We had just tagged and released Bob Donnelly's third blue marlin for the day, a fish of around 220kg. After the congratulatory back slapping and hand shaking had subsided, we calculated the total weight of marlin 'Cintra' had released during her five days of fishing the Port Stephens canyons to about a skipjack over 1200kg. With the exception of one black, all our fish were the bigger and faster blues we had come here to catch. For 'Cintra' at least, blue marlin are the ultimate game fish in our waters and thus our entire fishing effort is devoted to them.

Ian Miller battling it out on stand-up 37kg tackle.

Fishing the deepwater canyons and sea mounts from Sydney to Port Stephens, 'Cintra' is a very fast 41' Steber set up for serious heavy tackle marlin fishing. She does not carry gaffs, but instead an intricate work of art by Ian Miller in the form of a custom tag pole and the latest Nikon stills and Sony video cameras. The crew of 'Cintra' comprises four experienced members - Bill Robinson, skipper, Bob Donnelly, angler, Ian Miller, angler, and myself on the deck. In addition to 'the crew', 'Cintra' frequently carries one or more guest anglers who invariably have little or no fishing experience.

The heavy tackle system we have developed provides us with a capture rate of 66% of all marlin we encounter regardless of species or size, and gives us a current average of 1.625 marlin captures per fishing day.

During our 1991 season, however, we encountered more blue marlin and less striped marlin than usual, resulting in our capturing more fish over 150kg and less fish under 100kg. This factor increased our capture rate to 82% of all marlin we encountered and 100% of all blue marlin we encountered. As these statistics would indicate, our system is designed for big marlin and whilst it still returns us 50% of their smaller striped cousins, they are simply not our priority!

With this in mind, our standard trolling tackle for blue marlin comprises four Ian Miller ' Broadbill' chair rods fitted with Fin Nor 12/0 Tri Gear reels spooled with 60kg Amilan monofilament. Occasionally to accommodate specific anglers, e.g. ladies, 37kg chair outfits are used. And, from time to time Ian likes to tackle big fish using stand up 37kg Shortstrokers, but generally four 130s are the order of the day. This choice of tackle provides our anglers with every possible fish fighting advantage and our preference for mono over dacron provides our guest anglers with a slight margin for error.

The more complex factor in our tackle equation is our choice of trolling lures and the way we have chosen to rig them. Firstly, 'Cintra' does not simply troll lures; she trolls a 'pattern' of four lures, which has taken a decade to evolve its present form. The evolution of our pattern can be best explained by simply telling it the way it is or was in this instance.

Prior to the launch of 'Cintra' in 1989, I had spent five memorable years running the cockpit for Joe Ritchie on his 41'Steber Jay Ah'. Back in these early days, now 'the good ol' days', most Sydney crews considered blue marlin as a figment of someone else's imagination, I kid you not! And that is pretty much the way it remained until trolling Hawaiian lures jay Ah' proved firstly that blue marlin could be regularly caught off Sydney, and secondly that you could actually catch two blue marlin in one day... if you really tried! Anyway, the lures we used to catch many great blues on jay Ah' back then are the same lures that form the basis of the lure pattern we run on 'Cintra' today.

(Top to bottom) Joe Yee Apollo 'Evil' Joe Yee 501 'Grimace' Marlin Magic large tube 'Slash' straight-sided plunger 'Big Dog'

'Cintra's' pattern is made up of four original Hawaiian lures. The first is a Joe Yee Apollo called 'Evil', that runs in the long 'rigger position and has so far caught us 50 marlin including many of our largest blues. The original Evil has, over the years, caught so many blue marlin for so many boats that he's been copied and bastardised by every would be lure maker you can imagine. There is only one 'Evil'! Joe Ritchie and myself named him Evil after taking eight marlin shots in a single day on 'JayAh'. He is an original Joe Yee Apollo and a truly great trolling lure; so don't let the copy mongers sell you a lemon!

Our second Joe Yee is a 501 called 'Grimace.' He has caught us 24 marlin from the short corner and is the same lure used on 'Aspro' to capture their 317kg blue marlin that holds the current Australian All Tackle record.
The remaining half of our pattern is made up of two Marlin Magic lures. A heavily loaded Tube called 'Slash' which, depending on the weather, alternates between the short rigger and long corner positions. Slash is also the lure used on Thee Sheriff to catch their 284kg blue marlin that won them $20,000 in prize money back in 1990. This blue was the largest marlin caught out of Sydney at that time.

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Our other Marlin Magic is a large Straight sided plunger called 'Big Dog'. He runs in whichever position is left vacant when alternating with the Tube. He has no specific claim to fame at this point, other than he catches many marlin for 'Cintra' (including two of the three fish mentioned at the beginning of this article) and has 1000 pound blue marlin written all over him. I guess only time will tell for Big Dog!
There is one other important point I should make about our trolling pattern. We troll a Pakula Witchdoctor Mirror Teaser from the long corner. I believe the Witchdoctor plays a major role in drawing marlin into our transom and so consider it an integral part of the pattern.

Whilst the performance characteristics required in a trolling lure are quite specific, I will accept there are odd times when ma eat anything you care to throw over the transom a fact evident the number of lures out there don't ever catch their second marlin. (Mind you, there are even more trolling lures out there which wont ever catch their first marlin.) The four Hawaiian lures we troll on 'Cintra ', however, have had to earn and then maintain their position within our pattern 'by consistently catching fish.

'Explosive' is probably the best way to describe Blue Marlin.

This selection process takes time (years, in fact) and is directly comparable to the way a batman earns his place in a test side, consistently scoring more runs than the next guy. The knowledge acquired during this lengthy period is, in my view, one of the most important assets a lure fisherman can possess. Having seen our lures eaten by marlin several hundred times now, I have a fair idea of the way they must perform in order for them to be eaten again. I am also satisfied that each of our lures maximises our return from the trolling position it occupies, and that together as a pattern they provide the best combination of lure actions, sizes and colours for our purpose, Yes, yes I know... marlin don't see colours! I guess if the little fellows who run around cutting up marlins' eyeballs tell us they don't see colours, then they probably don't! At least not the way we see colours. On the other hand, many marlin have convinced me that colours are important.

In my experience there are three visual elements of colour that are commonly recognised by marlin. They are therefore the basis of colour in our trolling pattern. The first is black or permanent shadow. The second is flash, as in silver or chrome, and the third is brightness as in neon or fluoro. I am also convinced that these three elements are at their most effective when used in combination to produce a baitfish likeness.

A lure possessing just one of these elements will catch marlin. Grimace, for example, is just pale blue over fluoro green. Whilst I'm sure marlin don't see Grimace as green, they certainly recognise that he is 'lit up' like neon. Whether he's green neon, pink neon or purple neon, I'm certain doesn't matter. What seems important to the fish is simply that he's 'lit up'. Slash possesses two of the three elements with a dark blue/green top over a gold belly with a fluoro chartreuse inner. These colours were the best I could find in my attempt to simulate a small yellowfin tuna. Evil has Xmas tree colours, with the element of flash giving him a baitfish likeness, and Big Dog is big and black over metallic pale blue with a baitfish likeness also.

Now, whether or not these lures look like baitfish to you or I when they're lying on the deck really doesn't interest me. What does interest me, however, is this. Evil is always the dominant lure in our pattern when we are working schools of skipjacks, taking 9 of our 13 marlin during our last trip for example. So, from the marlin's point of view at least, Evil and skipjacks have something in common. This situation changes somewhat when the skipjacks are thick with yellowfin. Evil still takes his share of fish due to the presence of the skipjacks, but has to share the shots with Slash. A further, more dramatic change occurs when the bait schools contain only yellowfin. Slash becomes completely dominant, taking all of our bigger blues under these conditions.

The double hook cable rigs used in 'Cintra's' lures contradict the popular assumption that opposing hooks provide the best hook-up rate.

I am not suggesting that these lures in themselves look exactly like skipjacks or yellowfin. What I am saying is that when marlin are feeding on skipjacks the overall image or presentation of Evil through the water is recognisable and totally acceptable to every marlin that sees him. The same level of acceptability applies to Slash when marlin are feeding on yellowfin. For similar reasons, Big Dog has taken every blue we've caught whilst trolling a 'sun run' during the late afternoon. Under these intense light conditions the marlin find Big Dog's image more commonly recognisable and therefore more readily acceptable than the other lures in our pattern.

At the other end of the spectrum, the neon appearance of Grimace is at its most productive during periods of bad light. So, accepting that fish don't necessarily see colours the way we do, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to work out that colours are still important. If they weren't important, 'Cintra's' lure pattern would consist of four Evils'.

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There are two other factors that contribute to the strike rates of the lures within our pattern. Size is important insofar as it maintains the recognisable image we present to the marlin, and then there's action. Action is critical! Keeping in mind that our lures swim in specific positions, Evil from the long rigger and Grimace from the short corner, they individually possess swimming actions also commonly recognised by marlin. Slash swims like a feeding tuna whilst the others appear like baitfish trying to escape a predator. The importance of these very active swimming styles is they never, and I stress never, fail to induce the strike.

Incidental captures like this tail-walking striped marlin are ideal pratice while waiting for the 'real' fish to turn up.

Blue marlin, with few exceptions, will always 'eyeball' or attempt to 'freak out' a trolling lure before crashing it. At these times, the action or more specifically 'apparent reaction' of the lure to the marlin's presence is critical to its strike rate. During the few seconds it takes a marlin to 'eyeball' the lure, the lure's colour, size and action must work together to present an immediately recognisable and therefore acceptable, reaction to the fish in order to guarantee the strike. For my money, its a lure's ability to continually present this 'reaction' that largely determines a great trolling lure from a piece of junk. A good example of what I'm on about here is demonstrated every time an angler finds it necessary to crank a lure away from a marlin to induce the strike.

The angler has added 'reaction' to the otherwise poor presentation of his lure. My point here is, continual, reaction is an inherent design feature of the Hawaiian lures in our trolling pattern.

The best lure design will still only rate as average, however, if its action is later compromised during the rigging process. Therefore, MY first objective when rigging a lure is to further enhance its swimming action with perfect balance. I cannot over emphasise the importance of balancing the hooks to swim within the original action of the lure.

The rigs I run in our lures all feature two 12/0 hooks swaged and set at zero degrees on 645lb stainless cable. In other words, both hooks are rigged in line. The trailing hook is always fixed (not swinging) and both hooks are kept in line at zero degrees by whipping the leading hook to the cable with waxed nylon thread. This is done specifically so that both hooks act and swim as one. Rigs for Evil and Slash comprise two Mustad 7691S hooks, whilst the larger head diameters of Grimace and Big Dog require a 7732 followed by a 7691S.

Our leaders are 20 feet of 5001b jinkai, protected at the contact points by hard nylon leader skins. Once rigged, the lure is fixed into position on the leader with the aid of a single softwood toothpick. This way the lure will now run continually in its upright position with both hooks riding vertically up through its back.

Whilst on the subject of hooks, I should explain that we do not use hooks prepared with traditional diamond points. I prefer to sharpen then polish our hooks so that the cutting edges leading from the point to the barb are completely eliminated and the height of the barb is reduced. The result is a stronger, round needlepoint with a slippery smooth, even taper extending to the back of the barb. This, in turn, allows the hook to completely bury itself by puncturing the fish, as opposed to cutting an incision in the fish.

Rigging all four lures in the manner I have described provides us with considerable advantages over more traditional methods. The most obvious of these is superior presentation, for our lures swim with the natural actions of baitfish. And equally important is control over the positions of our hook points during the strike. In 90% of cases the first contact our hook points make with the fish is up against the roof of its mouth.

Continued...

So, when our lures eventually hit the water most of the really hard work is already done and our usual scenario goes something like this... The skipper will mark a fish on the sounder as deep as 40 fathoms below the surface in some cases and commence trolling a tight grid over it. Each pass over the fish will see it appear a little closer to the surface 30 fathoms, 20 fathoms and so on. Raising the fish in this manner may take some time as much as an hour or more during which optimum lure presentation is intensely controlled by the crew. Once the fish is up and approaching the pattern, it is invariably observed from the bridge as, it, eyeballs' a lure. It will then drop back and charge in for the strike.

Without underestimating the importance of lure presentation in commanding the strike, it also just as importantly determines the quality of the strike. The marlin, having just recognised the 'reaction' of the lure at close range will now eat it with the same skill and lethal efficiency it uses to eat a baitfish! I'm not talking a tap on the head with the bill and a half hearted peck on the cheek, here. I'm talking major 'lunch on it', 'suck it down its throat', 'eat it big time'. I'm talking the kind of strike a high hook-up rate is built on.

Hooking marlin under these circumstances is really not difficult, requiring only strong hook points and good timing. As soon as the weight of the fish is felt and the FinNor begins to scream (15 kilos of drag), the hooks which are already partly (I stress partly) in the fish are then buried by gunning the boat. This results in 80% of our captures being double hooked up through the roof of the mouth and 20% through the underside of the bill. Remembering that 'Cintra' often carries inexperienced anglers, our hook up efficiency plays an important role in maintaining our capture rate.

Once our hook rig is buried in the fish it cannot be shaken free during the fight In most cases the crew's removal of either hook after tagging the marlin is impossible without first severing the cable which holds them together. The reason for this is that each hook effectively locks the other in the fish and the pressure exerted by the angler and equipment during the fight can only rotate the leading hook. The trailing hook never moves and acts as an anchor to ensure the leading hook cannot be pulled out of the fish.

During our years of fishing this system on 'Cintra' we have never had a marlin enter the pattern and then leave it without striking a lure, and we have only ever once pulled the hooks whilst fighting a fish. Once we have the fish in our pattern one of our four lures will always command the strike and once we hook the fish (with the one exception I've mentioned) the fish is ours. A minor problem with our system is that removing hooks is difficult, and at times quite dangerous. This is a problem I'm confident we have resolved with a customised long handled cable cutter. The only other problem is our 50% hook up rate on striped marlin. This problem is, I believe, best resolved with medium tackle and eight inch lures rigged with double 10/0 hooks. Its a solution which is, unfortunately, not conducive to consistently high capture rates of blue marlin. There are, of course, many other lure trolling systems used for blue marlin both here in Australia and abroad with varying degrees of efficiency. I have purposely avoided comparing their positive and negative aspects here because I simply do not believe in them. On the other hand, 'Cintra's' system works, so if you think you can benefit from it, use it! To those of you who do ultimately catch more marlin using our system, I ask you to at least consider releasing the fish, for every marlin should be entitled to at least one honest mistake! Think about it!

FOOTNOTE: Our local waters from Sydney to Port Stephens have often produced two and three blue marlin per day in the 150-250kg range. During our relatively short season from January through April, blues of this size and larger can be found over the deep water canyons and sea mounts which lay just beyond the shelf With water temperatures at 23'C or better, schools of skipjacks and small yellowfin tuna found in these areas invariably concentrate good numbers of blue marlin.