands of fathoms of water, thousands of miles from land; however, they concentrate in their greatest numbers in areas where bottom structure (islands, seamounts, banks, and the edge of the continental shelf) create upwelling that brings deep nutrient-rich water close to the surface, sparking off plankton blooms that result in a food chain that ends in large marine predators such as dolphins, whales, large tuna and billfish. In temperate waters, the interaction of warm currents with these bottom structures is critical in setting up suitable environmental conditions for blue marlin and other warmwater gamefish. Temperature breaks created where bodies of warm and cool water are pushed up against each other also act as a less tangible form of structure which attracts bait and gamefish, including blue marlin.
Spawning locations are believed to include the islands of the Caribbean in the western Atlantic, the Gulf of Guinea in the eastern Atlantic, Hawaii, and Mauritius.
Genetic structure
Scientists distinguish between two species of blue marlin, the Atlantic blue marlin ( Makaira nigricans ) and the Pacific blue marlin ( Makaira mazara ). Genetic studies have shown that the p-phenotype is prevalent in both oceans, whereas the a-phenotype has not been recorded in the Indian or Pacific oceans; hence a large percentage of blue marlin found in the Atlantic are actually the same genetically as Pacific blue marlin.
Age
The 1656lb Blue marlin caught by the sportfishing vessel Black Bart in 1984 was aged by biologists at 32 years. This is the oldest blue marlin known to science although it is thought that the longest-lived individuals may reach an age of 40 or more.
Size
Blue marlin are sexually dimorphic: adult males seldom exceed 150 kg (300 lb) whereas females may reach far larger sizes well in excess of 450 kg (1,000 lb).
The maximum size of blue (and black) marlin is often debated in both sport fishing and scientific circles. The largest sport fishing capture on record is a 1,805 lb Pacific blue marlin caught by a party of anglers in Oahu, Hawaii aboard the charter boat Coreene C skippered by Capt. Cornelius Choy (this fish often referred to as 'Choy's Monster'). This fish was found to have a yellowfin tuna of over 155 lbs in weight in its belly. In the Atlantic the heaviest sport fishing capture is Paulo Amorim's 1,402 lb fish from Vitoria, Brazil.
Commercial fishermen have boated far larger specimens. The largest blue marlin brought into Tsukiji market in Tokyo supposedly weighed a massive 1,106 kg. A number of very large fish have been reported over the years, including a couple of photographs originating from Okinawa in southern Japan and Vanuatu. Commercial and sport fishermen from many other areas, both Pacific and Atlantic, have reported encounters with, and in some instances captures, of marlin thought to be in excess of 2,000 lbs, but obtaining verified weights and dimensions has proved very difficult.
A 1,000 lb (450 kg) fish, a "grander", has historically been regarded by blue and black marlin anglers as the benchmark for a truly outstanding catch. For most marlin anglers, a 1,000 lb fish represents the fish of a lifetime. Sadly, because of ever-increasing commercial fishing effort across the world's oceans, it seems unlikely that sport fishermen will ever break the "tonner" (2,000 lb) mark.
Diet
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 (also known as frigate tuna), squid, mackerel, and scad.
Of more interest to sport fishermen is the upper range of blue marlin prey size. A 72-inch white marlin has been recorded as being found in the stomach of a 448 lb blue marlin caught at Walker's Cay in the Bahamas, and more recently, during the 2005 White Marlin Open a white marlin in the 70 lb class was found in the stomach of one of the money-winning blues. Shortbill spearfish of 30 to 40 lb have been recorded as feed items by Kona blue marlin fishermen. Yellowfin tuna of 100 lb or more have also been found in the stomachs of large blue marlin.
Fishing techniques
Blue marlin are fished for by thousands of crews from literally hundreds of ports worldwide. As may be expected, fishing styles and gear used in the pursuit of blue marlin is very diverse, depending on the size of blue marlin common to the area, the size of fish being targeted, local sea conditions, and often local tradition. However the main methods used for blue marlin can be broken down into fishing with artificial lures, rigged natural baits and live bait fishing.
Artificial lure fishing
Blue marlin are aggressive fish that respond well to the splash, bubble trail and action of a well presented artificial lure.
Probably the most popular technique used by blue marlin crews worldwide, artificial lure fishing has spread from its Hawaiian origins throughout the world. 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 (7-8 inch), medium (10-12 inch) to large (14 inches or more) 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 will fine tune their lures with often subtle variations to yield the desired action.
Lures are normally fished at speeds of between 7.5 to
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