MARLIN, BLACK
Marlin are the pinnacle of big game fishing and sort generally with big boats and big bucks! Black Marlin are the giant of the marlin family and its fighting qualities legendary.
Black Marlin are a heavy shouldered solid built marlin with a short (relative to other marlin) stout bill. They can easily be distinguished from the other Marlin as they are the only marlin that have rigid pectoral fins that cannot be folded flat against the body. Black marlin are found in a huge number of sizes from 15-20kg fish to the monsters off cairns of 600 plus kgs, with the all tackle record currently just over 700 kgs, and there is no doubt there is some larger fish out there.
Whole books and DVD's have been dedicated to the catching of Marlin and we will shortly have some great articles in our articles section. However as a brief introduction... There are three main ways the majority of people fish for Marlin. 1. Trolling Lures 2. Trolling with baits (live or dead) 3. Anchored (or slow drifting) with baits (live or dead). Trolling with Lures - the main style of lure used for trolling is the Konahead style skirted lures. There are literally thousands of variations and most anglers have their favourites. Trolling speeds are usually about 7-12 knots. 2. Trolling with baits. The bait here depends greatly where fishing, in Cairns for example the bait maybe as large as 15kg Spanish mackerel and oversized striped tuna right down to live slimie mackerel and yakkas for the run of small blacks down the Queensland Coast. 3. Anchored (or slow drift) with baits. This consists of finding a large patch of bait and fishing the same bait around the patch of bait. Circle hooks are mostly used as it greatly increases the odds of being able to safely release the marlin with the least of damage.
Black Marlin occur in the tropical Indian and Pacific oceans. They are found both in the open deep waters but denser in coastal areas near islands. In Australia with the continental shelf quite close to the coast, black marlin come very close. Most years there is a couple of captures of Black Marlin by Land Based Game Fisherman fishing on rock platforms. Black Marlin range pretty much the entire east coast of Australia at various times. However for the largest of the Blacks Cairns in Queensland is the undoubtable the capital (and some say of the world)