Marlin Comes Out Of The Blue – May Angling Comp

Brian Arnett and his crew on Rock N Roll had every intention of making the weigh-in at the May 20 Angling Section competition – but there was a catch.

With Phil Volich and Rod “Rocket” Staggard aboard, the 26-footer had been buffeted and battered in a bone-jarring morning when a savage sou-easter fomented a nasty chop.

While fellow competitors, FDO Joe Venter and Kev Kroeger, along with Chris Walkey and Ray Wilson played a waiting game around Mewstone waiting for the wind to drop, Brian and his crew were doubting their decision to fish around Champion Rock.

Nev Norkett and John Bech busied themselves around Rottnest in the rear-commodore’s big tub, while Roy and Andree Martin, by their own admission made a mistake by heading to Rottnest in a bruising crossing.

With the wind finally abating soon before noon, there was a collective sign by all the anglers, especially Brian who figured he had time to do some trolling around the 30m mark south of Rottnest.

Rod’s new-spangled rod and reel combo was soon put to the test when he hooked and landed a fat 6kg tuna, and there was more to follow on 2kg, 4kg and 6kg line. This was more like it!

And when his 4kg line went screaming off the reel, the crew figured it was another tuna, perhaps even bigger. Happy days. But when Rod struggled to work his prey back towards the boat there was a chorus of WTFs.

All was revealed when a blue marlin, which gobbled a Silstar christmas tree lure, jumped around 50m at the back of the boat.

After an hour, Brian alerted Angling captain John Bech that his crew was otherwise engaged, and needed to be excused from the weigh-in. Excuses don’t come much better than that.

Alas, after an epic young man and the sea battle lasting over four hours, and followed on the PGFC Facebook page as Brian provided updates, the 150kg-180kg blue finally busted off but not before a theatrical finale which feature five or six jumps in succession. Alas, by the time Brian’s camera was ready to fire, the marlin was gone.

The adventures on Brian’s boat overshadowed the other performances on the field day which was won by Ray with a modest 60 points while Nev brought the weigh-in to life with a pristine pink snapper.

The target fish for the month, dhufish, will carry over to the June 3 comp when skippy also will be the special guest.