TURNING TIDES

We were out well past the edge of the continental slope in over 300 metres of water trolling for blue marlin. There were a dozen boats within a few kilometres and the morning had only produced a couple of bites for the entire fleet. The water was glassy calm and there was scattered schools of striped tuna and a few birds meandering over the long groundswell. The radio chatter was quite flat, with no sudden excited transmissions, but there was eager anticipation for the upcoming high tide change in a bit over an hour. 20 minutes later two of the boats hooked up to big blue marlin, followed by three more ten minutes later. A minute later my biggest lure was engulfed by a rampaging marlin and we were hooked up solidly. The entire fleet was now getting bites. It took us an hour to land our fish, a solid one around 150 kilos that we released in good condition. During our fight time numerous other fish were landed. An hour later, after missing a bite on the long outrigger lure, things went quiet again.

The above is a repeated pattern I’ve seen many times. When you are well offshore in 350