Black Marlin Description
Black Marlin and their cousins the Blue Marlin are the largest game fish in the world, with large specimens sometimes exceeding 1,000 pounds. There is no sight more awe-inspiring in fishing than the sight of these massive fish leaping into the air right behind your boat when they are hooked. Because they are large apex predators you often have to hunt for a long time to find one, but when you hook one you forget how long you had to wait.
Black Marlin are found in tropical seas throughout the world. Personally I have fished for them in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Panama. It's very hard to fish for these on a budget but I did manage to land a 400lber while fishing from a small panga in Costa Rica.
Black Marlin Tackle
Most fishermen will likely find it easiest to just charter a boat that has the appropriate tackle for these monsters. I personally like to bring my own when I can, and when I do I bring a heavy trolling outfit (I like to use an Accurate Platinum ATD 50 trolling reel and a custom roller rod) loaded with at least 130lb braid and a 300lb mono leader. You don't want to go through all of the expense of going to a distant location and hooking the fish of a lifetime and then losing it because you pinched pennies on the tackle.
Black Marlin Techniques
There are two main ways that people catch Black Marlin - slow trolling large live or dead skipping baits like skipjack tuna or faster trolling with large skirted marlin lures. I have no source to back this up but I would imagine that at least 80% of all black marlin are landed using one of those two techniques.
Black Marlin Lures
Most marlin hunters use rubber skirted lures such as Moldcraft soft heads, Black Barts, and Pakulas.
These are dragged behind the boat at varying distances until a marlin is sighted coming up to look at the lures. At that point you can either hope that it bites or drop back a large live or dead bait to see if you can entice it with that.
Black Marlin Baits
Most fish in the 1-10lb size range that are found offshore where the marlin are will make good live baits. Probably the most common are smaller members of the tuna family such as skipjack. These are caught by trolling small rubber skirts or other lures and then quickly placed alive in "tuna tubes" (Note: if you are thinking of chartering a boat to fish for black marlin it is generally advisable to get a boat with tuna tubes so that this kind of live bait fishing is an option). Once you have enough baits you can bridle them and slow troll them until something smashes them. A good approach is to troll one bait on each side of the boat and then have another one down deep on a downrigger if you have one. Most captains now use circle hooks to get a better hookset and ensure a cleaner release.
When a fish takes the bait you can ease the tension on the reel until the line starts going out at a good clip that and you can't stop the spool with your thumb. That usually means the marlin has taken the bait. At that point the captain can gun the engine and (if you are using a circle hook) you can steadily increase the drag tension in order to set the hook. Sometimes marlin play around with the baits by whacking them with their bills, other times they swallow them immediately and head for Guam (note: this does not happen in Guam). You have to pay attention and feel what is going on with the bait through the line. Marlin have tough mouths and it can be difficult to drive a hook in, which is another reason to use circle hooks.
Other Black Marlin Tips
The best advice I can give here is to do your research and find a good captain who knows what they are doing and has caught a lot of Black Marlin. Figure out the prime season for the area you are going to, pick an experienced captain, and hopefully you will get some shots. Marlin fishing is never guaranteed no matter where you go, so you have to stack the odds in your favor.
Where to get the big Black Marlin
Australia is the best known place to land the giants. Fish over 1,000lbs are routinely landed during the peak season off the Great Barrier Reef near Cairns. Panama also has a consistent fishery for mid size (200-600lb) fish and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico can be very good in the fall. The captains I have fished with have liked the periods a few days before or after the full moon.
Check out great tips on catching over 70 other species of gamefish, as well as unbiased tackle recommendations and high quality fishing photos at my website: http://www.howtocatchanyfish.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dan_Y_Smith
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