josko
01-22-2000, 11:54 AM
We've all talked about it, but how often does it really happen? I've been spooled maybe 1/2 doz times, but two cases will stay with me forever:
We were ~60 miles south of Hawaii on a research ship, waiting for someone else to show up. Had a chum bag over the side which attracted lots of skipjacks, and folks were having fun catching them, when a striped marlin appeared out of nowhere, intent on both the skipjacks and the chum slick. I had a 12 wt ready, just in case,and managed to get a large deceiver in front of the fish. He took, and after the first hookset still hung around, intent on the slick. This gave me time to clear line, put the fish on the reel, and tighten down the drag on the big Abel 5. Second hookset woke him up, and you could see the fish light up, raise the dorsal, turn, accelerate, and come out of the water, greyhounding at a 30 deg angle. He took off away from the boat, and there was absolutely nothing the fly tackle could do to stop him. It seemed less than a minute to the end of the 500 yds of backing on the reel. The spindle knot held, and I got back everything up to the tippet. Watching this fish clear 20'-30' at a leap seemed just awesome, and the time before he took off was like a slow-speed video. I'd never realized you could have this extra time between hookset and the fish takeoff, and still savor those seconds in my mind.
The other time was south of Hudsons canyon in ~500 ftms of water. Ship was driving at 6 kts, doing a hydrographic survey, and we had 4 penn 50's casually off the stern with islanders over ballyhoo. Been catching dolphin all day, so nobody was too excited when a reel went off. I got to it, and it took a few minutes to realize this run wasn't stopping. Managed to turn the boat (not an easy feat on a 120' vessel not bent on fishing), but the line, now going off at 60 degrees to the bow, was streaming off steadily. Not fast, but impereturbably. I remember staring down at the reel and admiring how smooth the drag was with 30 lbs of drag, and how warm the drag side was getting. With ~2/3 gone, I kicked the reel to full with absolutely no effect, and could but watch as the spool showed, the spindle knot came tight and broke. Never saw what it was, but must have been a large bigeye or Allison.
Anyone else with good 'spooled' stories?
We were ~60 miles south of Hawaii on a research ship, waiting for someone else to show up. Had a chum bag over the side which attracted lots of skipjacks, and folks were having fun catching them, when a striped marlin appeared out of nowhere, intent on both the skipjacks and the chum slick. I had a 12 wt ready, just in case,and managed to get a large deceiver in front of the fish. He took, and after the first hookset still hung around, intent on the slick. This gave me time to clear line, put the fish on the reel, and tighten down the drag on the big Abel 5. Second hookset woke him up, and you could see the fish light up, raise the dorsal, turn, accelerate, and come out of the water, greyhounding at a 30 deg angle. He took off away from the boat, and there was absolutely nothing the fly tackle could do to stop him. It seemed less than a minute to the end of the 500 yds of backing on the reel. The spindle knot held, and I got back everything up to the tippet. Watching this fish clear 20'-30' at a leap seemed just awesome, and the time before he took off was like a slow-speed video. I'd never realized you could have this extra time between hookset and the fish takeoff, and still savor those seconds in my mind.
The other time was south of Hudsons canyon in ~500 ftms of water. Ship was driving at 6 kts, doing a hydrographic survey, and we had 4 penn 50's casually off the stern with islanders over ballyhoo. Been catching dolphin all day, so nobody was too excited when a reel went off. I got to it, and it took a few minutes to realize this run wasn't stopping. Managed to turn the boat (not an easy feat on a 120' vessel not bent on fishing), but the line, now going off at 60 degrees to the bow, was streaming off steadily. Not fast, but impereturbably. I remember staring down at the reel and admiring how smooth the drag was with 30 lbs of drag, and how warm the drag side was getting. With ~2/3 gone, I kicked the reel to full with absolutely no effect, and could but watch as the spool showed, the spindle knot came tight and broke. Never saw what it was, but must have been a large bigeye or Allison.
Anyone else with good 'spooled' stories?