Saltwater fly

[stan m]

About 8 years back, Sept. Algarve. mate and I (he`s the one with the daft hat) booked a boat for a few days for marlin. Had a blank first day but on the second day we had 17 whites for 22. Got a bit boring so decided to get the fly rod out. 8ft, 15#. Stuck out some teasers and slowly towed them , fly rod inboard. The wee crazy bills appeared so quickly the teasers were pulled in and I chucked the popper fly beyond them a bit and popped it, feckers` went crazy and attacked. This one was brought boatside after about 25 mins with the engine out of gear, no following (hate that crap). Estimated between mate and the deckie at around 90 - 95lb . Shooting head with 16lb leader. (why do they need 12 or 15 for poxy bass???) Me in middle with a non 1980`s `tache.

 

[Chrisbl]

Impressive chap

 

[Valleyboy]

About 8 years back, Sept. Algarve. mate and I (he`s the one with the daft hat) booked a boat for a few days for marlin. Had a blank first day but on the second day we had 17 whites for 22. Got a bit boring so decided to get the fly rod out. 8ft, 15#. Stuck out some teasers and slowly towed them , fly rod inboard. The wee crazy bills appeared so quickly the teasers were pulled in and I chucked the popper fly beyond them a bit and popped it, feckers` went crazy and attacked. This one was brought boatside after about 25 mins with the engine off, no following (hate that crap). Estimated between mate and the deckie at around 90 - 95lb . Shooting head with 16lb leader. (why do they need 12 or 15 for poxy bass???) Me in middle with a non 1980`s `tache.

View attachment 8468great stuff/

you wouldn't need 15 pound for bass a mile offshore with 100 m of water underneath you. you do on a rocky shoreline

 

[stan m]

you wouldn't need 15 pound for bass a mile offshore with 100 m of water underneath you. you do on a rocky shoreline

Possibly, that was 37 miles offshore with 5000ft under us.

 

[Warby72]

Wow, what a cracking fish Stan. Doubly impressive since it was fly caught. ?

 

[Kine262]

Superb Stan, bloody superb!!!

 

[Topwater]

Fascinating Stan! I've a load of questions if you don't mind?!? Would that be an adapted blank of some sort? How much line would they run out? Would you be fishing 5/6lb of drag? What were the Marlin there for/feeding on? Is it a current that's the attraction? Desperate to know more! Cheers

 

[Beach]

About 8 years back, Sept. Algarve. mate and I (he`s the one with the daft hat) booked a boat for a few days for marlin. Had a blank first day but on the second day we had 17 whites for 22. Got a bit boring so decided to get the fly rod out. 8ft, 15#. Stuck out some teasers and slowly towed them , fly rod inboard. The wee crazy bills appeared so quickly the teasers were pulled in and I chucked the popper fly beyond them a bit and popped it, feckers` went crazy and attacked. This one was brought boatside after about 25 mins with the engine off, no following (hate that crap). Estimated between mate and the deckie at around 90 - 95lb . Shooting head with 16lb leader. (why do they need 12 or 15 for poxy bass???) Me in middle with a non 1980`s `tache.

View attachment 8468

Was that a Hank Marlin? - Just jesting. I caught a few off of Grenada, Caribbean West Indies. Largest was 164lbs although most were in the 60 to 80lb mark. Great sport especially when you return them. ?

 

[stan m]

Fascinating Stan! I've a load of questions if you don't mind?!? Would that be an adapted blank of some sort? How much line would they run out? Would you be fishing 5/6lb of drag? What were the Marlin there for/feeding on? Is it a current that's the attraction? Desperate to know more! Cheers

Ok where to start. First I`ve fished white and blue marlin for years and it is normally features or current runs, no idea what they are feeding on, could be smaller dorado but never checked, they have all been released alive but not unusual for small, 2-3lb dorado to hit the white marlin lures. the big girls, blue marlin will feed on what`s available, had a blue est. 600-700 take a 60lb white that was on the line.

Could not find a blank I wanted so was adapt improvise and survive. I used the tip section of a 1970`s Abu Atlanitic 464 which was the ideal action and power. Chopped the ferrule and lathed up a new spigot and butt section so it was almost up-tider style. Worked fine.

Line I used was a short, very short shooting head with sink tip, was only around 12ft overall connected loop to loop with approx 500 yds of 30lb mono backing loaded on an Everol prototype fly reel No 12 with anti reverse handles and drag from an Everol 30lb big game reel so capable of around 30lb. Maximum used would have been about 8 -10lb when rod was lowered and 5-7lb when rod 45 degrees. As said on the first post boat was not moving so fished off the rod. I actually put the "engine off" I`ll change that, engine was never off but boat was knocked out of gear. I would doubt that the white ever took more than around 70 -100yds at an time mainly hanging deep. Had a blue take 700+ in first run against 35lb strike drag, lost it but est. 700lb on 30lb boats gear, were not fishing blues on th 30 but held it for 4hrs 10 mins. then the Shimano 30 TLD exploded, did well mind you. ( stuck a picture of that blue taking the lure close to boat, worth mentioning that the pic of the strike, there is still around 8-9ft of fish below the water, big female blue)

 

[Topwater]

Thank you Stan! Great info - it's great to hear your learned advice.