Only a short flight of 2:34 minutes from Ft. Lauderdale, the Get Salty with TH2O crew landed in Santo Domingo, Republic of Dominica and drove the remainder of the way to the beautiful resort of Casa de Campo, where we were greeted by the legendary Captain, Tim Richardson and his senior Deckhand and also Captain, Garrett Penley of Tradition Charters. Captain Tim is an old salt like me and knows these waters like the back of his hand. He eats, sleeps, and lives for the opportunity of catching these fish. We met early that night to discuss the logistics of the show and he explained this unique style of Blue Marling fishing, where “Less” … is more. Seas were expected to be 3 to 4 at 20 knots, but we all know how that usually works out, they turned out to be 5 to 7 with occasional 10’s with about a 5 to 6 second, but that was the least of our problems. The Blue Marlin season in Casa de Campo had been slow due to water temperatures being too low and we were warned prior to coming, but we knew we had the right crew, and if anyone could put us on the fish… It was going to be this Captain and Senior Deck Hand. Typically, these Marlin are looking for a water temperature of about 81 degrees, which had not arrived in the DR until the day we arrived. Unfortunately for us, the season was quickly coming to an end. The Marlin, sensing the temperature, were already moving off the FADS and immediately were going to warmer waters to breed. These Marlin are juvenile, and they are full of piss and testosterone, they are migrating to the waters where they mate and ensure the survivability of the species. During their migration and time around the DR, they use the Fishing Aggregate Devices or better known as “FADS” to feed. Don’t know what a FAD is? Let me explain, FADS in its simplest definition, is a manmade floating piece of Styrofoam attached to several thousand feet of rope and anchored to the bottom of the seafloor. Once in position, palm leaves, seagrasses, etc. are attached to create a haven for small baitfish, which we all know brings in bigger baitfish fish to feed, which brings in the Blue Marlin to feed on them. It’s the cycle of life in its most natural form… Except FADS are manmade and created for a much bigger purpose than insuring everyone in the food chain gets a snack or two while migrating. For us fisherman, it’s different, it means a battle of epic proportions, and my crew was with the masters of the trade on locating these fish. In preparing the reels for the trip, I asked Tim what line test he wanted me to spool the reels with, and without a skipping a beat, he said 30 lb braid with a high vis. 40 lb. mono top shot…. Wait a minute, Stop!! Say that again... You want me to do what? Yep!! You heard me right, Blue Marlin on 30 lb test… Now granted, these Blue Marlin are juvenile fish migrating in through the Dominican and typically are only 150 to 225 pounds, but somehow, I still felt like I was bringing a knife to a gunfight. So, how did we do it, you ask? Well… It all starts with the equipment, our reel of choice was the lightweight, Maxel OMS 16S, single-speed, lever drag conventional reel with a 5.8:1 drag ratio and a 20 to 50 lb. test capacity, paired with the 6’6 Ocean Max Gold Series rods, made with Nanotechnology carbon blanks and rated at 30 to 50 pounds.
As I said earlier, we spooled them with Diawa PE braided line rated at 30 lbs. secured to 40 lbs. of high visibility monofilament line using an FG Knot or an Alberto Knot. In my opinion, the Alberto knot is almost as strong as the FG knot and much faster to tie, we decided to use two different knots for the simple purpose of seeing if one would fail or perform better than the other. Results of the test?... No difference that we could tell, except for the simplicity of the Alberto knot (Be looking for our Get Salty video on tying the Alberto). From this point – We protected our line with a 24-foot wind on leader of 100 lb. mono attached with a Tsunami, stainless steel ball-bearing and snap swivels, and finally finished up with a Mustad 8/0 in-line circle hook, baited to a rigged Ballyhoo with a custom skirt made by SeaUsmile lures. All baits were trolled at a variety of distances and depths. I can’t remember how many FADS we passed and circled, we were marking fish everywhere, they would even come up to the teasers but for some reason, we just couldn’t get them to eat. We had asked if Bimini Bay Outfitters (our show sponsor) if they would like one of their pro staff members to join us, so they sent Amanda Gilbert along for the fight. Being the gentleman that I am, I insisted if we get the bite, she would have the honors of the first strike. As the waves pounded and the heat seared the salt spray to our skin, we patiently waited. The radio was silent, no one was reporting the bite and Captain Tim’s patients were wearing thin…. Where are the fish? What was going on? This is the same Captain that has brought more than 10 of these Blue Marlin to the boat in a single day. I asked Tim if this was Typical and his answer was an immediate- No! So, what was different? Believe it or not, it was a matter of 1 or 2 degrees in water temperature. If anyone ever tells you that fish are purely opportunistic feeders, then they’ve just told you the biggest lie you will ever hear in your fishing life, and you need to find someone else for the information you are seeking. In fact, it’s not only temperature, but it’s also the moon cycle and I got to see proof of it firsthand. As we continued the troll, Captain Garrett Penley (who is also the Senior Deckhand) and I were talking and he said the moon was coming to its high point and if they didn’t feed then, it wasn’t going to happen. Then just like clockwork, when the moon was straight up, and the words “FISH ON” were yelled and the battle with a Blue Marlin finally began.
Once we knew we had a good hookset, the Captain immediately began the backdown to relax the fish and slack the line to keep him from diving. When fish – and that’s any fish, feel the tension in any direction, it will immediately go in the opposite direction. This is where the magic begins. You see, we don’t muscle the fish in. We catch him with the boat. Engines screaming, the boat backing down and waves crashing over her stern and everyone getting soaked, the damn boat sounds like it’s about to come apart. Your adrenaline is pumping, and you want to fight, snatch, and drag the fish, but you can’t!... You must use finesse. Amanda was reeling in the slack as the boat backed down on it and the fish was coming to the boat and staying on the surface as planned. This is was the lesson and the battle we had come for. After almost a good 30 to 40 minutes and several great jumps, the fish began to wear, and the battle started to come to an end. Amanda had done a great job fighting the fish and our reward was soon to be had.
As Garret began to hand-wind the Marlin in the rest of the way, we had finally realized we won the battle. Dropping the boat back into forward gear and moving water slowly over the fish to revive it from the fight, the hook was removed and our underwater photographer, the world-renown Tony Ludovico dives into the water capture the famous transom shot, in which every Charter Captain wants for their “That a boy wall”. Captain Tim Richardson had performed flawlessly to create this moment, and now his transom shot had become a reality, but I received a reward myself, a lesson in fishing that I thought was unrealistic, had become a reality. It changed the way I looked at battling big fish. So now I think…. Maybe less is more? As we prepared to release the Marlin, Amanda, and I thought it would be a great idea to get Tony to Photograph her releasing the Marling underwater, and that’s exactly what happened. What an amazing opportunity and Photo.
I’m not going to lie; I was eager to get my chance to do the same, but it just wasn’t in the cards. The following days the weather continued to decline, and my window vanished for my opportunity to land a monster on fishing line that is thinner than sewing thread. Sure… We landed a few Dolphin later the next day and of course, I made my famous Black-N-Butter Mahi dish later that night. As good as the meal was, it wouldn’t have been as good as landing my own Marlin, but you know what they say…. There’s always next year, so until then…. I will wait! It was the end of the season in the CDC for the crew of Chaser and Tradition Charters, as for ourselves it ended with a Marlin. I’ll take the win, especially when the odds were against us. Since then, Captain Tim has moved over to Punta Cana, and I am very proud to announce that he is leading the pack in 1st place for White Marlin releases. He is a man of the sea and parts his wisdom in this unique style of fishing is that to be respected. He is a master, to include Garrett Penley in the search that one trophy fish we all want to claim. Captain Tim & Captain Garrett …. I’ll See ya next year mates, and that Blue Marly will be mine!
Until then, I’m Captain Bo…. I’ll see ya out there!
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Special thanks for the support of Bimini Bay Outfitters, Tsunami, Maxel, Salt Life Optics, SeaUsmile Lures, Brads Blue Water Gaffs, TB Metal Art.
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