Daily 02/06/07 No 126 - Antigua Observer Newspaper

I awake in the morning
long before dawn and
after only a few fitful hours of
sleep. The still air is cool and
I put my jacket on even
before I leave the house. As I
load my pickup I notice the
palm leaves are not moving
and a flutter of nervous
excitement makes me smile.
It's going to be a calm day
out there.
The crew is early
and eager to leave the dock
bound for the "bank," a sea
mount far off shore. Sea
mounts typically are areas
far from land where underwater
hills or as the name
suggests, mountains come
almost to the surface. This
one comes up to about 280
feet below sea level and like
many others, it supports a
huge variety of biomass.
Everything from plankton
and tiny microscopic fish to
large predators aggregate
around sea mounts. Today,
the first day of one of
Antigua’s main fishing tournaments,
we are after one of
the top predators--Makaira
Nigricans, the scientific
name of the Atlantic Blue
Marlin.
We've only entered
the Marlin Division of this
tournament, so that is all we
are looking for. Although the
International Union for
Conservation of Nature
(IUCN) doesn't consider marlin
to be a threatened species,
many sport fishermen think
that because of the commercial
fishing industry's pressures
on the blue marlin, the
species needs careful attention.
Our tournament is mostly
a catch-and-release tournament
and has strict guidelines
as to what fish
you can bring back to the
scales.
In years past many
of the marlin we would catch
and release would have stainless
steel long line hooks in
their mouths, which broke off
from Taiwanese gear set off
shore. Then in late 2004, the
Taiwanese fleet of commercial
long liners that was stationed
in St. Martin decided to
move out of the Eastern
Caribbean. We have thankfully
seen a small increase in the
number of marlin since then,
but there are still a great
many being caught by
Guadeloupe commercial fishermen
nearby.
Anyway, on this day
we will release all marlin
after taking a photo of the
catch so that we get points.
Fish over 300 lbs. can be
brought back to the scales to
try for the largest fish prize.
All releases get 300 points
towards the prize for most
points. In recent years there
have been many studies with
scientists attaching satellite
tagging equipment to
released marlin to see the
survival rates and surprisingly
the results have shown
that almost all blue marlin
recover well once released
quickly after bringing them
alongside.
The first bits of colour
start to show on the horizon
as we arrive at the bank just
before dawn. Lines go over
into the water at 5:30 a.m. and
we are early, just as I like to be
in tournaments. It gives us
time to check all of our gear
and set up the rods and baits
properly before "lines in.”
Noddies and terns are
squawking as they feed in
flocks just above the skipjacks
and black fin tuna. These
small tuna are
what marlin love to eat and we
know they must be around.
At 6 a.m. the lines
ON THE SEA 13
have been in the water thirty
minutes and the sun is
already bright above the horizon.
We are ready for a fight!
Hours pass without a bite as
we troll around the sea mount,
but the crew sits patiently,
waiting and searching the
"spread" of lures behind the
boat. The little tuna jump and
splash under the birds as they
chase tiny minnows to the surface.
We're in the
middle of a very active food
chain.
"MARLIN", screams
Big John as he spots a large
dorsal fin behind our #2 lure.
A second later rod #3 comes
alive with a deathly scream of
its ratchet as line starts vanishing
in a flash. Our trained
crew spring into action retrieving
all the other lines and getting
the fighter "suited" up in
harness and belt. The marlin
jumps several times while
peeling off a thousand feet of
monofilament line as if the 26
lbs. of drag on the reel was
nothing. Our first mate, John,
happily shouts "and there she
is… the blue marlin with all
her glory".
Eli Fuller is a lifelong resident
of Antigua and owner of
Adventure Antigua boat
tours.
Blue skies, warm breezes and lots of sea life makes
sport fishing in Antigua and Barbuda a delightful, and
sometimes adventure-packed, sport—especially when
blue marlin are involved.