Marlin at Rangiroa

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By Kai Jendrusch

„Polynesia“. The name alone promises paradise. The French painter Paul Gauguin who was tired of civilisation found his happiness on Tahiti, I found mine 350km north-east of Tahiti on the Rangiroa atoll!

The way to my happiness involved seemingly endless travel! The atoll, which is 80km long and 5 to 32km wide, lies at the end of the world. The flight alone from Frankfurt (Germany) to Paris (France) to Los Angeles (U.S.A.) to Papeete (Tahiti) took 25 hours. There you have a 4 hour stop over, before you take the 1 hour flight to Rangiroa.

Overall we were 13 people, who left Frankfurt heading for French Polynesia in the beginning of February 2012. The weight – and size limit for our flight were two bags of 23 kg each plus handluggage, which was maxed out by my friend Andreas and me. The rodpipe – as planned – was declared as sportsluggage, and filled also with jigs weighing 17 kgs, and was checked through to Papeete without trouble.

The flight to Tahiti involved two stops, and went better then I thought. I was able to get some hours of sleep. That’s why I was quite rested when we landed at 4:15 local time in Papeete.

A surprise was awaiting us in Papeete. The baggage weight for the local flight was restricted to 20 kg. Andreas and me had to pay 109 Euro extra. A high price but still okay especially because it was also for the flight home.

Everyone of us was brought to the airplane of Tahiti Air with umbrellas. As we were landing Polynesia showed its perfect side. Clear skies and turqois water – like a dream coming true.

Our cottages at our destination would have made Gauguin happy: right on the beach, with a nice porch, palms and wonderful light. The money for the single rooms was well spent.

Relaxing was the top priority right from the start of our trip. No new kinds of fishes, or record fish were to be expected on this exploratory kind of trip. The accomodations are quite basic, but the location pays up for it multiple times. Even without fishing you can spent 12 days by reading a book or just relaxing. 12 days without work, without files and without stress in Polynesia. Every caught fish is a bonus for me. After an unpleasent Cuba-trip I realized not to put my expectation to high and be dissapointed in the end.

3900 Euro, single rooms including the flight was a cheap offer for such a trip. What was surprising for me from the beginning was that also a boat for two people, 10 days with 6-8 hours of fishing was inclusive. People who know charterprices in general and in French Polynesia especially, should be surprised about such an offer. Because of some misunderstanding we were only fishing 4-6 hours but I did not mind.

On the first evening we all came back early. At 3 a.m. I woke up because of a storm and heavy rains. Water was entering my room and the bathroom was flooded. I fell asleep again and woke up at 6 a.m. Everthing still the same: The storm kept raging and it was pouring rain. No chance to fish. At 7 a.m. the weather started to calm down and we had breakfast, and delayed our departure for our first fishing trip to 1 p.m.

Chis, who is from Luxemburg spoke French and came in handy for translations. The tension was starting to get a bit tense. I was sorry that we were not fishing yet. But if you did not have too much planned you could not be too disappointed. By the way we had 9 more days which should lead to one or more catch.

About 1 p.m. the boats arrived. Sadly there were only five instead of the needed six. One boat did not start. Even that is no major problem because it is possible to fish with three people on one boat.

Andreas and me took one boat together, because our way of fishing consisted of at least 50% of trolling, was not the way the others wanted to fish. Our skipper Roger was a real treasure. He was friendly, even though the communication was difficult because of lacking Englisch skills. Communicating with hand and feet worked fine! We agreed to let our skipper decide what kind of fishing we would start with. Roger said that fishing for yellowfins was quite good, so there was no need for second thoughts. With full speed we raced out to the open sea. Soon feeding frenzys, and busting Yellowfins on the surface came in sight. We got the first bite of the trip on a blue-white Ilander, and Andreas was able to land a good yellowfin of about 25 kg.

The fish is disembowled right away and put on ice. All fish, which we would catch the following days, would be put to good use. Only a barracuda got a funeral at sea.

We were trolling for half an hour without another bite, although we were seeing preying tunas. Roger suggested that we should try one spot for jigging. While reeling in the trolling lures, a yellowfin took a lure at the 30-pound rod. The fish did not put up much of a fight, and was landed quickly.

Jigging proved to be a waste of time, as we couldn’t get a single bite!. It looked to me like it is not the favoured kind of fishing here. We were fishing in “no mans land”. Even with 350 g jigs we did could not hit bottom, even though the current was not that heavy.

The other boats were not getting any relevant bites. The talk was of ripping lines and attacks by sharks. On one boat a shark bit the skipper in the hand, while he tried to get fish on board for a picture. For Chris and Gerald the fishing day ended after 45 minutes. The skipper’s finger had to be fixed with 7 stitches and his hand had to be fixed. Still on the next day he was back at the helm!

The next day we had a marlin that was able to throw the hook after a 400m run! Until noon nothing happened then we had a triple header! Yellowfins, even on a trolled jigging rod. We were able to land all three tunas: each one about 25 kg. I was very satisfied. The other boats told us about a 10 kg doggie that was jigged by Rene.

With the previous day in mind, we decided to stick with trolling instead of jigging! At 8 a.m. we had a marling strike, but lost it! We managed to catch one Barracuda on a lure.

At 11:30 a.m. the first bite of a marlin at that day. The fish was doing a nice series of jumps. The double line was already on the reel and suddenly the line went slack, and the fish is free. Andreas stayed calm.

Bad weather arrives on the horizon. We caught another 20 kg yellowfin and another one escapes. It started to rain and the seas got rougher. Because of the bad weather closing in, we decided to return. Just like that I get a hit on the 30 lb equipment. Roger identified my opponent as a marlin, and I fought the fish on my light tackle harness

The rain was pouring by now, and the washed out suncreme was burning in my eyes. The first run of the marlin was impressive. I guess it took about 400 to 500 meters of line. Slowly I was able to fill my reel. The fish is holding against it. Thunder starts to roll. The marlin took this as a sign not to jump anymore. He stayed under water. Every turn of the reel handle got me closer to my fish. It made two more runs. By now I was soaked.

Against all expectations I had no trouble with my back during the fight. I sat on an icebox and my feet were on the gunnel. Besides the damned rain it was a nice fight. The double line came up and I could see the swivel. On bigger boats the fish would be wired and released quite fast. It was different on our boat. I am not sure if it is common strategy or if it is because of the rough sea, but Roger let me sit what felt like 7 hours (for real more like 10-15 minutes) to get the fish tired.

After an eternity I signalised Roger that the marlin is ready for landing. Just like the fish understood what I was saying he started to fight again. He did not get far, but my blood started to boil one more time. Roger just smiled and said, that the fish was not agreeing with me. It was still raining and thunder was rolling. The situation was even darker through my sunglases than it really was. After 10 more minutes Roger landed the marlin. He was not putting up any resistance and was pulled with his sword into the boat. The celebration was great. My first blue Marlin caught on my own is landed in the boat.

Rangiroa – a paradise for fishermen? The beautiful atoll will get another chance from me, to show itself from its best side. Our skipper Roger said, the best time for marlin is from November till January. I am not sure if the reefs are good for jigging. Our travelling comrades lost many good fish that had been eaten by sharks. The outer reef and the laguna are heaven for divers. Andreas told me that he counted at least 50 different kind of fish while snorkeling. Rays and sharks and many more coulored inhabitants of the reef could even be seen from the shore.