a few hours later, but that one broke free after a long,
high-speed series of greyhounding leaps.
I was given a second chance later that afternoon,
this time surviving the initial blitz of jumps and runs.
With the fish by now far in the distance, Laurie charged
back as fast asSatisfactionwould go, while I wound
like a thrashing machine to regain line while I could.
Whenever the fish settled, Laurie manoeuvred the boat
in a masterful series of moves that never gave the fish a
moment’s rest, continually searching for the angle that
would spur it to change direction or rise to the surface.
For a while it seemed all under control, but when my fish
launched into another blindingly fast jumping run that
then curved in a huge arc to eventually cross over itself,
my line understandably parted through water pressure.
Dayne grumbled and shook his head once more.
BLOWN-AWAY
With nothing on the scoreboard, Dayne urged us to
put out more reasonable tackle, but we eventually
convinced him that our strategy was the only course
of action to be competitive. Besides, we told him, the
real spirit of game fishing is to give the fish an even
chance, which means that if you don’t lose half of
them you’re not being sporting enough.
We hooked eight blues that day, getting blown away
with demoralising regularity due to water drag on the
extremely long lengths of line following their opening
run, or when they jumped in a circle and cut across
the line. We regretted having not switched from mono
to a fine braid with short mono topshot, as this would
have greatly reduced the water friction.
NEARLY SPEARED
The next morning, Travis hooked one that broke free
several hundred metres away, but continued jumping in
a circle that brought it closer and closer back towards
the boat. Its second-last jump was only 30m off our
midships and it was still racing at flat-out speed.
Laurie gunned the boat forwards, and when the
marlin next jumped it was only 5m off our corner,
spearing back into the water just behind the stern,
right where the boat had been only a second before.
DAYNE’S CONVERSION
Disgusted with our efforts, Dayne left the lounge after
lunch to try his luck on 8kg. A 70kg blue soon obliged,
screaming off in a frothing trail across the surface.
Dayne seemed very uncomfortable with the flimsy
tackle, but with lots of encouragement he eventually
settled in and even seemed to enjoy it.
Having survived the marlin’s first run, Dayne cranked
like crazy as Laurie drenched the cockpit bashing a
path backwards through the chop. Dayne hollered
with excitement as wave after wave smashed against
the transom and filled the cockpit with water. Still
Laurie charged after the fish.
Once the long length of line was recovered and
back on the reel, Dayne’s fish attempted to sulk
beneath the boat, but Laurie would have none of that,
instigating a series of aggressive manoeuvres that
soon had it back on the run and back at the surface.
Suddenly, the double and wind-on appeared ... and
within seconds the fish was tagged and set free.
Dayne whooped and jumped
around the deck, a convert
excitedly gushing about how
much more exciting it was to
catch a marlin on light versus
heavy tackle.
And that was enough to win us
the section.THE BEST
TOURNAMENT EVER
The 2018 PNG Titles at Lae
produced twice as many marlin
as any Titles event before, and
many anglers caught their first
billfish. Over the nine days
of competition, the 34 boats
hooked 338 marlin, tagging 162
and weighing 26 of them.
There were also 142 assorted
other gamefish tagged and
released, with a further seven
weighed – oh, plus a bride.Above:The prolific
baby blue marlin
were a lot of fun,
although on 6kg
tackle it proved
quite a challenge to
survive the water
pressure generated
by their long and fast
greyhounding runs.
Below:Angus King
releases a second
blue marlin for
11-year-old Henry
King aboardDrug
Runner.bluewatermag.com.au 61