Our blue marlin tale

Our schedule and the weather were in sync again and we were looking forward to getting out, especially after the great fishing experience we had a few days earlier.

We anticipated it would be a little windy, but it was supposed to be out of another direction so the seas wouldn't be too bad.  No trains delayed our trip to the inlet Saturday morning!  It was sunny, clear and relatively warm. 

We reached the first bait location and the type we wanted wasn't around so we headed out to another location where the 'good stuff' usually hangs out.   We spent close to an hour trying for bait and as much as we wanted to fill the live well, we were only able to get a half a dozen sardines.  Not to worry, we brought some bait we could use to troll with if need be.

The winds made the seas a little choppier than we expected so it took us a little longer to get out to Sailfish Alley.  We got things set up and drifted for quite a while.  Our drifting/rocking time was more like National Geographic's 'Turtle Watch'.  Seems like we saw a dozen turtles during the day.  Ok, one or two may have been the same turtle, but there were definitely different ones - leatherbacks, green sea and maybe a hawksbill.  We also had a big brown shark check out our bait too!

Our catch with live bait consisted of a pesky ramora and a bonita.  Captain Frank suggested we change our strategy and troll north.  Because of the way the winds were shifting around, at the end of the day, we needed to enter the inlet from the north side.  So, we set up things to troll and started moving.

I think it happened simultaneously but we both spotted something sticking up in the water.  We kept our eye on what appeared to be a fin and got to a position where we were running parallel to it.  We were hoping it was a sailfish, but we didn't see the bill or sail.  What could it be?  The fin seemed too slender to be a shark.  We got to where we were a little ahead of the fin but whatever it was just didn't seem interested in our bait.

We continued on our troll but didn't have any more bites.  So we called it a day and headed in.

Once we got back, we consulted our favorite charter captain and asked him to identify our mysterious sighting.  Immediately he said, "That's a blue marlin tail!"  He was pretty excited!  Silly us, we didn't even think about it being a tail!  No wonder he didn't go after our bait. What we were 'serving' was so pidly compared to the size of the fish a marlin likes.   (And while it would have been an amazing story, we and our equipment probably wouldn't have lasted very long fighting that huge fish.  But you never know!) 

 Here are some pictures of Atlantic Blue Marlin.

So, that is our tale of the blue marlin tail!