In the first place, black marlin is a magnificent fish. They are huge and strong and beautiful. Black marlin fishing could very well be the ultimate experience in sport fishing. Their dorsal side, also known as the top, is dark blue in color yet the dorsal fin is actually black. The underside is silvery white.
High Performance Fish
They may not be as fast as your sports car. But among fish, the black marlin is a serious contender. They have been clocked pulling line off a reel at eighty miles per hour. The design of this fish is space-age aerodynamic. It cuts through the water behind a long spear-shaped nose cone. It gets its thrust from a powerful, distinctively shaped tail.
Body Build
The body isn’t round or barrel shaped but long and laterally compressed. It almost resembles the shape of a Russian Wolfhound. It’s the ideal design for slicing through water at high speeds. These fish are not easy to hook. They aren’t stupid or gullible. Sometimes fishermen wait for hours and hours before they get a bite. Patience may not pay but impatience definitely won’t.
Speed
Black marlin fishing is tricky because just getting one on the line is no guarantee you will take it home. They are fighters. Their muscular high-speed swimming has broken more than one line. There are various ways to attract a black marlin. One of the more effective is the use of live bait. The down side of this method is that it also attracts sharks. It isn’t unknown to see a shark tear a thousand-pound fish to bits before it can be hauled into the boat. It’s a lot like blue marlin fishing.
Male Marlins
Even without interference from sharks, it’s no easy task to get a full-grown black marlin into a boat. A mature male can weigh three or four hundred pounds. But he would be the runt of the litter.
Female Species
The largest black marlin ever caught was over fifteen feet long. She weighed over fifteen hundred pounds. While not common, grandeurs, as those weighing over a thousand pounds are called, are by no means an impossible dream.
Elusive
If you don’t think these fish are tough, use some imagination. Imagine a thousand pound female coming at you at 80 miles an hour with PMS and a bayonet. Lucky for you, they are more inclined to play hard-to-get.
Habitat
Unless you happen to live near a marlin habitat, you will have to do some traveling if you want to catch one. They can be found in the tropical and subtropical waters of the Pacific and Indian oceans. You have plenty of options if you are planning a black marlin vacation. Africa, South America and Australia are among the many destinations you can choose.
Breeding Ground
The blacks tend to prefer life on a continental shelf rather than out in the deep water. They like the shallow water of archipelagos and reefs. The Great Barrier Reef off the Coast of Australia is a favorite destination for marlin seekers.