Another kayak Marlin

Scott,

Most trout fly fishers are indeed very conscious of good C&R methods including the following...

1.) don't play the fish too long
2.) keep the fish in water as long as possible
3.) don't touch the fish with dry hands
4.) if you must use a net, try to use one with a small knotless mesh
5.) if the hook is deep, cut the line and leave it be

I allmost forgot... yes there are plenty of research articles on fish mortality from fishing out there and these things have all been addressed in one way or another.

Brian

Great video, great catch!  Wish I could enjoy the same experience some day.  And personally, I really don't want to be categorized with the purist trout fly-fishing only crowd.  I drink cheap beer, use a lip gripper, and heaven for bid...I've even eaten largemouth bass.  I definitely recognize the importance of catch and release, at times, but due to the rarity of kayak caught billfish, I just don't see this as being a big deal.  

Just my two cents,
Ben

Ben,

No worries I'm not advocating we become elistist like some trout fishers.... but at the same time I don't want kayak fishers to be associated with a lake or ocean full of dead floaters everytime we go out.

The point here is that if we are catching and releasing we want to be as careful as possible and not waste fish.  However, if we're catching and eating, and I'm a bit fan of this myself, we can handle those fish any way we want.

Brian

Glad some of you liked the video, If you have not seen them here are the links to our three videos from newest to oldest. Pretty Fun Stuff
Though some of you may not like the handling of or gaffing of fish.

http://one.revver.com/find/video/kayak#_show_video_76413

http://one.revver.com/find/video/kayak#_show_video_7136

http://one.revver.com/find/video/kayak/page/2#_show_video_4452





Jim Sammons
La Jolla Kayak Fishing
www.Kayak4Fish.com

Jim,

We aren't a bunch of sissies. If I am gonna eat 'em, I gaff 'em. No worries. My Lingcod Sunday were gaffed and are now filleted and vacuum-packed, awaiting thawiing and cooking real soon.  We just want C&R to mean the fish has a real good shot at survival and was handled with honor and respect. We don't keep unless we are going to eat.

The challenging debate you are seeing on the forum is partly due to the impending marine closures which really hinder our access to some of our best fisheries up here. Those advocating the closures use examples of rough and callous catching, over-fishing just to impress, over-tiring, and man-handling of fish as trophies instead of precious resources to be respected as an excuse to label us as destructive marine locusts with paddles who need to be eradicated. So some of us react pretty strongly to anything that reinforces the trophy mentality as it reinforces the negative PR we are trying to mitigate. Trophy fishing is 'old school' and we are trying to distance ourselves from it. Fishing is far more than bravado, machismo, and trophies for many of us.

I thought about slings and other devices and we might go with that next year if finacial feasble and safe etc etc...

The other thing to keep in mind is that different fish have different tolerences. Sharks are remarkablly tough and can take a lot of punishment and swim away like nothing happened. Chovies die when I breath on them. So again we could have not even offered C&R at the paddlefest and we where lucky we had someone will to donate time for the boat. We made a best effort to release the fish in good shape (for those not kept).

Oh and amazing stuff Jim! 

Oh and move this over to the fish talk C&R thread, we have hijacked Jim's amazing thread too much already.

Glad some of you liked the video, If you have not seen them here are the links to our three videos from newest to oldest. Pretty Fun Stuff
Though some of you may not like the handling of or gaffing of fish.

http://one.revver.com/find/video/kayak#_show_video_76413

http://one.revver.com/find/video/kayak#_show_video_7136

http://one.revver.com/find/video/kayak/page/2#_show_video_4452





Jim Sammons
La Jolla Kayak Fishing
www.Kayak4Fish.com

No offense to Matt, but that Dodo is 1000 times more impressive than his marlin.

I almost shat my pants the first time I saw that pic.

Without doubt the most impressive fish I've seen taken on a kayak.

MolBasser

No offense to Matt, but that Dodo is 1000 times more impressive than his marlin.

Ditto, that bull is one SWEET A$$ fish.  For whatever reason, billfish just don't do it for met, but if folks wanna wrassle with em, have a good time.  When we have been in baja it is certainly the focus of the PB crew.  I assure you that most of the pangeros are nowhere near as careful as these guys, and I still see some at the cleaning table almost everyday.

Here's how you have all of the fun and skip all of the C&R sniveling.  Book a trip with Jim.  Skip the billfish, and target a tuna, a dodo, or an amber.  The HIGHLY EDBLE pelagics of baja will give you all you wanted and more.  Then when it comes to the boat, proudly sink a gaff right into its noggin.  Bleed it, ice it, and have it for dinner.  Rinse and repeat.

While I have only fished with Jim once, he was an extremely professional guide, and if he feels it all good, I have his back.  IMHO, nobody yak fishes the Cape better than Jim.

My dream is to whack a BIG onno with no boat involved...thats my dream. Someday I will make it happen and Jelly can high 5 my bloody stumps!

That totally sounds like a kick!! Five miles!! That is crazy!! I want to do it!

Sean, I was on the same page as you, never had any interest in catching a Marlin from a boat.
But after doing it from a kayak, it is a thrill that would be pretty hard to match. The big bull Dorado is certainly a great catch and one that I am sure I will never match, but the Bill Fish have a whole other level of excitement, maybe it is the danger factor. I also am hoping for that first kayak wahoo, I know it has been done in Hawaii. I have only caught one, from a boat, and was not that impressed with the fight. It is still on my list of fish to catch from my kayak. Along with Tarpon, Blue Marlin, Alaskan Halibut, Peacock Bass from the Amazon, etc.............................

Jim, you'll want to make sure you use the patented NCKA "water slap" to properly subdue your alaskan halibut........it makes them veritably rock like..............
If this makes no sense you'll need to read BrianG's report of his catch from our trip.

I never realized it was improtant what craft you caught the fish from as far as the fish and bragging rights were concerend. I only chose a kayak because of convenience, access, environmental concerns, quietness, and enjoyment of paddling. Jim, try a pool noodle and ultralight spinnign gear--I hear you can really get a real thrill on those--even better than hitchign up toe jet ski for a pull.

Your list is pretty much the same as my list.  Kinda funny that you mention catching a blue marlin, as I had the chance, and passed (after me and Jelly nearly shat ourselves).  

Two years ago I was about 2 miles out off of "flat top" with Jelly...I had his rig and was shaking off a small "bullet tuna".  The fish was hooked goofy and I was engrossed in the process.  We had drifted about 15 feet apart, as I was staring at Chris' catch/ideal bait I saw movement out of the corner of my eye.  An enormous blue breezed right between our yaks...we were speechless.  Jelly, always full of adventure was freeeeaking out and was 1/2 worried it would snatch his tiny tuna, and 1/2 hoping it would.

As I stared at it, it was just working the edge of the rip no more than 20 feet from us.  What would happen if I lobbed this shiny 2# tuna 40 feet out in front of this HUGE fish??? ..I did the analysis in my head.  Ideal bait, 200# plus trophy on my bow, right rod, mullet and sardine backup baits...seems right...11 year old on a yak for support, no radio, no other boats in sight...seems REALLY wrong.  In the end I completely wussed out, made the safe call, and watched it puddle away into the horizon.

While I understand the thrill, to this day its not my cup of tea.  Maybe I'll have to try it someday...but when you book the peacock trip PLEASE let me know.  I too am jonesing for a big AK hali but hopeffuly have that covered.  My good friend Capt. Ron just bout 5 acres of ocean front near Seward in primo flattie country.

More than anything I am depressed as hell that we won't be going to the Cape this summer, have to go on a family gathering elsewhere...its gonna kill me!

  

I never realized it was improtant what craft you caught the fish from as far as the fish and bragging rights were concerend.

In my experience it makes a huge difference.  On a yak it is soooo much more "mano a mano".  I switched to yaks for the same reasons, but am addicted to yaks for the difference in the "thrill". 

I personally think that catching a 20# yellowtail is more impressive in a kayak than it would be on a party boat.

A cool catch either way, but I would rather catch it in the kayak.


MolBasser