- Joined
- Mar 11, 2001
- Messages
- 70,011
- Reaction score
- 1,007
Huge marlin tale has Cabo buzzing
Long battle ends with fish finally escaping hook
By Ed Zieralski, San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
July 22, 2003
Fishermen and tourists at the docks at Cabo San Lucas this weekend were buzzing over a story about a huge marlin that got away Friday night.
Capt. Rafael Covarrubias of the Mucho Loco Fleet and his four pangeros got the best look at the fish, and Covarrubias estimated it was a black marlin "well over 1,500 pounds."
The International Game Fish Association's all-tackle world-record for black marlin is a 1,560-pounder landed by Alfred C. Glassel Jr. on Aug. 4, 1953, off Cabo Blanco, Peru. Some of the dock talk is that this one was possibly 1,800 to 2,000 pounds.
"We had it two meters from the boat two different times, so we saw it," Covarrubias said by phone from Cabo San Lucas. "I'm 37 years old and have been fishing here all my life. I've never seen a marlin as big as this one."
Covarrubias said his captain on the Mucho Loco III hooked the fish at 9 a.m. Friday. The unidentified American anglers fought it until 5 p.m. and were about to cut the line when Covarrubias interceded.
"I wasn't going to let them let it go like that," he said. "We went out and took the fish from them and fought it from our boat, the Mucho Loco II."
The fight went on for 51/2 more hours. Covarrubias said that the fish broke off around 10:30 p.m., ending a more than 111/2-hour battle.
Had the gigantic billfish been landed, it wouldn't have been a world record no matter how big it was. The transfer of the rod and reel from the Mucho Loco III to the Mucho Loco II made the catch ineligible for any records. That didn't matter to Capt. Covarrubias.
"I wanted to catch it and bring it back because it would have been good for others to see it and good for our fishing here," he said. "I didn't want it to get away. We went out there with no water, no food, nothing. We just wanted to get that fish and bring it back."
Covarrubias said the Mucho Loco III was fishing near the 95 Bank off Cabo San Lucas when the fish struck a trolled lure. He said the billfish never left that general area, but merely went down and up and worked the bank the entire time
Long battle ends with fish finally escaping hook
By Ed Zieralski, San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
July 22, 2003
Fishermen and tourists at the docks at Cabo San Lucas this weekend were buzzing over a story about a huge marlin that got away Friday night.
Capt. Rafael Covarrubias of the Mucho Loco Fleet and his four pangeros got the best look at the fish, and Covarrubias estimated it was a black marlin "well over 1,500 pounds."
The International Game Fish Association's all-tackle world-record for black marlin is a 1,560-pounder landed by Alfred C. Glassel Jr. on Aug. 4, 1953, off Cabo Blanco, Peru. Some of the dock talk is that this one was possibly 1,800 to 2,000 pounds.
"We had it two meters from the boat two different times, so we saw it," Covarrubias said by phone from Cabo San Lucas. "I'm 37 years old and have been fishing here all my life. I've never seen a marlin as big as this one."
Covarrubias said his captain on the Mucho Loco III hooked the fish at 9 a.m. Friday. The unidentified American anglers fought it until 5 p.m. and were about to cut the line when Covarrubias interceded.
"I wasn't going to let them let it go like that," he said. "We went out and took the fish from them and fought it from our boat, the Mucho Loco II."
The fight went on for 51/2 more hours. Covarrubias said that the fish broke off around 10:30 p.m., ending a more than 111/2-hour battle.
Had the gigantic billfish been landed, it wouldn't have been a world record no matter how big it was. The transfer of the rod and reel from the Mucho Loco III to the Mucho Loco II made the catch ineligible for any records. That didn't matter to Capt. Covarrubias.
"I wanted to catch it and bring it back because it would have been good for others to see it and good for our fishing here," he said. "I didn't want it to get away. We went out there with no water, no food, nothing. We just wanted to get that fish and bring it back."
Covarrubias said the Mucho Loco III was fishing near the 95 Bank off Cabo San Lucas when the fish struck a trolled lure. He said the billfish never left that general area, but merely went down and up and worked the bank the entire time
