Catching a Marlin

Lynn & Mike ..around the world
Mike Drinkrow & Lynn v/d Hoven
Wed 18 May 2011 22:44
17:00.0N 081:20.0W  En route to Providencia - Mike catches a Marlin
 
Last night, as the sun set we had a strike on our lines. Mike thought he had hooked a big yellow-tail, as there was nothing jumping out of the water..but he knew it was BIG. All hands on deck, putting the boat astern, pulling in the other lines, and getting Mike into his fighting harness. After about 10 minutes, up came a Marlin!  We were unable to release it, so brought it on deck... and is now in our freezer and fridge!  ...there is no space for anything else!!
Tim bought us a very good book: "Fish of the open ocean" by Julian Pepperell, illustrated by the famous artist and marine biologist Guy Harvey, so we were able to research the species. Although this fish had very clear stripes, we believe it to be a young male Marlin, given its beak to mouth ratio and size of dorsal fin.