What do you do when you catch a Marlin?

...Take out the hook VERY carefully and keep the bill pointed AWAY from your body.

First a Blue Marlin and then the Green Flash. Not a bad day.

It started pretty grey. Ann did he sunrise watch and said the sunrise was absolutely an unremarkable non-event. Overcast and a bit chilly, but as the day progressed it warmed and the sun peaked out to light the water up with its deep blue/purple glow. Then about 1200, the unmistakable sound of a clothespin hitting the deck -thwak! Fish on! When we use a handline, we pin it to a lifeline with a clothespin so we can hear if something hits it. It yanks the line, pulls the pin off and thwack.

Actually it was a bit less dramatic than that as Ann was asleep, so I had to go down below and gently wake her. “Fish on!”, I whispered. Then waiting for her to come on deck, I tested the line. This was a pretty big one, so taking no chances, I pulled in the hydro-gen which trails on the other side of the boat, put the rudder for the wind vane up so the fish wouldn’t tangle that on the way in and then after testing the line, decided I had to furl the jib and heave to as well to slow down as I couldn’t pull the line in while we were moving.

By this time, Ann was up and had put shoes on and came on deck. We were ready and started to pull in the line. It didn’t want to come in. After a bit of pulling we got it close, but it dove under the boat. I was afraid it would tangle on the rudder, but after some coercing, got it to come up from under the boat and to my surprise, a marlin half jumped as it came up from under the boat. He was pretty tired, so didn’t put up too much of a fight other than being pretty heavy. Not a huge one (they grow to over 10 feet); I estimate this one was in the 5-foot range.

The minute I realized we had a billfish, I knew we were going to release it so tried to be gentle pulling it to the boat. The only way I like marlin is smoked and we don’t have a smoker, so lucky fish! Now how in the heck to I get the hook out if we’re not going to gaff and land the guy? I was being extra careful as I have seen pictures and heard of people getting gored by billfish as they were trying to take out the hook. You lean over the side and the fish gives a great tail lunge and faster than you can say, “Zorro!” you have a two foot spear through your side. So, with great care for both me and the fish I maneuvered it to where I could grab the bill with my gloved hand. He wasn’t complaining so I pulled him up high enough to work the hook which came out fairly readily. A quick goodbye and I dropped the bill and he swam away-a bit woozy for the fight but in one piece. As was I.

If catching a marlin wasn’t enough to make a great day, Ann and I were having our Charisma watching the sunset and to our great surprise, as the sun went down we saw the longest green flash we have seen in our cruising. If the conditions are just right, there is a flash of a fluorescent green just as the sun sets. Tonight’s flash lasted about ten seconds.

As I write this the moon is full and following us on one side of Charisma and the Southern Cross on the other. All the clouds have cleared and we have a perfect night with about ten knots of wind on our beam taking us the last 25 miles into Savusavu. I expect we’ll get in about midnight. Not sure yet if we’re going to wait outside or try for a mooring. We’ll see what the conditions look like as we get up to the river.

Yes, a very colorful day.