Catching Biggest Marlin: How, Where, and When
The spectacularly beautiful marlin are the most exciting fish in the world, swimming at breakneck speed and leaping high above the ocean swells.
Whatever the species, to catch an outrageously large specimen is always exciting for an angler — whether that’s a 30kg mulloway, 12kg snapper, or a 100kg tuna. Such an experience will most certainly make their day and will probably be something they discuss with friends for the rest of their lives.
However, for anglers that are game, there is nothing to compare with the excitement and spectacle of a large marlin jumping just off the transom, or swimming close alongside, glowing in glorious purple and lavender colours as you reach over to set it free. These magnificent creatures are awe-inspiring in any size, but they are truly breathtaking when they reach the length of a car and the weight of a bull.
Three Species of Giants
There are three species of marlin that grow to enormous size: Pacific blue marlin, Atlantic blue marlin, and black marlin. All of them grow to more than 600kg, and perhaps more than 900kg.
The International Game Fish Association (IGFA) is the official keeper of world records, and they list records of 636.00kg for Atlantic blues, 624.14kg for Pacific blues, and 707.61kg for black marlin. However, there have been even larger marlin caught, which for various reasons did not qualify according to the strict standards and rules of the IGFA.
In gamefishing circles, the target to aspire to has always been a 1000-pound marlin, which is known as a ‘Grander’, although the conversion to metric is a rather messy 453.59kg. However, boosting the target to 500kg does make it significantly harder to reach! These are all females, as female marlin grow much larger than males, themselves rarely reaching more than 200kg.
Grander marlin are a rare prize, simply because there are very few out there. All species produce occasional ‘freaks’ that grow way bigger than the norm, but although marlin of perhaps 900kg have been hooked, even a 500kg marlin is towards the top of the growth range.
Life in the open ocean is extremely challenging for billfish. For example, large female black marlin spawn millions of eggs, but of those that hatch, the number is believed to roughly halve each year, every year, due to being eaten, succumbing to injury or disease, starvation, or cold due to being carried off course by a wayward current. So although millions of eggs are spawned, natural mortality claims all but a scant few by the time that year-class reaches the mature adult age of 20 to 30 years. This is not due to the many modern threats to marlin stocks — such as commercial longlining, and the purse-seining of their prey species — it is a natural statistic; giant marlin always were very limited in number.
To Find a Giant
Everyday anglers do occasionally connect with one of these behemoths, but their chance encounter is usually lost very quickly, either due to inadequate tackle or because they became weak at the knees and fumbled the opportunity once they realised what they’d hooked. There are anglers, however, who specifically seek these monsters, usually engaging the services of charter captains specialising in this type of fishing and operating in known Grander hotspots.
These huge marlin migrate with the flow of ocean currents, roaming from one country to the next. They are scattered at random unless pausing briefly at fertile feeding grounds, usually where an island, submarine mountain, or steep continental shelf causes an upwelling in the ocean current and thereby a proliferation of baitfish.
Placing tag on a marlin
It's a vast ocean out there, so finding a random Grander is harder than looking for a needle in a haystack. That is unless you hone in on the handful of areas where giants are known to aggregate, such as when spawning or making a pilgrimage to an annual feast.
Marlin Benefactors
As counterintuitive as it might first seem, anglers are the marlins’ greatest benefactors, donating millions towards scientific research, as well as countless hours providing scientists and organisations with data and assistance. Anglers have a vested interest in thriving gamefish stocks and so have formed several highly respected organisations that lobby governments and re-educate commercial businesses and government departments to provide better care for gamefish and the prey they rely on. Organisations like The Billfish Foundation, the IGFA, and Wild Oceans have achieved enormous strides towards billfish protection in recent years.
Unlike 40 or 50 years ago, most recreationally caught marlin are released these days, often with a scientific research tag to track their movements, growth, abundance, and age. Various types of tags are used, but the advanced PSAT satellite tracking tags contain a miniaturised waterproof computer and are capable of recording not only the marlin’s vertical and horizontal movements over a period of months, but also the highly variable water temperatures it swam through, particularly during dives. Over recent decades, this has produced a goldmine of new understanding, revealing migration routes, feeding characteristics, and more. Including satellite time to download the data, and data analysts to decode it, these satellite tags cost upwards of $7000 each, the great majority of which are donated by conscientious recreational anglers and sportfishing businesses.
So now let’s look at where and when you can test your luck with the various species of giant marlin.
Black Marlin
The IGFA All-Tackle world record black marlin of 707.61kg was caught by US angler Alfred Glassell Jnr off Cabo Blanco, Peru, in August 1953. In the early 1950s this area was a renowned hotspot for giant marlin, producing regular catches of Granders.
The giants travelled from far and wide to Cabo Blanco to feast on the annual abundance of large Humboldt squid and fish that, in turn, aggregated to feed on a population explosion of anchovy. This all occurred due to rich upwellings on the seasonal arrival of an ocean current. However, when the current changed course, the upwelling ceased, as did the concentration of anchovies, marlin, and everything else.
Then, in 1966, the visionary US charter captain George Bransford set the gamefishing fraternity afire with a catch that stunned and inspired anglers around the globe. After hearing rumours and anecdotal tales from commercial mackerel fishermen while stationed in Cairns during WWII, Bransford felt convinced there was a yet-to-be-discovered fishery for giant marlin along the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef off Cairns.
Capt. George Bransford with Richard Obach and-1064lb black at Cairns 1965
Cairns Becomes Famous
With a single-engine 9.7m flybridge cruiser named Sea Baby, Bransford set up a gamefishing charter business and, on September 25, while on a prospecting trip with only his deckie, Richard Obach, he proved he was right. As George manned the helm, it was Richard who set a new line-class world record with his 482.6kg black marlin on 37kg tackle. This catch opened the floodgate to what is now recognised as the greatest fishery for giant marlin the world has ever known, attracting anglers from around the globe. These marlin were a huge influence in helping Cairns become what it is today. Grander black marlin have been caught there every year since 1966, and in greater numbers than in all the other Grander hotspots combined.
Dawn at Cairns marina during tournament
Subsequent years have proven the peak season to run from early October to mid-December, and the prime fishery stretches around 150 nautical miles from Linden Bank in the south — 35 nautical miles northeast of Cairns — to the outer reefs northeast of Lizard Island.
The ocean-roaming giant blacks congregate off Cairns at this time for two reasons. One is to spawn, as these reefs are now documented as one of the only known spawning grounds for the species. The other is a feeding spree that occurs in the vicinity around October each year. Somewhere in the region nearby, out in the deep ocean beyond the outer reef, another aggregation occurs for tiny lanternfish, which rise from great depths to spawn at the surface. This attracts a horde of predators, from seabirds, dolphinfish, and tuna of all sizes to whale sharks and manta rays. Of course, it also attracts larger specimens of both blue and black marlin, which feast on the abundance of tuna.
Private boats venture up to the region from Sydney and Brisbane each year, specifically to fish the giant marlin run, although most anglers fly into Cairns or Cooktown to fish with charter operators.
Three Cairns Charter Options
There are three ways to fish the region on charter boats. One is to hire a gamefishing vessel large enough to live aboard for perhaps a week, and in some comfort considering the sometimes windy and rough conditions at that time of year.
Trolling off Cairns
Another is to fish aboard a more modest gameboat, and also hire the services of a mothership, which will anchor just inside the outer reef, providing luxurious accommodation and meals in a mobile ‘base camp’.
A third option is to base at Lizard Island, enjoying a lavish lifestyle and land-based accommodation while still being only 10 nautical miles from the prime fishing grounds.
Another Black Marlin Hotspot
Although Cairns takes the limelight for all Grander marlin fishing, and particularly for black marlin, there is another little-known hotspot in the Indian Ocean off Mozambique, on the east coast of Africa.
A small charter fleet works the October to November season along the outer edge of the Bazaruto Archipelago, where despite little effort they have caught a number of enormous black marlin.
Pacific Blue Marlin
Although uncommon, Grander blue marlin can be caught in the tropical waters along the east and west coasts of Australia, and around any of the islands in the warm waters of the Pacific, including PNG, Samoa, Fiji, Cook Islands, New Caledonia, Tonga, and throughout Tahiti and the French Polynesia archipelagos. An impressive number have also been landed off the port of Black River on the island of Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean.
Perhaps your greatest chance to hook a Grander blue marlin is fishing off Kona, on the ‘big island’ of Hawaii. Only a short inter-island flight from Honolulu, Kona is a picturesque seaside village sheltered at the base of an enormous extinct volcano. Well-catered with hotel accommodation and restaurants, it has an atmosphere steeped in big marlin history and flavour. The local charter fleet in nearby Honokohau Harbour is first-rate, and although priced in US dollars (and with crews expecting tips) they provide exceptional value with rates far below what you can expect in other locations.
1805lb blue marlin caught off Honolulu 1970 Capt. Cornelius Choy
The best part about gamefishing off Kona is that the sea conditions are nearly always flat-calm, as the towering volcano protects you from the prevailing trade winds. And as you’re fishing over the almost vertical slope of the volcano, which rises thousands of metres from the seafloor, you can catch a Grander within a few nautical miles from the marina.
Grander blues have been caught off Kona every month of the year, although the best time is the (northern) summer season of June to September.
Atlantic Blue Marlin
Atlantic hotspots with a reputation for consistently producing huge blue marlin, including occasional Granders, include the island of Madeira (off Portugal), the Azores, Ascension Island, La Gomera in the Canary Islands, the port of Vitoria in Brazil, Bermuda, and the island of Sao Vicente in the Cape Verde Islands (off the west coast of Africa).
Few anglers in the Southern Hemisphere realise just how prolific and how big the blue marlin are in the waters off Portugal, in the North Atlantic. One of the gamefishing world’s best-kept secret hotspots is the port of Horta, on the island of Faial in the Azores, which has produced 25% of the IGFA world records for Atlantic blue marlin. The area holds enormous quantities of chub mackerel, tuna, and other baitfish, making it an essential refuelling pit-stop along the migratory route of the big blues.
Big blue marlin just off Madeira
The mountainous Portuguese island of Madeira is also renowned for producing consistent giant marlin and, in similar fashion to Kona in Hawaii, you are fishing close to shore in calm waters, sheltered from the prevailing wind by the towering island. Madeira has also produced a high percentage of the IGFA world records for this species.
The largest Atlantic blue was a 636kg fish caught on 60kg tackle by Paulo Amorim off Vitoria, Brazil in February 1992. The heaviest landed by a woman was a 591.93kg fish landed off Ascension Island by Jada Van Mols Holt in November 2015.
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