Black marlin thrill

February 1st 2019 I went fishing to one of my usual zones in Bali. I began with some nice rainbow runners but I was looking for something different, maybe a nice spanish mackerel…I prepared the big 4 rubber band gun with slip-tip and breakaway, rigged with a 35l Rob Allen float.

“I arrive at a dive spot. The visibility is very average, we are in the rain season, and the current is too weak to bring in the tengiri or the trevallies. A mere scouting dive.

As I arrive close to the stone wall, all of a sudden here it comes, at the surface, the elusive Marlin I had been dreaming of!!! I adjust the gun position with my left hand and basically shoot from the hip in the rear part of the fish that was slipping away. The marlin vanishes in the murky water, and I see the float accelerating at the surface and sinking. I call the jukung and climb on board to follow the large fish, hoping nothing would break!!!

The float emerges quickly and starts being dragged away from the rocks at good speed. At least 1 km from the shooting spot, the float slows down. Still afraid of losing the fish, captain and I are quite nervous…

I load a second gun and prepare myself to go in for the killing shot. As I dive, I notice the float line is not pointing down, but is quite close to the surface… Not really keen to get speared by an angry marlin, I jump back into the boat and work the fish from the jukung, pulling, letting go, pulling again… until I see the long body shining under the surface!!!

The marlin was speared near the spine in the tail area, the slip tip was holding super well… The fish is no longer moving, exhausted by the short and stiff bungee line… We pull it up, and eventually admire its beautiful shape and colours… It has light blue eyes, never noticed before…

At that moment, a whale breaches 200 m from the surface…

Well well, what else could I say? The sea has been generous with me today…”

The fished was opened and cleaned and cut into two halves to fit into the car. The two parts weighed 40kg in total, so I estimate the fish weight to be 42-43 kg. Not very big, but big enough!! For those who might consider it is not fair to shoot such a beautiful fish, checking on various websites it appears black marlin has a fast growth rate and this fish was probably not more than 3 years old. So no regrets considering the tremendous number of catches from the Japanese long-liners…

I hope you will be Marlin lucky one day, too!