Well, where do I begin!?! It was truly an epic day fishing with The Lunkerdog himself, Capt. Jeff Maggio, right here in Fort Lauderdale in search of the ever elusive Marlin.

Many of you know my story, or curse I should say, of Marlin and how they always seem to evade me. And I don’t just mean they evade me but they actually seem to mock me. In fact, I’ve been to over 14 places around the globe, and spent countless dollars in the hopes of hooking my arch nemesis. Any offshore sportsman will tell you that hooking into a Marlin is one of the pinnacles of your fishing career. I equate it with getting to the Superbowl after a season of hard work and preparation. Winning it is a whole other story however. Fishing for Marlin for me has been more equatable to the Buffalo Bills getting there consecutively 4 times in the 90’s only to lose every time. You figure hey, even a blind squirrel stumbles across a nut every once in a while, right?!? Wrong.

I’ve hit Big Blues, in excess of 600lbs, in the head with mackerel, only to have them come within inches of the bait and then sound deep into the Sea of Cortez, sans hook! I watched, as someone hooked into a 842 lb Blue off the coast of Kona in another boat, less than 200 yards away from me, and I only come back to the dock with a few Dolphin and yellowfin to show. Kinda like a consolation prize….”thanks for coming out, now leave your money at the desk and see ya next season!!!” And I’ve practically risked my life in Punta Cana, DR in 14′ seas in search of them to no avail.I could go on and on about my experience with these fish, but I believe you get my point.

Needless to say when Captain Jeff contacted me last year and said he could get me on a Marlin I was skeptical to say the least. But not only that he was gonna put me on one but he was gonna do it right here in my backyard, off of the Broward pipe!!?? Well, that was even harder to believe. He said when he thought the time was right he’d let me know and we would head out. Well, last week I got an IM from lunkerdog:

“3:01 PM 4/13/2009″ lunkerdog: Whats your schedule look like? I thinks its time “3:19 PM 4/13/2009″ JohnnyBlack: I’m pretty open. I was thinking the same thing…..

He calls me up on Friday and says to meet him at the marina at 8. He’s doing a “crew appreciation day” fishing trip. Here’s where it gets better. He also says GeneralTurtle, TunaChaser and his wife will be aboard and we’re gonna fish The Gina Lea, a 52′ Viking out of New York, run by Captain Dave Christman. Wow! Awesome, a Marlin trip on my dream boat with a team of great fisherman like these guys! Let’s run that dog!

Now onto the trip…..

I arrive at the marina early, to be greeted by Captain Dave and his lovely wife.

Looks like we’ll be slumming it today boys and girls….

We set out of Port Everglades, and Captain Jeff explained what setup we were to troll. Myself, Tunachaser, GeneralTurtle, and Capt. Dave quickly rigged baits and got the teasers ready. I’ve been fishing many years and have a lot of knowledge but the best thing about fishing with new people is that you learn new things. I learned several new techniques on this trip from these guys.

Before I knew it the Turbo-charged Diesels stopped whistling and I hear a voice come down from the bridge, “Here we are, put ‘em out boys.” I look up and Lunker has a grin on his face from ear to ear.

Me, Turtle, and Tuna get to work and no sooner do we get the two teasers out and the first three lines, I hear the same voice barrel down from the bridge, this time with much more enthusiasm, “Left Rigger “my side” MARLIN!” A Blue in the 130# range made quick work of the teaser bait and was moving on the Left short. I get on the rod and drop it back. He’s sniffing it but won’t take the hook. The marlin drops back. I hear Captain Jeff again, down from the bridge, Long rigger! General Turtle was on it. The fish dropped back and took the long bait. Turtle gets in the chair and the fish greyhounds to port, line peeling off the reel feverishly. One jump, two jumps, three jumps each one higher than the next! And just like that, the line goes slack and the fish is off.

can’t believe what I’m experiencing. When The Lunkerdog tells you he’s gonna put you on a fish, he literally puts you on a fish! We didn’t even have the spread fully out before a Blue is nosing around, unbelievable. Although I didn’t get to sink the hook into one, it was about the closest I’ve come so far in my long journey to conquer this fish. Lunkerdog got me to the Superbowl, I just lost to the better team, again. The Marlin.

With all the excitement in the first five minutes of the trip, I am completely satisfied if we didn’t do anything the rest of the day. Once your heart gets pumping from a fish like a Marlin in the spread, it’s the rush your looking for.But the day isn’t over, it’s just beginning.

We trolled out into the stream for a few more hours. Not much weed out there but good clean deep blue water. The deep dark blue that resembles that of the waters of the Pacific. Marlin country for sure. The stream might have been 4-6′ but I wouldn’t of noticed on The Gina Lea. I peeked into the salon frequently watching a fishing show on the 42″ Plasma from the cockpit where I was fishing. It doesn’t get any better than that! As the saying goes…

We made our way out to 1200′ and came across a small bunched up net. Lots of growth on it. Snap! Right long goes off and I pick it up. A small 8# dolphin busts the surface behind the boat. I fought her to the stern and Turtle is on the leader, into the box she went. Skunk is off the boat. She was flying solo with no followers to take a pitch bait, so on our way we went.

About, a half hour later further South into the stream, BAM, ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. Long rigger again. This time a quality fish in the 40# range, Big Bull Dolphin. The custom Tom Greene rod doubled over and Turtle got to it first. He hit a Blue/White Ilander Flasher over a Ballyhoo. Turtle is fighting the fish but he doesn’t like the idea of taking a tour of the Gina Lea’s fish box, so it’s time to run that dog. About 6 minutes into the fight, the fish makes a long hard run and then stops. As Turtle goes to gain on him, I hear, “Oh, S#!*” The rivet popped off the handle on the Penn reel and now is separated from the crank with a 40# Bull at the other end. Turtle shoves the handle back into the crank, but without putting pressure on it to keep it there it keeps popping out. Decision time! We decide to loop the line on the rod hes fighting the fish and attach it to a Shimano 50 Wide. Meanwhile, Captain Dave, grabs a screwdriver that will replace the handle but it doesn’t fit. Turtle is doing a great job fighting the fish, wtih no handle. We attach a zip tie to the crank and see if that’ll work.

Cranking down on a fish like that without a handle is just insane, but he’s doing it. He gained so much on the fish by just pushing in the handle into the crank that we decided not to bring another rod into the equation. Before we knew it he had him at the stern. He had a smaller ~25# Cow with him, to which I pitched a Goggle Eye. She wasn’t having it as her mate got lifted from the water by his head.

TunaChaser nailed him with a perfect gaff shot and while putting him into the box the fish was thrashing so hard he snapped the steel gaff at the bend!!! The big fish went into the box and the gaff came out. Broken.

Unbelievable. Just what any angler is looking for, a slob fish who’s tearing apart reels and breaking your gaff in two.

What a great day out with Lunkerdog and an all star crew. I got a shot at a Blue, and had two quality fish on ice to bring back. Thanks again to Captain Jeff for getting me to the “Big Dance” and putting me at the scrimmage line opposite my arch nemesis, the Marlin.

Our quest to get me to hook into one is not over and I’m convinced I’ll be writing a report here soon with my hands on a Marlin.

Thanks to Captain Dave for the 1st class digs on the Gina Lea. And thanks to GeneralTurtle and TunaChaser, two great dudes to fish along side.

It was a day to remember and what keeps me coming back out for more…..

Run that Dog!!!