By Barbara Ryan
Walter had just returned from 30 days in Worcester, Mass., helping insured residents with their claims from the most recent bomb cyclone that hit the region. He and his fishing partner of 25-plus years, Kathy, a Dwyer High School geometry teacher, decided to go trolling for dolphin.
They headed out the Lake Worth Inlet at 7 a.m. due east at 7 to 8 mph, trolling a pair of small, naked single-hooked ballyhoo and a tuna feather in their 2001, 25-foot Target with a Yamaha 250.
It was a beautiful day on the water, with calm seas and a small ground swell. They were about 16 miles offshore when Walter saw a bill slap at the bait rigged on a 4/0 Penn Offshore Senator, loaded with 30-lb. Ande high-vis line. A school of bait had passed under the boat just moments before. Walter let the line free spool and then set the hook. The fish sounded and peeled off all but about 50 yards of line.
Kathy quickly cleared the other lines and went chasing after the fish, while Walter recovered line. The fish came back up and jumped within 300 yards of the boat – a beautiful marlin! It jumped and thrashed about, then sounded again, stripping the reel of line.
This time, phone in hand, Kathy chased down the marlin with Walter cranking on the Penn reel giving the Star Rod Deluxe a workout. They were able to pull up alongside the marlin, snapping a few photos in the water, before the marlin would swim away.
The next round, the marlin did a triple jump right off the bow of the boat. As the fish arched the vessel, Kathy quickly snapped off several pictures… of herself. She had accidently switched the view of the camera.
The struggle continued for four hours, with the marlin circling to the left—Nascar formation, peeling off line and Walter reeling it back in at least 30 times. As the fish would get close enough to see the white bottom of the Target boat, it would stripe up with markings a foot tall.
Walter estimated the tail to be at least 4-feet and the marlin to be 10 to 12 feet in length. Kathy took the fight for a brief 15-20 minutes, giving Walter a break. She held her own with the marlin. They had drifted with the current about 26 miles offshore and north when the marlin made one last pass.
Walter reeled the line until the swivel was about 3 feet from the tip of the rod when the knot broke. The marlin swam off with a bit of leader and a circle hook. Walter looked at the Ande line. It had stretched to the point that the color changed, but it never broke.
That Febr. 17, 2018 will be a fishing trip the Mulfords, of Palm Beach Gardens, will not forget.