Article by Capt. Franky Pettolina
I had just made a turn to cross over the center of the Washington Canyon. For the previous hour and a half I had maneuvered the “Last Call” around the commercial fishing gear that was situated along the West Wall of the Canyon. There had been high hopes to start the day by catching some mahi off of the poly ball floats which mark the location of the gear. Unfortunately, the mahi had different plans and were nowhere to be found. The sum of our efforts to that point consisted of what I believe to have been a white marlin making a sorry attempt at eating my right teaser. This was disappointing to me because I had vast plans for the day, and one thing my dear old Dad has instilled in me since my youth was to never undertake vast projects with half vast ideas. And that darned marlin made a half vast attempt at my teaser! He didn’t even give my trusty mate, Mr. Evans a chance to miss him!
The compass heading was now due east and I turned to talk to my good friend, and long time client, Brooke Duvall, about the lack of bites we were having. Brooke had chartered the “Last Call” to take his grandsons Andrew and Zachary and several of their buddies, out for a day of excitement. Mahi Mayhem! Mucho Marlin! Ha! So much for that idea. Right as I was about to start whining about the shortage of pullage we were experiencing, a plume of white water exploded under my left rigger. Literally right under my left rigger. About five feet off the side of the boat and darn near right into the rigger halyards! At first I thought it was a porpoise. However, years of fishing experience have taught me that porpoises do not possess a long pointy proboscis.
It was a blue marlin! What the heck! Why was he jumping there, that close to my boat?!? I called out to Mr. Evans, “Free jumping blue marlin! Right under the left rigger!”
Of course Mr. Evans is always well aware of the goings on in and around his cockpit, so he had heard the splash and was already investigating this unique disturbance. As he was looking to the left, the unexplainedly agitated marlin was taking to the air again. Brooke and I watched as the bounding blue made a beeline for the bow. Two quick jumps and the fish had rounded our pointy end.
I let loose a yell that the fish was crossing around the bow. Of course I didn’t really think that the fish was going to continue this aerial display, but my eyes were glued to the water in front of us. Mr. Evans did his best marlin imitation and leaped to the other side of the cockpit and kept a sharp eye forward. Neither of us were disappointed. The fish continued to take to the sky. Now it was Brooke’s turn to shout. “Zachary! Andrew! Are you seeing this???”
To all of our dismay they were not. The lack of bites and excessive boredom had the crew inside the cabin, either napping or staring at the screens of their phones. I think one of the young men was in the fighting chair trying to figure out what all the commotion was about.
Having finished its half lap around the “Last Call” the fish decided to show us exactly how fast it could be. With its big kicker violently hitting the water, the blue marlin covered several hundred yards along the surface off to our right side. Dad was on his feet in front of me pointing and saying “That thing is moving at spool dumping speed!” I thought to myself that I wished it was hooked so I could see how fast we could chase it around. In my thirty plus years of trying to get as close to billfish as possible, this one definitely ranks as one of the swiftest I have ever seen. And it wasn’t even hooked! The magnificent display probably only lasted half a minute or so, but what an amazing thirty or forty seconds.
I turned the boat in the direction that we had last seen the fish, but I knew we would never catch up to it. The rest of the day consisted of a couple of mahi bites and some incredible images of a leaping marlin burned into my mind’s eye.
While Mr. Evans and I were cleaning the boat up that evening, we debated as to why that fish was free jumping so close to us and what could have triggered such a response. Was a remora latched on to it in a ticklish spot? Was it trying to get a closer look at my father’s camo duct tape repaired shorts? (Buy me a beer and I will tell you that story. Trust me it is worth it. It might even be worth two beers) Ultimately, we came up with one theory. The fish had just stuck its face into our red Squidnation dredge to have a snack when one of the chains of squid hit some prop wash and slapped the marlin upside the head! Just like the playground scene when the bully gets the tables turned by his victim and runs home crying to momma with a bloody nose, this blue got its bell rung by a rubber squid slap and didn’t know how to handle it! I just wish it would have sent its momma back to settle the score with us!
Capt Franky Pettolina is Co-Captain of the charter boat, “Last Call”, owner of Pettolina Marine Surveying, Inc. and multi-term President of the Ocean City Marlin Club. If you would like to book a charter on the “Last Call”, please call 443-783-3699 or 410-251-0575.
