Blue Marlin Fishing

The gulfstream flows through the Florida Straights between the Florida Keys and Cuba, at an average of two to four knots, moving more water in a single day than all the rivers of the world combined. Where the shore ward edge of the gulfstream encounters the slope of the Continental Shelf some twenty miles south of the lower Keys and Key West exists a Sport of Kings, fishing for marlin.

Marlin fishing is not a sport for everyone it requires for the most part a commitment to achieving the objective at all cost. Passing up the boards loaded with twenty pound dolphin, resisting the erg to race to the reef to catch several bottom fish for the table when offshore fishing is slow, and most of all leaving home the hyperactive anglers that have been off Ridlin only for a few years. Marlin Fishing is the purist form of Big Game Fishing. Waiting hours or days for one marlin to strike is not for everyone but for the anglers that make the commitment the rewards are great. An angler once asked me why I preferred to fish for marlin rather than yellowtail along the reef. To my surprise, I gave my answer without even thinking. I quickly stated; that when a yellowtail could tail walk across the water at seventy miles a hour screaming drag off an 80W Shimano Tiagra or Penn International with a thirty pound strike drag and fill the air with sights and sounds that only a marlin hook-up could; the smell of black diesel smoke from roaring engines setting the hook, the hot pungent smell of the reels drags beginning to melt, as hundreds of yards of line is dumped into a cobalt blue sea highlighted in white foam in only a few seconds, followed by excited screams from shocked anglers bearing witness to the most powerful game fish in the sea, the man in the blue suit. (Atlantic Blue Marlin.), then and only then I would be the first to prefer to fish for yellowtail.

HISTORICAL LOOK AT FISHING FOR MARLIN

In the Florida Straits where the gulfstream passes between Cuba, the Bahamas and Key West there has been many anglers too pit there skills and equipment against the powerful blue marlin. One of the most well know was Earnest Hemmingway, celebrated author and angler that frequented the waters of the gulfstream between Cuba and Key West. Hemmingway was one of the first to try using outriggers. These forerunners of the modern outriggers were made of wood and were fixed not folding up against the wheel house of the boat. The fact that the outriggers could not be folded into the up position, required that the boat take up two boat slips. Neediness to say modern sportfishing boats and equipment have come a long way since the days of linen line, Iron pipe fighting chairs and wooden outriggers. Today's well equipped sportfisherman with twenty knot cruising speeds, anodized aluminum fighting chairs and large conpacity offshore big game tackle make the sport truly enjoyable. 

FISHING THE WALL

Twenty miles to south of Key West and the Lower Keys lies an area known as "The Wall". The Wall is the outer edge of the continental shelf where the ocean bottom drops sharply from 950 feet of water to 2000 feet in a very short distance. The wall itself drops vertically from 300 to 500 from the 950 depth feet straight down. Extending from Big pine Key to twenty miles west of Key West running east and west paralleling the Keys Island chain. The gulfstream flowing at an average two to four knots in this area flows in a northeasterly direction as it passes over the wall pushing strong upwelling currents to the surface carrying nutrients from the depths. It is these nutrients that bring large concentrations of bait fish to the area and attract numerous species of game fish. On a calm summer day on the wall large schools of tuna (blackfin yellowfin and skip jack) and dolphin can be seen feeding under hundreds of circling terns and man-o-war birds. The wall is also a favorite feeding grounds for many varieties of small squid eating whales such-as Common bottle nose dolphin, Risso dolphin and spotted dolphin. There are areas along the wall known as the east crack, middle crack and west crack, these are areas where the wall has cracked and valleys extend a half mile north into the face of the wall. These areas cause additional up-welling currents and are known hot spots for marlin along the wall.

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