# Marlin at Elbow



## marlinchaser (Oct 11, 2007)

Got back early evening after fantastic day offshore of the Elbow in about 550 ft of water. Will edit later but brought a 5-600 lb Blue Marlin to the boat after a 1hr 45 min tussle.Details later as I'm a bit tired I'll tell you now so some of you can get your rants out of the way that there are no pictures due to only 3 of us on board- 1 driving, 1 fighting fish and 1 handling the leader; therefor no camera on fish.

Rest of the story: Yeah I knew we catch hell for no pics of fish!! Lots of pics of me fighting but no one is interested in those!! Anyways; about 11:45 we see this monster marlin crash the port outrigger bait (blue and white Ilander with ballyhoo) We just stare for a couple of seconds utill the screaming reel got me moving. Grabbed the rod and it didn't need the hook set! This freight train comes out of the water about 150' behind the boat and then takes off; did a couple of more jumps and the next time we see it is 300 yards in back of boat pancaking several times across the water. It did another pancake series and then went down. After getting lines cleared, we take off in the general direction as the 50 wide is getting low on line. Get about 2/3rds of line back and marlin decides to stay deep. I had put on one fish belt but it was obvious I was "under-gunned". Thank heavens the line clearing, wireman, and camera guy had put a stand up fighting harness on board a few weeks before and we dug it out and get it on (talk about a "cluster f*** that almost turned into!! - getting one on and one off and still hanging onto the fish!!) After close to an hour and a half of of me getting some line back and it taking line out, the fish seemed to be hanging deep under the boat. This reminded me of one that I caught in Cabo that died and had to hand over hand to get it up. With the drag set about as tight as I felt comfortable with, I wasn't able to move the fish. Decided, like Cabo, the fish had died so guy # 3 started to hand pull the fish up and helped intermittently by boat driver. (Primary reason no camera guy!!). We were at the port bow of the boat by this time and I'm standing toward the starboard when the wire leader came up and the guy with the wire in his hand said the fish is gone. I look to the right and this glorious fish is right there with this monster tail out of the water. After a couple of seconds. this tail moves and she is gone. Thank heaven the fish survived and can give some one else the fight of the his life. The reason I estimated the fish at 5-600 lbs was it was much larger than the 400# one I caught last year. That one we had pics and due to the length of the leader got estimate of weight from professional fishermen. 
This was the same area we caught a 150-200 # rat blue 2 years ago and the 400 # one last year was just 7-8 miles to the north. Getting to like the elbow area more and more. Water was blended blue but more blue than i've seen in a long time. You doubters can doubt all you want but three of us know what a great fish it was.


----------



## panhandleslim (Jan 11, 2013)

Good work. Leader man is the camera man until it's time to wire. 

What size rod were you fighting this fish on and what did he hit?


----------



## bcahn (Jan 10, 2013)

Heck with no pics, I would have called it a #800! lol jk


----------



## Scruggspc (Mar 20, 2013)

bcahn said:


> Heck with no pics, I would have called it a #800! lol jk


He did, 5-600# and no pics. Lol


----------



## team_A_II (Mar 31, 2009)

3 crewmen, 1 hr 45 minutes, and nobody was able to touch a camera? hmm...

Just kidding had to chime in ....


----------



## purple haze (Sep 2, 2013)

A 5-600# blue would be a big old girl with a lot of tricks up her sleeve. Hope you treated her right on the release. Sounds like a memory maker catch. Did she jump? I am also interest in gear use. Was there any other catches or knock downs? What were the water conditions?Thanks for the post


----------



## cobe killer (Apr 13, 2008)

awesome. that's a big girl for sure. how was the water?


----------



## Cap'n Davey (Mar 26, 2014)

Good for you guys!!!!! We ran from the Edge to Elbow as well. Had a ****** on for a while but that was it. Great job on the Blue!

Water was a mixed Blue out there.


----------



## Aqua Therapy (Jul 25, 2010)

Nice job guys, I can't tell you how many times I have come back to the dock and said I wish someone would have taken a few pics. Yes there are some large marlin in the gulf.


----------



## bigtallluke (Jul 14, 2012)

Nice job guys... Sounds like you had a blast out there! Well done!


----------

