Kayak & Yellowtail gear just wasn't enough....WOW! El Nino is here!!!
 

Today is a day that I will never forget. It started out fairly normal , I like many others have got into the saltwater frenzy with el nino producing fantastic catches for many. I am a longtime bass guy that has ventured into the saltwater a little bit from time to time but never very seriously. Recently I bought a kayak again, Hobie Oasis tandem, so the girlfriend and I could get out into the harbor and do some fishing. I kept seeing all of these posts and knew I wanted to get out there in the big blue for the big boys. I kept reading and put together a collection of gear and had this weekend all to myself so this was the time to do it. Saturday I went out of Newport Harbor after seeing the yellowtail post and made bait for the first time (cat food) and proceeded to cover miles of water without a single strike...bummer. I had one more day so decided to go down to Dana point after reading several posts that some good fish were coming out of that area, Iceman, Yani, etc. Went out to make bait with my confidence from the day before and had a tough time, 1 spanish and 1 small something so I swallowed my pride and went back into the bait barge at 8:30am for some sardines and off I go. Getting off to a later start I was conflicted....stay fairly close or just go for it and start pedaling out and see what happens. Out I went and this is what happened about three miles out... :reel:

https://youtu.be/xsR8CRDSI0g

Epic! That's sick!

thats frickin amazing! So did u land it?

ummmmmmmmmmmmmm

Omg!!


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Wow. Badass man


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Now thats an on the water report!!!!!!!:you_rock:

Next video please thats awesome

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Geeeezzz!!! Let's see it!


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is this guys still out there? that marlin could take you several miles and you can get caught in a bad rip.

Should be circling catalina by now! Update please!!!!!

Cool stuff right there...!

Holy crap.. I can't wait to see the ending results!

So as the title says I was just not geared up for a fight like this. I was very safe and had my jacket on, radio going, GPS, etc, but about a mile and a half into it you start thinking...is this beast even getting tired yet? how many miles is safe to be able to get back? Right about then a boat cruised up within shouting distance and I told them what was going on and they hung out for a while. The captain says you need to button down that drag to even have a chance on a fish like that. So I Buttoned down the drag and started fighting, they said they would hang out if I was going to make it happen so that's what I tried to do. That was another 30 minutes of totally getting my but kicked as I think that he just found out he was hooked. He headed straight down a couple hundred feet and started cruising again while I had a huge load on the rod and couldn't budge him. Finally 2 hours / 3 miles into it SNAP my rod breaks off at about the 4 1/2 foot mark...I tried to continue and SNAP my 65# spectra breaks right at the top eye with no more flex in the rod. The guys in the boat take off and I just sat there for a minute thinking about what just happened...awesome!

And with a big smile on my face pedaled back to the harbor.

Final Snapshot
 

Here was the track. Picked him up just before the waypoint....and lost him where the track turns around. :linesnap:

This year just got even more ridiculous. That's sooo dope. :cheers1:

I really admire your spirit to not give up, get out there a second day and then hook a marlin! We've all tasted defeat and it makes us think about cutting our losses. Too bad about your rod and lost fish but I think that's just as cool of an ending… glad you made it back safe! :cheers1:

Commendations! Good fight!

Great to hear you fight back from a skunk to hook up on the mother of all kayak hook ups! Just awesome, I'm very jealous.

Very cool for sure

Insane!!!!!!

Awesome. Nuff said.

That's just amazing! Congrats!

Oh My!. Congrats!

It was bound to happen again!! only took about 17 years is all. Congrats.

Nice going, had to be a rush to hook into that.

WOW
very cool

I promise you, you will remember this fish much better because he was a worthy advisary, and he won his freedom! When you tell your grandkids someday, they will all be amazed, and have you tell them the story over and over. Too fricking cool bro, happy you got to have that experience in your life.
My first marlin that i ever caught ate a surface iron 10 feet from the transom, and i got to watch him open his mouth, eat it, and proceed to jump about 35 times. I had a jigmaster with 30 pound, and was on a yacht. I'll never forget that fish.

Epic!!!

Just Epic!!!

What did you get it on, and what size leader were you fishing...inquiring minds would like to know...

Great Work!

Geno

:reel:

It was on 65lb spectra to 40lb flouro leader to 2/0 circle hook with a sardine.

Thanks!

just bump up to 200lb floro and you'll be fine next time. :D

Simply awesome, thanks for taking the time to share

that's cool. And this is why I like ocean fishing from a kayak. you never know.

Congrats on the great story! Hopefully will see you out on the water with that 200lb line!

Awesome hook up.. Nearly impossible to win that fight without help. One kayak does not have enough drag to wear out the marlin. The videos I have seen of Jim Sammons hooking up with them, had then tying up to 3 kayaks together and dragging legs and or paddles in the water, for extra drag. Even then they fought it for hours, but it can be done. Great memories there. Thanks for sharing.

Im not gona lie...
 

This post made me sooooo jealous. Congrats on the sleigh ride of a lifetime and really going for it. Hard to top that day of kayak fishing. Thanks for posting and letting the rest of us dream :)

Well it can actually be done solo with no extra drag it just takes a bit longer. Remember the first marlin I ever had to my kayak was in 1998 in La Jolla with only straight tied 20lb mono. 2 1/2 hours with no extra drag covered 8 miles. Even with the 48 billfish I have landed since I remember that day like it was yesterday.

Throw the drift chute out

:luxhello: Just to have the experience is CRAZY! Anything can happen this year as long as you have a bait IN THE WATER! Somebody will leader a SoCal kayak marlin this year......I plan to release all of mine :D

What ^ he said.