Fishing System – Mark 2

Fishermen tend to believe that some boats are fish magnets and others aren’t. Ian, our relief Captain from Rarotonga, has lots of big game fishing experience and he says that Iron Lady is a fish magnet of the super conducting variety.

Our tally so far includes 4 confirmed Marlin hook ups (none boated – just busted up gear, line and lost lures), one unidentified monster that we fought for 45 minutes, never saw and couldn’t gain an inch of line on (broke off on 80 pound test line), too many Mahi Mahi to count with the largest close to 50 pounds, too many Wahoo to count (largest around 60 pounds), and all manner of Tuna.

As we have gained experience, we have slowly been modifying our gear and tactics and thought you might like an update.

But first, a quick look at our rod and reel storage. As you enter thru the main door, there is an access panel that opens to reveal a rod and reel storage area. The rod tubes hold our two stand up rods, 2 – 30 pound spinning rods and 2 – 20 pound spinning rods. Aft of the rod tubes is an open area where we keep our two – Tiagra reels, 2 – 30 pounds spinning reels, 2 – 20 pound spinning reels, and various other fishing accessories. In all, a most excellent arrangement.

On to the fishing. Some people say that 9 t 10 knots is too fast to troll but that is our normal cruising speed range and we don’t slow down to fish. The key is to select lures that are capable of running at this speed, but I will also say that we have caught fish on lighter lures that are more out of the water then in at this speed. Purple and black seem to be the ticket up here so that is what we mostly run.

With toothy Wahoo around, we use wire leaders – typically 500 pound stranded stainless with crimps at the hook and eye ends. Our primary fishing rod and reel is a 50/80 pound class stand up rod with a 50 wide 2 speed Shimano Tiagra reel spooled with 80 pound test line. That is a minimum here – heavier might have evened the playing field on those big Marlin. At 80 pounds, we were out gunned.

For those so inclined, we also have a stand up harness and belt to go at one of the big guys one on one. I like the rod holder just fine, thank you.

We have now also added some beefed up meat lines (which will have to be beefed up again – more about that in a moment). We purchased some bicycle tire inner tubes (not easy to find up here). After cutting the valves out, we are left with a 5 foot long rubber band. 1/4 inch braided line is run thru the tube and another full length is doubled up inside the tube. The ends of the tube are lashed to the cordage. When a fish strikes, the tube acts as a shock absorber and can extend to twice its relaxed length before it comes up tight on the cordage. The cordage has a heavy swivel on one end and 150 pound mono is tied to that. At the other end of the mono is a heavy snap swivel to which the lure is attached.

We have two such rigs and one is run off each side of the transom. The rigs are quite short – one is probably 50 feet long and the other 100 feet long. The rod is run long behind the meat lines.

Well, it didn’t take long for the meat lines to prove their worth. A nice Wahoo was the first victim within 15 minutes of deployment. Unfortunately, things went downhill from there.

The next hook up was a Marlin – the fight was brief and spectacular just 50 feet behind the boat – within a few seconds, it parted the wire leader and was headed south with our lure.

Not long after, we checked the second meat line and the mono had been snapped at the swivel.

So it is on to the Mark 2 version of the meat line. The plan is to use two of the bicycle inner tubes in series to increase the amount of shock absorption. When back in the states, I will purchase 400 or 500 pound mono, the biggest swivels I can find and cable that is at least double the size that we have now.

Then we will be ready for round 2.