BLACK MARLIN (istiompax indica)
BLACK MARLIN CARACTERISTICS
While fishing, it is not that easy to guess if the marlin emptying your reel is black or blue.
However:
• The bill is rounder and larger than the blue’s.
• Its body’s colour is darker, almost black on the back and a silver non striped belly.
• Its pectoral fins are blocked while swimming and do not fold along its body, which make it look like a bull with a massive neck.
• Its dorsal fin is stretching all along its body.
Black marlin can reach 5m long.
The IGFA black marlin world record on 130lb is 707,61kg on 04 August 1953 in Peru.
BLACK MARLIN’S BEHAVIOUR AND REPRODUCTION
Black marlin can reveal to be a great predator in tropical and subtropical waters.
But it also likes sedentariness.
You shall meet it all year long in Rodrigues, on his own very often, close to the reef or on plateaus.
BLACK MARLIN’S FEEDING
Black marlin often chases in fish banks looking for:
- tunas
- bonitos
- dorados
- small pelagic
- octopus and calamari
That he shakes with his bill before swallowing it by the head.
BLACK MARLIN ‘S FISHING TECHNIQUES
Black marlin prefers natural baits to artificial ones. Slow trolling on live bait (kept alive in our tuna tubes aboard) is the most efficient. Suspicious, it requires time to swallow the prey properly before starting up the fight.
Black marlin does not always rush hard, which leaves him energy enough to jump while fighting. It seems to idling, powerfully, offering then the most beautiful shows before rushing in the depth. Its strategy makes it more enduring than the blue marlin and requires more boat’s manoeuvres to tire it. The end of the show is often painstaking because of its pectoral fins blocked. Theses represent a great asset to back up on the water and counter the angler.
See our sheets on bait trolling and heavy spinning.
Our black marlin club record is 265.5kg.
Since we practice CATCH & RELEASE, we may only estimate it from now on unless it is a record!
