Fresh from my success in catching a blue marlin during the last week of January, I was anxious to continue my quest to catch at least one of these magnificent creatures each month from my home waters around Grand Cayman.  As February arrived, also “fresh” was my memory of last month’s dual hookups on blues at Twelve Mile Bank.  It should be no surprise then that I chose the bank as our destination when I fished with my brother-in-law Jonathan Collier, who made a February visit from Australia.  The day was relatively uneventful up until we finally hooked up with a blue marlin while trolling back from the bank.  During the lengthy battle, the jumping fish got wrapped up in the leader, but we were able to successfully release the 140-pounder at boat-side.

Guy finds the Performance fishing shirt and visor, recent additions to his line of Guy Harvey Sportswear, to be boat-worthy while trolling for marlin

Next to visit, was friend and renowned English wildlife artist Ian Coleman. Ian dives a lot but he had never caught a blue marlin.  On February 25, after enjoying a fantastic morning dive at Tarpon Alley, we boarded my 26-foot center console, and once again I headed for the Twelve Mile Bank.  Our fishing activities were delayed when we encountered a broken-down boat that we towed back to West Bay, so we didn’t make it out to the bank until about noon.  Even at that, we were pleasantly greeted with an abundance of surface activity as frigatebirds worked over schools of feeding skipjack tunas.

It wasn’t long before we trolled up a marlin in our spread, but this first one embarrassed me — inspecting our offerings but then passing up all four lures! Feeling the frustration, I continued to circle the area until the left short rigger went down hard — blue marlin!  As Coleman was settling in his harness to prepare for his first-ever battle with a blue, the right rigger got bit — two on!  I left that rod in the holder while scrambling to retrieve the left flat when yet another blue marlin pounced on that lure.  Wow!  This was starting to feel like familiar territory.

The triple hook-up was short-lived, as the first marlin shook off quickly.  After another 10 minutes or so, the second fish came off, so Coleman was left to fight the third fish while I steered the boat.  It was a tough battle, but Ian got his first blue marlin, a fish I judged to be 170-plus pounds.  After a successful release, out went the lures again, and within 15 minutes, another marlin crashed the right long rigger and jumped going away.  Coleman was cooked, so I grabbed the rod and worked the fish to the boat, a blue that was smaller then our first at about 125 pounds.  That concluded 90 minutes of seemingly non-stop action where we scored five blue marlin bites and released two.

BLUE TANGO: Guy's painting portrays a blue marlin feeding on skipjack tunas, which was the case when he fished Twelve Mile Bank in February

Two days later, on February 27, I snuck in my last blue marlin of the month while fishing with visiting angler Jim Armour.  We hooked up just off the area known as Papagallo on North West Point.  I was particularly excited because this was the first fish and the first marlin caught from my new 28-foot Scout Makaira II.  With a cold front approaching, we decide to squeeze the trip in before what would almost certainly be several days of rough seas.  Around Grand Cayman, the trick to fishing during the winter months is to carefully choose good weather days, as it does get very rough on the water with fronts bringing strong northwest then northeast winds.

— Guy Harvey

Check this blog next month for my adventures in March, 2008, as I continue my quest to catch a blue marlin every month of the year.

Related posts:

1. Guy Harvey’s Marlin a Month | January 2010
2. Guy Harvey’s Marlin a Month | April 2010
3. Guy Harvey’s Marlin a Month / March 2010
4. Guy Harvey’s Marlin a Month| May 2010
5. Guy Harvey’s Marlin a Month | June 2010

Tags: Artwork, Big Game Fishing, Catch & Release, Grand Cayman, Guy Harvey, Marlin a Month

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