Captains Blog

I looked over the gunwale at this slab sided monster and said right away, Ben you have a Grander here.   I got howled down but will stick to my guns, that was a Grander.  I’ve seen too many of them and always go on first impression.   It never really jumped properly near the boat so we did not know what we had.   Good on you Ben — Well Done.

When they are very fat like this thing was they can look short and fool the socks off you.

I might add here that I had a call from Wayne Whippin about that time.  His voice was noticeably shaken. He said, Peter I have just seen the biggest Marlin I have ever seen in my entire life.  He was about one mile away from us.  He said the thing just lay on the surface, fins out and did absolutely nothing.  He took the boat right up to it and had it almost under the rigger.  Still it would do nothing.  From being so close he was able to get a very good idea of length and girth.  His estimate was 15 to 1800.  Wayne is a very experienced fisherman who I have known since the early 70’s.  He knows what big fish look like and BS is not part of his persona.   Apparently nothing could entice the fish to bite and it just sank out of sight.   The Stuff that Dreams are made of.   There are several stories like this from Madeira and I can vouch for one myself.

Benjamin Cart from the USA with a 999 - well done Ben.