This time in Manuel Antonio I did less fishing than I have in the past. Partly because I was having health problems and partly because I was having a good time doing other things. I still had some good times fishing. Chris, my friend and Captain of the Kinembe sport fishing boat took me out fishing with some other friends one day. We talked about what to fish for and we decided to catch some live bait and go fish for big pargo and broomtails or other big bottom fish at the local 26 reef. We looked around and found some nice small bonito to catch and with the lookdowns and sardines we already had in the live well we figured we had enough bait and we headed to the reef.
We baited up and started to drop for some pargo. At first we were catching jacks as soon as we hit the water. Jacks are fun to catch but they can be pests when you want to catch some other types of fish below them. We switched up to heavier weights and bigger baits and we threw them down again. Almost as soon as mine hit the water a marlin grabbed the bait. He ran for a bit and then Chris said time to set the hook. Boom. The fish was on. I had already fought enough marlins to know I didn't want to try to land this one. They kick your ass every time. They are not fun to fight, they are serious hard work to try to land and this one was big.
I told Chris I wanted to play with it for a few minutes to watch it dance on top of the water and then I wanted to cut the line and go back to our pargo fishing. The tackle was too small at forty pound test to land this big marlin anyway so why bother. I held the rod while it sang away when the fish ran and Chris started to follow the big fish as it headed out to deeper water. I was pumping it in and regaining line as we chased it.
After about fifteen minutes Chris yells out, "Should I cut the line now?"
I yelled back, "No. just give me a few more minutes. I want to see it dance to see how big it is." I was having fun waiting for the fish to jump out of the water and start dancing. I was reeling up when I was allowed to by the marlin. He was in charge not me. My twenty pounds of drag were nothing but a minor nuisance to a fish this size. After another half hour Chris checks with me again, Are you sure you don't want to cut the line now?"
I replied, "I just want to see it once. It is a really powerful fish and I just want to see how big it is." Chris shook his head and kept watching me working at getting some line back. We were several miles from the hookup spot by now.
It went on like this for another hour. My friend had my camera and he kept taking pics of my rod going bendo. I told him to turn the camera off and wait until we could see the fish because I wanted a picture of this one dancing on the water. He would turn the camera off and then a few minutes later he would be taking more pics. I just kept working. My arms were getting sore now. I had some cramping just starting. We were about two and a half hours into my fifteen minutes of fun. I am really stupid sometimes. The adrenaline is a drug though and I am addicted for sure. The high pitched song of the reel every time the fish made a move just kept pumping that drug into my veins. I had to take a break to piss. I gave the rod to my friend to hold while I hung one off the side and drank some water and coke. I ate a quick sandwich that the guys had made for lunch and then I was ready to take the rod back.
About three and a half hours after the hookup I saw the leader come into sight. I stood near the rail to try to catch a glimpse of my foe. I screamed when I looked down and saw a fish that looked almost as long as our boat. It wasn't that long, but it was over fifteen feet long and really fat. It rolled on its side and looked at me. The blue color on its side was like a neon sign in Las Vegas. It was pulsing bright neon blue color. I was in awe of its beauty. I looked at it for a few seconds and was yelling at my friend to take a picture of it but he looked at me with a blank stare and asked me what the red hotdog with the line through it meant. I looked at him and was pissed as hell. "That would be a battery not a hotdog. You wore the battery all the way down taking bendo pics of me and you can't take a pic of the fish now? I have another battery in the case go change it quick."
Right about that time the marlin had had enough of posing for pics and it took off. I was pinned to the rail with the rod totally bendo and Chris came over to help me hold on to the rod as the big fish took off on a reel screaming, fast deep dive. We were eleven miles from the hookup point Chris told me. I told him I want to get it back up so I could get a pic and he just laughed at me. About a half hour later I was making slow progress when my arms suddenly started to cramp big time. I had to give up. Chris grabbed the rod and cranked the drag down even more and tried to muscle the fish in close enough for a picture. He worked it for about five minutes and all of a sudden the rod went big time bendo again and with the drag that tight it finally broke off. My fifteen minutes of fun was over now four hours later. I will never again hold a rod with a marlin on it no matter what. I finally learned my lesson that day.
We estimated the marlin at around 650 pounds based on its length and girth when we saw it. I had caught a five hundred pounder a year earlier that died on us so I knew how big a five hundred pounder was and this fish was considerably larger. I did not want to over estimate the size because that is the typical thing to do. So 650 is the size and we are sticking to it. I never did get a picture of the fish and I had sore arms for a week. It was hard work but it is an addiction for sure. Never again. Never again.
We went back to pargo fishing but I could not even hold a rod now. I just kicked back and watched them pull up a few small pargo and then we went home. I had a few beers in town and after a long hot shower, I went straight to bed before it was even dark. Never again is all I said over and over until I finally fell asleep. Never again.
By the way these pics are from a different day. I have no pics of the marlin I hooked on this day. The big fish Chris is holding up is a broomtail, the red ones are pargo, the billfish is a sailfish and the marlin dancing on the water is not mine.
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