Team Y Knot - Hein with 109kg Marlin

Y Knot well equipped Sport Angling Vessel

Danie with his boat has caught and released 9 Marlin, but teaming up with Hein made them changing their habit a little. It was no April fools joke when Hein phoned us land dwellers to inform us he had landed his first Marlin. Excitement was high when he informed us the Thursday that Danie and Johan will be taking him on a Marlin Fishing outing for the days before they had good luck with 9 Couta's in the vicinity of Petingo.

As sight for sore eyes 4 80lb rigs ready for action

Trawling with Pulsators on Shimano rods can only mean good action. Nothing substitute preparation and success is equal to effort. Anticipation will be the dominant emotion when looking at this sight on waters deep enough to hunt Marlin.

Hein (Left), Johan back and Danie (skipper) Marlin 109,2 kg

Satisfaction guaranteed and enough fillets to fill 5 cooler boxes. Although many tree huggers will complain this is one of the greenest methods to fish for Marlin and the economical contribution to the GDP is enough to support 3 medium size middle class hose holds for two years. No by catches nor any Dolphin's where harmed in this outing.

The vessel is powered by two four stroke motors breathing less green house gas than a medium size family saloon on a Sunday outing. Plastic baits ensure very little impact on environment since they are used over and over again. If the do break of the lure will sink to the bottom of the ocean where it will deteriorate in a short space of time.

Hein is the type of angler that fish for fun and only keep what he can eat himself. Many people belief that Marlin is very dry. Fish meat is only dry and tasteless when over cooked. For this reason cooking methods must be of such that the Marlin meat is slow cooked and left to cure in its own steam for the last ten minutes of the cooking time. (glas bowl with lid on).

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Some facts
Growth and maturity

Atlantic blue marlin reaches sexual maturity at the age of two to four. Males reach sexual maturity at a weight of 35–44 kilograms (77–97 lb) and females at 47–61 kilograms (100–130 lb).^[20] Marlin breed in late summer and fall. Females may spawn as many as four times in one season. They often release over seven million eggs at once, each approximately 1 millimetre (0.039 in) in diameter.

Marlin are often caught as bycatch in tuna longline fisheries. Marlin has commercial value throughout the world, with landings totalling 3,064 metric tons in 2000.^[11] Their meat has a high fat content. It is particularly valued in Japan for sashimi.^[11] In Hawaii, Blue marlin meat is commonly smoked and sold by roadside vendors.

The Atlantic blue marlin is under intense pressure from longline fishing. In the Caribbean region alone, Japanese and Cuban fishermen annually take over a thousand tons. All vessels within 200 miles (320 km) of the U.S. coastline are required to release any billfish caught. However, the survival rate of released fish is low because of damage during capture.^[3]

The Atlantic blue marlin is not listed as a threatened species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).^[3]

In 2010, Greenpeace International added the Atlantic blue marlin to its seafood red list. "The Greenpeace International seafood red list is a list of fish that are commonly sold in supermarkets around the world, and which have a very high risk of being sourced from unsustainable fisheries."

Sport Fishing at this level does not present any threat to Marlin population. Their conservation status is because of fishing methods use in other parts of the world that harm other marine species including marine mammals like Dolphins.