While marlin may be found inside the 30-fathom line, your chances of hooking one improve the closer to the 100-fathom line you are. Many years ago the Jack Spot and Massey’s Canyon produced billfish, but today most marlin are caught at or in the canyons.
If you are serious about fishing offshore, you must subscribe to a water temperature service. These companies use satellites to measure the surface temperature of the ocean, and this information will disclose where different temperature waters collide. Known as breaks, these are the places where bait and billfish are found.
Anyone with enough money can charter a boat, rely on the captain and mate to do all the work, and simply crank in the fish. I prefer to do it myself.
My brother-in-law Paul Coffin bought a 22 Mako back in the early 1970s, and we started running to the canyons. We had fair luck with tuna and dolphin, but it did take the better part of the summer before we caught our first billfish. On most of our trips it was just the two of us because other fishermen thought we were nuts to go out 60 miles in a 22-foot boat. In today’s world there are lots of 20-foot boats in the canyons, and while they may not raise as many fish as a 70-foot Spencer, they do okay.
When targeting marlin, we set out four 30-pound class rods and one 50-pound outfit with a larger bait just in case a blue marlin stops by. The smaller outfits carry ballyhoo rigged with circle hooks. Back in the day we didn’t have circle hooks, so we used J hooks. Today all billfish tournaments require circle hooks, so you might as well learn how to rig them. The rigging process is not that hard to master and all you have to do is type, “circle hook rigging for billfish” into Google and all the instructions you need will be right there. I used to rig split tail mullet, and when I did it correctly (about one in three), that bait would swim as if it was still alive. Rigged eels were another favorite bait that are hardly used anymore.
Do not venture offshore without an EPIRB on your boat. This device will transmit your location when all of your other electronics have failed. While they do cost several hundred dollars, that is no more than most modern boats will burn in fuel during a trip offshore.
None of my boats had radar, but today you can equip a boat with that device for a reasonable amount of money. A 25-foot Albemarle similar to my 24-footer now costs over $100,000, so a couple of extra grand for radar is not going to increase the payments by much.
Once on the grounds, you will have to look for signs of bait. Dolphins and whales along with diving birds are always good signs. A big patch or long line of weeds are another. Any floating object, including turtles, will signify the presence of game fish. Work these structures from all sides and as far away as 200 feet.
Hard core tournament anglers will hold the lines in their hands. This gives them an edge when a billfish takes the bait. At that point the fish is allowed to eat the ballyhoo, and then when the line comes tight the circle hook will do its job and catch at the corner of the mouth.
All billfish should be released. The exception is money tournaments when the result is determined by how much the fish weighs at the dock. These contests have minimum sizes, so very few marlin are brought to the scales.
If you have a trailer boat that is suitable for fishing the canyons, I think you owe it to yourself to give billfish a try. There is nothing else like it, and who knows, you may find yourself hooked.
by Eric Burnley
Thursday, August 3, 2017 - 10:12
Few things in the world of fishing are quite as exciting as watching a billfish come into your spread, shop around until he finds the bait he wants, slap it with his bill, and then gobble it down. And that’s just the beginning. If you are lucky or skillful enough, you will hook the fish, and then it is show time. White marlin have a tendency to do a lot of jumps and tail walking. Small blue marlin do the same, but a big blue will make the most majestic leaps this side of the New York Ballet Company.
While marlin may be found inside the 30-fathom line, your chances of hooking one improve the closer to the 100-fathom line you are. Many years ago the Jack Spot and Massey’s Canyon produced billfish, but today most marlin are caught at or in the canyons.
If you are serious about fishing offshore, you must subscribe to a water temperature service. These companies use satellites to measure the surface temperature of the ocean, and this information will disclose where different temperature waters collide. Known as breaks, these are the places where bait and billfish are found.
Anyone with enough money can charter a boat, rely on the captain and mate to do all the work, and simply crank in the fish. I prefer to do it myself.
My brother-in-law Paul Coffin bought a 22 Mako back in the early 1970s, and we started running to the canyons. We had fair luck with tuna and dolphin, but it did take the better part of the summer before we caught our first billfish. On most of our trips it was just the two of us because other fishermen thought we were nuts to go out 60 miles in a 22-foot boat. In today’s world there are lots of 20-foot boats in the canyons, and while they may not raise as many fish as a 70-foot Spencer, they do okay.
When targeting marlin, we set out four 30-pound class rods and one 50-pound outfit with a larger bait just in case a blue marlin stops by. The smaller outfits carry ballyhoo rigged with circle hooks. Back in the day we didn’t have circle hooks, so we used J hooks. Today all billfish tournaments require circle hooks, so you might as well learn how to rig them. The rigging process is not that hard to master and all you have to do is type, “circle hook rigging for billfish” into Google and all the instructions you need will be right there. I used to rig split tail mullet, and when I did it correctly (about one in three), that bait would swim as if it was still alive. Rigged eels were another favorite bait that are hardly used anymore.
Do not venture offshore without an EPIRB on your boat. This device will transmit your location when all of your other electronics have failed. While they do cost several hundred dollars, that is no more than most modern boats will burn in fuel during a trip offshore.
None of my boats had radar, but today you can equip a boat with that device for a reasonable amount of money. A 25-foot Albemarle similar to my 24-footer now costs over $100,000, so a couple of extra grand for radar is not going to increase the payments by much.
Once on the grounds, you will have to look for signs of bait. Dolphins and whales along with diving birds are always good signs. A big patch or long line of weeds are another. Any floating object, including turtles, will signify the presence of game fish. Work these structures from all sides and as far away as 200 feet.
Hard core tournament anglers will hold the lines in their hands. This gives them an edge when a billfish takes the bait. At that point the fish is allowed to eat the ballyhoo, and then when the line comes tight the circle hook will do its job and catch at the corner of the mouth.
All billfish should be released. The exception is money tournaments when the result is determined by how much the fish weighs at the dock. These contests have minimum sizes, so very few marlin are brought to the scales.
If you have a trailer boat that is suitable for fishing the canyons, I think you owe it to yourself to give billfish a try. There is nothing else like it, and who knows, you may find yourself hooked.
by Eric Burnley
While marlin may be found inside the 30-fathom line, your chances of hooking one improve the closer to the 100-fathom line you are. Many years ago the Jack Spot and Massey’s Canyon produced billfish, but today most marlin are caught at or in the canyons.
If you are serious about fishing offshore, you must subscribe to a water temperature service. These companies use satellites to measure the surface temperature of the ocean, and this information will disclose where different temperature waters collide. Known as breaks, these are the places where bait and billfish are found.
Anyone with enough money can charter a boat, rely on the captain and mate to do all the work, and simply crank in the fish. I prefer to do it myself.
My brother-in-law Paul Coffin bought a 22 Mako back in the early 1970s, and we started running to the canyons. We had fair luck with tuna and dolphin, but it did take the better part of the summer before we caught our first billfish. On most of our trips it was just the two of us because other fishermen thought we were nuts to go out 60 miles in a 22-foot boat. In today’s world there are lots of 20-foot boats in the canyons, and while they may not raise as many fish as a 70-foot Spencer, they do okay.
When targeting marlin, we set out four 30-pound class rods and one 50-pound outfit with a larger bait just in case a blue marlin stops by. The smaller outfits carry ballyhoo rigged with circle hooks. Back in the day we didn’t have circle hooks, so we used J hooks. Today all billfish tournaments require circle hooks, so you might as well learn how to rig them. The rigging process is not that hard to master and all you have to do is type, “circle hook rigging for billfish” into Google and all the instructions you need will be right there. I used to rig split tail mullet, and when I did it correctly (about one in three), that bait would swim as if it was still alive. Rigged eels were another favorite bait that are hardly used anymore.
Do not venture offshore without an EPIRB on your boat. This device will transmit your location when all of your other electronics have failed. While they do cost several hundred dollars, that is no more than most modern boats will burn in fuel during a trip offshore.
None of my boats had radar, but today you can equip a boat with that device for a reasonable amount of money. A 25-foot Albemarle similar to my 24-footer now costs over $100,000, so a couple of extra grand for radar is not going to increase the payments by much.
Once on the grounds, you will have to look for signs of bait. Dolphins and whales along with diving birds are always good signs. A big patch or long line of weeds are another. Any floating object, including turtles, will signify the presence of game fish. Work these structures from all sides and as far away as 200 feet.
Hard core tournament anglers will hold the lines in their hands. This gives them an edge when a billfish takes the bait. At that point the fish is allowed to eat the ballyhoo, and then when the line comes tight the circle hook will do its job and catch at the corner of the mouth.
All billfish should be released. The exception is money tournaments when the result is determined by how much the fish weighs at the dock. These contests have minimum sizes, so very few marlin are brought to the scales.
If you have a trailer boat that is suitable for fishing the canyons, I think you owe it to yourself to give billfish a try. There is nothing else like it, and who knows, you may find yourself hooked.
by Eric Burnley