Catch of the day [Fishing]
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@ARNC said in Catch of the day [Fishing]:
@Giles if you ever want to go somewhere more exotic, you could try Whitby
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyel96mjyeo
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9w04005veqoYes, used to be the centre of the world for Tuna.....
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I loved the entire trip but one of the things that stood out and made me remember just how big the universe really is...
It was early-ish in the morning and we were out on a small boat in the Strait of Gibraltar. The guide started doing his morning prayers and he had a beautiful voice which was mesmerizing...the sky was black but starry filled and every few seconds a shooting star would cross the sky. For a brief moment, you couldn't help but to feel extremely small in the big puzzle of life. Not going to lie and say I didn't tear up a little at the overwhelming feel of it all.
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I had a few tears in my eye when that fucking submarine bit through my leader. I was not surprised though, I have never felt anything like it, and I was basically completely powerless to do much at all. I am sure I was muttering. "I will never land this fish, I will never land this fish", but maybe I was just saying it to myself, as it peeled line off the reel in the semi dark.....
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I will never be able to put into words what I saw. Giles was retrieving his line when something took the bait...in an instant I saw him go from standing to almost on his knees holding on with everything he had. Not one of us in that boat could have landed what he had hooked on to...
The immense power of what ever it was, was truly humbling...
To date I joke with Giles that he accidentally hooked a submarine...he may have
We're going back to settle a score...or at least to have fun trying.
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Not my story to tell, but it’s been a fun trip to date! Battles won, lost, and stories made in the process.
There is a sense of wonder on when the next fish will bite, how big it may be, and what that may mean…
I have caught a few to date and have been happy with my results! Our boat captain caught one fish of 97kg yesterday in a battle that lasted 40ish minutes.
Here’s a picture of him during that event:
…and here’s one of me in my own battle:
…the real story is about the event of last year when @Giles hooked onto a fish of a lifetime and lost it. He hooked into 3 of those class fish today. I’ll let him tell the story and maybe share a picture or two.
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In 2025, on the last day, I was fishing with Dennis, when a fish, the power of which I have never encountered before, took all my line off the spool of the reel, all I could see was a few turns of line and the knot attaching the line to the spool. I upped the drag and managed to regain some line, I almost relaxed, then all went dead, the fish had bitten through my 130lb leader. I was gutted.
So it’s 2026 and I have thought long and hard about that fish in the intervening 12 months, and how I could improve my chances of landing a fish like that if I was lucky enough that it ever happened again. I upped my physique, I upped my mental resolve, and I upped my tackle game (I have almost everything anyway, so that was very hard
).Our preferred mode of fishing is casting top water lures at busting Tuna, who are chasing flying fish. That is real hunting. It is tiring, extremely demanding, requiring a lot of skill, the ability to cope with disappointment when you screw up, and of course some luck. There were very few flying fish showing all week, so top water casting was basically pointless. So, we went out with the locals at 04:00-05:00 caught live bait and then went and bait fished for the Tuna in the dark and up through the tide.
Day 5 and I fish with a new addition to our group, Julien, a lawyer from France, who has done a lot of fishing, but nothing like this. I have caught one fish of about 30kgs, and it is truly looking like It could be the worst week I have had in Morocco.
About 06:00 Julien’s rod starts screaming, he hooks what seems like nothing special, play it for about 15 minutes, and then he taps out, exhausted. I take the rod and realise it is a very large fish, it basically only moves on its terms, taking line off the reel and resisting me gaining any line. But I hold on, and with the help from the captain pushing upwards on the rod, as I pull it upwards too, we do steadily gain line, After about 10 minutes it is directly below the boat, maybe 50 meters deep. I put max pressure on the fish and our 150lb braid snaps. I am annoyed, I thought I was definitely going to get last years loss out of my system.
Oh well. Onward and upwards. About 10:00, my reel starts stripping out line like I never seen before. I put my fighting belt on and engage. I increase the drag quite a bit, and it keeps of taking line. We actually have to start chasing the fish to a) ensure I don’t run out of line and b) allow me to regain line. These clips are of us chasing the fish at full speed (probably not much more than 10 knots in the local under powered fishing boat), but the fish is still taking line (which means it is going faster than us).
After about 15 minutes, I believe we will get this fish, but am knackered so give the tap to Julien - next 2 clips…
After 10 minutes or so Julien is well in control, then all of a sudden all goes limp.
Wind in. The top image is what the hook should look like, the bottom one is what we reeled in. Yep, one of the best, strongest big game hooks in the business had failed. Now I am getting annoyed, but I am in absolute awe of what we have seen, and what we may have seen if we had got the fish to the boat.
Back to it…..
My rod screams again, I ask Julien to increase the reel drag and take initial control (knowing full well, this fish was so powerful that I would be tag teaming with Julien, and possibly even the captain), whilst I get my belt on etc. The captain and mate are at the back of the boat landing a 40ish KG fish they had hooked on a handline, so we could not chase the fish that was screaming towards the horizon, nor were either of them in a position to proffer advice. Julien ups the drag a tad too much, but that makes no difference to the fish, I ask him to back the drag off so he can take the rod out of the rod holder and place it in my fighting belt. He touches the drag knob and recoils, it is too hot to handle. Which is our final downfall, the fish decides to do another deep run, the drag will not give (having temporarily seized, as internal stuff is hot and unhappy). The rod does 180 degrees, that is the tip is pointing to the water and the butt is pointing to the sky. It explodes - butt section bust in 2, large ring hanging on for dear life, line break, fish fucks off.
This meant to be full to the rim.....
This is supposed to be attached in 2 places....
This is not meant to be broke.....
Possibly the most exciting days fishing in my life. I saw none of the big 3. The captain confidently guessing at over 100kg (220lbs) each. But fuck, what a day.
Need to go back next year and up my game again….
"OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011
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Excuse my ignorance, but that seems like a small boat for such big fish and waters...or is that typical?
Sounds like one of the most memorable fishing trips despite getting skunked on the big 3.
