Sportfishing While Puddle Jumping
How do sailors pass the time during the 3,000-mile passage to French Polynesia? Some read lots of novels, some do boat projects, some research the islands they are soon to visit, and some catch up on all the sleep they missed in the frantic weeks before departing. But aboard the Montana-based St. Francis 44 catamaran Skabenga the focus is usually on game fishing.
Crew Jennifer Martindale sets the scene: "We are under spinnaker and main doing 10 knots in 18 knots of wind." Nevertheless, the crew has a "full spread" of fishing gear out, meaning five lines off the stern of the boat, four in rod holders and one in the fighting station on the transom, with the two outer lines held by huge outriggers. The prize they are seeking is big dorado or marlin.
All of a sudden the crew hears an unmistakable sound: Whhhrrrr! Something big is on one of the lines. Captain Bruce runs to the spinning line and sets the drag, then yells, “Fynn and Jen, reel in all the other lines!” Next, they drop the main and Fynn, Bruce’s 19-year-old son, kicks on the engines and directs the boat to the best angle and speed to retrieve the fish: “Twenty degrees to port, 20 more to port, more throttle, neutral!” yells Bruce.
"I am directing the GoPro on the transom to get footage while holding the fishing rod with the fish on it," explains Jen, "so Bruce can go down on the swim step to bring the fish in by hand. I get my first glimpse of the fish: a beautiful blue marlin that Bruce estimates to be between 350 and 400 pounds.
"He is close to the boat now, but not without a fight. On the swim step Bruce is pulling the line in hand over hand to land the fish. I’m going through mental-man overboard drills while holding on to the rod and filming. Bruce and the fish are duking it out as he tries to bring it on board before letting it go. The fish disappears under the starboard rudder and starts circling underneath the boat. . . Bruce has his back turned, looking over the side of the swim step, when all of the sudden I see the marlin come around the other side straight out of the water with his bill pointed at Bruce. ‘Bruce! Behind you!’ I yell, as the marlin slaps the swim step inches from him. Just then, I feel the line of the rod I am holding slacken, and I know the fish has gotten off."
So up go the main and spinnaker again, and out go the rest of the lines. All in a day’s work aboard Skabenga, whose captain sells a whole line of custom-made lures. Jen has crossed the Pacific before, but not on a boat whose motto is ‘Catching marlin under sail.’ "What a beautiful fish and what an exciting ride!" says Jen.