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- Got Them Cabo San Lucas Blues
Got Them Cabo San Lucas Blues
- By Randall Bryett
- Published 08/6/2005
- Destinations and Travel
- Unrated
Randall Bryett
Randall Bryett grew up on the Sunshine Coast of Australia with some the worlds best fishing around every corner. He has worked in many aspects of the fishing industry including chasing the Giant Black Marlin at the prestigious Lizard Island. He is a avid fly fisherman who likes to find his own path. When not traveling he resides in Northern California with his wife Kate and their adopted cats.
Just back from our annual vacation in Cabo San Lucas. Wow what a trip this was, besides getting the R&R we seek and Cabo offers.
We managed to drag ourselves away from the Finistera Hotel's Finistera Hotel's pool long enough for a spot of fishing.
Grant and Gisel Hartman of Baja Anglers are dear friends and we look forward to catching up with them and flicking a fly around among other things. Grant was just back from his win at Cam Sigler's Mazatlan Tournament (reported in last months Salt Spray) and he was more than happy to show us his billfish-on-fly skills for a couple of days. Good call!
In short order we had shots at a vast array of Baja's prime fly-fishing targets
Mahi Mahi, Wahoo, Striped Marlin, Jack crevalle and Roosterfish were all cast to on the first day. Major fishing highlights included a thumping big Dolphin fish of around 30+lbs on and personal best Rooster on fly.
After seeing a reasonable amount of Striped Marlin we decided the last day would be dedicated to catching my first billfish on the "long wand".
Just after 8.30am we had Grant's two teasers in the water. Complete with fresh tuna strips, the softheaded lures slapped the surface. Imagine my excitement when only five minutes later I saw a fin tailing across the surface and yelled to the boys, 'MARLIN!!!!!! " Grant and his crew swung into action jockeying the boat into position. 8.36am and this fish is all over one of the teasers and coming straight toward the transom... ".coming coming, coming, NEUTRAL !!!!!" called Grant . "CAST NOW!!!!!" I did, the fish ate the popper fly and I set the hook hard, quickly letting the spool go again. It may be a long time before I see another reel go into hyper drive like that. This marlin was a smoker! To all our surprise, it was a Blue Marlin not the Stripey that we had in mind. Hundreds of Yards of Harro's Bionic Braid poured out from the reel on the first run and this occurred many more times during the next 8 and half hours spent on this fish.
I have nothing but admiration for this fish and his unbelievable determination to fight, it became a personal battle of wills and his straight up brawling tactics were something that I had been looking for. Hooked in the side of the mouth and having the Cam Sigler 20lb test pre tied leader running around his pec and over his back for the first 4 hours we were not sure that this would play out. The 80lb Ande bite was sure to wear also. After the 4 and half hour mark and a dangerous encounter boatside he flipped and managed to get his head into a dive. It was a dirty slugging match after that...Finally at 5pm he arrived boat side sadly defeated and in no condition for release. I dispatched him personally with no regret as I would not allow the fish to be wasted or sold. Grant's devout Christian crew would feed their local church parishioners deep in the barrios of Cabo.
The blue was weighed on Grants certified scales and went over 190lbs - not a record and not that it mattered anyway. We were fishing for Marlin, not records. All in all my first billfish was the biggest and most personally satisfying fish on fly.
Grant Hartman said of the capture "It was a perfect day.
The bait was readily handy first thing in the morning for belly strips. The water was flat calm. It was the perfect fish, this fish was hungry, and he stayed up on top for most of the fight. The most important aspect of the day, was that I had a good fisherman.
Randall has a ton of experience catching bigfish on light lines and couple that with patient and physical strength is what brought this fish to the boat. This fish took over 8 hours to land. As many bluewater fisherman know the rats( marlin under 250-lbs) can be the toughest fighters out there. Sometimes the rats fight much harder than marlin twice their weight.
This catch was only 60-lbs shy of the current 260-lb Pacific blue marlin world record caught by the late Jim Gray in Costa Rica. Jim's fish actually jumped into the boat as the boat was backing down on the fish. Jim's remark at the time was that if the marlin hadn't jumped into the boat, it would have been impossible to catch that fish on fly. I know of only a few pacific blue marlin that have been caught using fly under IGFA rules."
Grant Hartman has trained his crew to handle flyfisherman as they are accustomed to being fished. They know this game back to front and are able to understand the subtleties of this sport better than other local who work the pangas and gameboats. I have no hesitations recommending Baja Angler to all who want to flyfish Cabo San Lucas
Tackle used # 14 SAGE RPLXROD , ISLANDER AR6 REEL, ROD HARRISONS BIONIC BRAID 50LB BACKING,RIO DEEPSEA 500 GRAIN FLYLINE, CAM SIGLER IGFA PRE TIED LEADER 20LB, ANDE 80LB FLURO (BITE) 6/0 OWNER HOOKS.
Randall Bryett
PLEASE NOTE: The current world record for Blue Marlin on 20lb test is now held by Tom Evans. His fish caught whilst fishing with Captain Bill Billson and Aussie SWFF guide Dean Butler in early 2002. Port Stephens, Australia! The Blue weighed an outstanding 288lb and is the largest billfish caught on IGFA fly tackle.
We managed to drag ourselves away from the Finistera Hotel's Finistera Hotel's pool long enough for a spot of fishing.
Grant and Gisel Hartman of Baja Anglers are dear friends and we look forward to catching up with them and flicking a fly around among other things. Grant was just back from his win at Cam Sigler's Mazatlan Tournament (reported in last months Salt Spray) and he was more than happy to show us his billfish-on-fly skills for a couple of days. Good call!
In short order we had shots at a vast array of Baja's prime fly-fishing targets
Mahi Mahi, Wahoo, Striped Marlin, Jack crevalle and Roosterfish were all cast to on the first day. Major fishing highlights included a thumping big Dolphin fish of around 30+lbs on and personal best Rooster on fly.
After seeing a reasonable amount of Striped Marlin we decided the last day would be dedicated to catching my first billfish on the "long wand".
Just after 8.30am we had Grant's two teasers in the water. Complete with fresh tuna strips, the softheaded lures slapped the surface. Imagine my excitement when only five minutes later I saw a fin tailing across the surface and yelled to the boys, 'MARLIN!!!!!! " Grant and his crew swung into action jockeying the boat into position. 8.36am and this fish is all over one of the teasers and coming straight toward the transom... ".coming coming, coming, NEUTRAL !!!!!" called Grant . "CAST NOW!!!!!" I did, the fish ate the popper fly and I set the hook hard, quickly letting the spool go again. It may be a long time before I see another reel go into hyper drive like that. This marlin was a smoker! To all our surprise, it was a Blue Marlin not the Stripey that we had in mind. Hundreds of Yards of Harro's Bionic Braid poured out from the reel on the first run and this occurred many more times during the next 8 and half hours spent on this fish.
I have nothing but admiration for this fish and his unbelievable determination to fight, it became a personal battle of wills and his straight up brawling tactics were something that I had been looking for. Hooked in the side of the mouth and having the Cam Sigler 20lb test pre tied leader running around his pec and over his back for the first 4 hours we were not sure that this would play out. The 80lb Ande bite was sure to wear also. After the 4 and half hour mark and a dangerous encounter boatside he flipped and managed to get his head into a dive. It was a dirty slugging match after that...Finally at 5pm he arrived boat side sadly defeated and in no condition for release. I dispatched him personally with no regret as I would not allow the fish to be wasted or sold. Grant's devout Christian crew would feed their local church parishioners deep in the barrios of Cabo.
The blue was weighed on Grants certified scales and went over 190lbs - not a record and not that it mattered anyway. We were fishing for Marlin, not records. All in all my first billfish was the biggest and most personally satisfying fish on fly.
Grant Hartman said of the capture "It was a perfect day.
The bait was readily handy first thing in the morning for belly strips. The water was flat calm. It was the perfect fish, this fish was hungry, and he stayed up on top for most of the fight. The most important aspect of the day, was that I had a good fisherman.
Randall has a ton of experience catching bigfish on light lines and couple that with patient and physical strength is what brought this fish to the boat. This fish took over 8 hours to land. As many bluewater fisherman know the rats( marlin under 250-lbs) can be the toughest fighters out there. Sometimes the rats fight much harder than marlin twice their weight.
This catch was only 60-lbs shy of the current 260-lb Pacific blue marlin world record caught by the late Jim Gray in Costa Rica. Jim's fish actually jumped into the boat as the boat was backing down on the fish. Jim's remark at the time was that if the marlin hadn't jumped into the boat, it would have been impossible to catch that fish on fly. I know of only a few pacific blue marlin that have been caught using fly under IGFA rules."
Grant Hartman has trained his crew to handle flyfisherman as they are accustomed to being fished. They know this game back to front and are able to understand the subtleties of this sport better than other local who work the pangas and gameboats. I have no hesitations recommending Baja Angler to all who want to flyfish Cabo San Lucas
Tackle used # 14 SAGE RPLXROD , ISLANDER AR6 REEL, ROD HARRISONS BIONIC BRAID 50LB BACKING,RIO DEEPSEA 500 GRAIN FLYLINE, CAM SIGLER IGFA PRE TIED LEADER 20LB, ANDE 80LB FLURO (BITE) 6/0 OWNER HOOKS.
Randall Bryett
PLEASE NOTE: The current world record for Blue Marlin on 20lb test is now held by Tom Evans. His fish caught whilst fishing with Captain Bill Billson and Aussie SWFF guide Dean Butler in early 2002. Port Stephens, Australia! The Blue weighed an outstanding 288lb and is the largest billfish caught on IGFA fly tackle.