What lures/colors to use for Blue marlin

[Warren]

What is everyone using to catch the larger blue marlin ?

[LS_Wilkinson]

COLORS: GREEN AND YELLOW (DORADO), BLEEDING MACKREL (RED AND YELLOW W/BLACK STRIPES), AND BONITO COLORS RUN WELL...THE REAL KEY IS ACTION...LURES THAT CUT AND POP ARE KEY...AS IS TROLLING SPEED...THE MORE FROTH THE BETTER...GOOD LUCK!!

REGARDS,

LSW

[David]

I have two questions.

1) What do you mean by "froth"?
2) What is the right speed for trolling?

[dicky]

'froth' i assume is the bubble trail. And 6.5 knots works well for us. yellow and any other color is the go.

[micura]

You'll hear just about every possible answer, and for each you'll find a contradicting one. Big bait=big fish, right? Elephants eat peanuts, right? Any color or size will catch a Blue. I've seen cedar plugs and super ugly big lures do it. The only thing I think most agree on is that the more commotion the lure makes the better. So pull a 12/0 tuna hook through your jockstrap and troll it next to your other lures. It might just be the best lure you pull!;)

[dave]

In about a week long hot bite, we only caught blues on ONE lure. It didn't matter where in the spread we put it or the varitation of other lures in the water, that one lure got smashed every time. We were getting 6 to 10 hits a day and all but two over the whole week were on an ugly locally made lure with a blue and white skirt.

[Anonymous]

Black & anything! Or purple & black

[carlos_]

the best color is the black annd red just doit

[doug]

This season 99% of our blue marlin hook-ups have been on blue and white. Speed can vary,seveal times marlin have come into our spread and by increasing the speed of the boat up to 9 to 10 knotts has gotten them excited to bite. 7 to 7.5 is our normal trolling speed.
Capt. Doug
"Bay Baby" St. Marrten

[eric_murphy]

fishing the big rock off the centeal coast of north carolina would aloha lures wich are made in hawaii, the colors they make there lures with will they have the same afect onmarlin here

[alice]

Black Barts = purple, black and red.

[Connor_Stone]

Blue&White- Pink&Blue

[reef_hunter]

No matter the colour, as long as it is BIG!

[squidnation]

fished Brazil the last two yrs and raised 11 blue marlin in a combined 11 days of fishing. 10 of the 11 fish come up on a red and white Islander express with a pink and blue bird about 3 feet in front fished on the right long do about 10 knots.

Good Luck

[Mista P]

We were fishing this weekend (28th Jan 07) in the Pemba Channel of the coast of Kenya and A nice Blue Marlin smacked a Soft-Head: Yellow n' Orange...

[Seth]

Marlin are strange. One year a certain color scheme will work wonders and the next it won't do anything. I believe you have to experiment until you find the color combo that works. If you do not have time to experiment, as you are on a weeks trip or something shorter, try proven basic color combos. Find out what baits are the fish are eating or are common on the waters you are fishing. Of course, there are always anomalies. I have great success with blue/green, lumo colors (ice blue and green) and green/yellow/black. Head shape is important also. I find the lighter color heads work better also. But, this is just me and may not work another place or another time. Here are some basic color schemes.

Skip jack or Bonito - blue/black/purple over silver with dark stripes
Yellowfin - black w/ blue tones, yellow stripe over silver
Kawa Kawa – green blue with dark stripes over silver
Flying fish- blue and silver
Squid - brown/white over orange or pink
Frigate tuna/mackerel – metallic dark blue over silver/white
Mackerel - iridescent blue-green with a vertical black, wavy band, and the lower half and belly are silvery white
Scad - blue green
Triggerfish – pink and orange
Ballyhoo or Needlefish – blue/green over silver
Threadfin Herring or Greenback – bluish gray green over silvery yellow
Pilchard – steel blue over silvery yellow
Blue Runner – olive to bluish green over silver gray to yellow

[clt_capt]

Well considering that the Scientific research says that marlin don't see color you would think it wouldn't matter.

Maybe I'm just better at rigging my blue/white and blue/pink lures, becaust they seem to catch the majority of our fish

[pargon]

That's one of those no answer/all answer questions, with so many variable that true research is difficult. The east coast guys tend to black, the Hawaii expers like any color as long as it's blue, down here on the Baja its' petroleros or guacamayas. Visibility is key, so action and your individual boat come into play. Matching the hatch probably is a component. Your confidence in an individual lure has a lot to do with it, " I like my 7 iron, so I hit it alot." Listen to the experts, with a touch of skeptcism, and go fishing a lot yourself.

[Matajari]

Black or dark shades of colors are good. Black and orange is favored here in Puerto Rico. The black of a lure makes the marlin see it good. The brigth orange makes the Captain see it good. A silver head is the icing on a cake ! Science and logic support the dark lure thing. Example: When you are underwater and see up what would you see better ? a dark lure or a white one? Obviouly a dark one. Also pelagic fish see good diferent shades of blue acording to histoligic (tissues) studies of the retina of fish. So blue color should de good. This is my favorite lure, but i prefer orange instead of red. It fishes everithing !

http://www.ebogeys.com/images/42.jpg

[Capt.Tony]

This season here in St.Kitts was the blue and white islander, and a blue and white Williamson live ballyhoo series.

[floridadeckie]

probably the smartest answer i've heard so far is that there is no real answer. marlin don't really see color all that well, or at least as well as you and i see it. what they focus more on is the contrast of the silohuette (sp?) against the bright sky. even though it seems to be counter-intuitive, pull darker lures on overcast days and lighter colored lures on brighter days. and it doesnt hurt to have one dark lure among a bunch of lighter lures, and vice versa. also, your speed depends on the boat, conditions, wind, lures, position in the clip, etc. a good skipper is always monitoring how his baits or plugs are running and adjusts the speed of the boat or position of the lure accordingly. but if just want to know what lures to pull, you cant go wrong with a Blue/white islander with a fat horse ballyhoo tucked up inside it or a purple/black/silver senior mold craft widerange

[Capt'n J]

Just a "little ta do" about Marlin Lures. I tried the jock strap with a 12/0 for a day and that ain't it.

One thing that is consistent in Hawaii is the billfish love to be antagonized and nothing seems to get it done better than stripes. Blue and Red, black and blue, blue and silver. I don't know the science behind it but flashing stripes at billfish seems to p!$$ them off pretty good. Then they start busting things up all over the place.

Just another day in Paradise. Hawaii update. It's been beautiful here on Kauai but he calm waters have slowed the bite. We are looking forward to the next temp band to arrive in a day or two and then its TUNA TIME!

Mahalo,

Capt'n J
http://www.deepseafishingkauai.com

[gamefish]

I agree wholeheartedly with floridadeckie....
probably the smartest answer i've heard so far is that there is no real answer. marlin don't really see color all that well, or at least as well as you and i see it. what they focus more on is the contrast of the silohuette (sp?) against the bright sky. even though it seems to be counter-intuitive, pull darker lures on overcast days and lighter colored lures on brighter days. and it doesnt hurt to have one dark lure among a bunch of lighter lures, and vice versa. also, your speed depends on the boat, conditions, wind, lures, position in the clip, etc. a good skipper is always monitoring how his baits or plugs are running and adjusts the speed of the boat or position of the lure accordingly. but if just want to know what lures to pull, you cant go wrong with a Blue/white islander with a fat horse ballyhoo tucked up inside it or a purple/black/silver senior mold craft widerange
In my personal experience and assuming that you are fishing in the right area as first and foremost determined by water colour, temperature and all the other natural signs, go for contrast with the sky, which is the background against which fish see the lure.
I do believe however that the first step is the boat itself which acts as the primary teazer, so I fish my lures as close as possible to the boat without burying them in the white water, and as fast as possible, without having them jump and tumble. (Even considering using flat line clips to reduce the angle between the line and the water surface to keep the lures down in the water)
I do not consider myself an expert, but with a hookup rate of over 95% on lures, and around 50 assorted billfish under the belt, I can honestly say that in my case colour and size seems to be of secondary importance despite the fact that I favour darker lures (black&red, black&purple, darkblue&white) I am also not in the habit of constantly changing lures out on any particular trip, but try and concentrate to vary my speed constantly to suit the direction of troll. as long as the birds want to eat my lures - I am very happy!
I often think that the lure makers catch more of us, than fish with all the fancy colours.....
Tight lines guys
Gamefish

[jimbeam]

What is everyone using to catch the larger blue marlin ?

A slightly offset diamond pattern can be used as a basic lure placement set-up, making adjustments as you see fit. I like to place the largest lure, usually a large swimming head, very close to the transom on either side, approximately 25 feet back. The next lure would probably be at about 45 feet back and should be a straight runner or pusher either with a flat head or conical face, depending on water conditions. This lure should be run off of an outrigger. The third lure back should be approximately 75 feet out, off the stern, and could be just about any style of head. To complete your diamond pattern set-up, place the fourth lure on the other outrigger about 90 feet back...Popular Blue marlin lure colors would be green/black, dorado, flying fish and petrolero

Fishing with bait: Bonito, skip jack or Yellowfin tuna make the best bait for Blue marlin. Live bait should be used when trolling or drifting back around banks or pinnacles or amongst feeding porpoises or tuna.

For tons of more info regarding catching a blue marlin and many other fish along the mexico coast check out fish found in costalegre (http://reel1in.com/Fish-Species.html)

[redneck_billcollector]

Dang near anything pulled behind a bertram 31 with twin desiels. Those boats attract marlin like nothing else on this planet. If I have the choice of an airconditioned modern boat or an ol' bertram 31, I'll fish the bertram. With that being said, if I am trolling lures, I will always have a wide range in the color scheme of whatever bait seems to be the most abundant in the spread. The good thing about wide ranges is I can get 5 spreads of wide ranges for the price of a few "kona heads" and wide ranges catch marlin.

[Patudo01]

Let me have use of a cold molded Carolina or Florida boat in the 40-foot class and I'd fish against a fleet of B31s with no fear. Not to mention keep drier and more comfortable in the nasty stuff.

I'd back a wooden Sampan with a single diesel as a pure fish raiser against the B31 too. Nice vessel it certainly is but to say that it attracts marlin 'like nothing else on this planet' - Gah. :p

[anyfishinsea]

For me, there are four or five lures that you have to have for blues. I always carry the following:

Lumo Sprocket (don't leave home without it - make that two) (long rigger)
Joe Yee Super Plunger (Black/Purple) (short corner)
Magilla Gorilla (Dorado or Blue/pink) (short corner)
Mold Craft Wide Range (any color - anywhere - except shotgun)
Islander (Blue/white) (shotgun)

[BOSTMAN]

I make saltwater trolling lures for the pro's they have me make all kinds of heads and colors.80% of the head shapes are slants med size 12" in length and the colors are 80% dark blue and dark purple.they like the lure to smoke when it snaps out of the outrigger so there is no downtime very very key to keep the bite on they say. just some input from a lure maker.

[UKChris]

In my limited experience I have to agree that the 'best' lure/colour varies each year. For the past five years I have fished the same place, same boats, same time of year and brought a couple of 'the hot lure' from last year - without success.

So, I have spare Lumo Sprocket, Black/orange Wide Range, Red/black Pakula Mouse, Boone Jet - this year's hot lure was a Sprocket in colour #130 - well, it's good for the lure makers and tackle shops, but the excess baggage charge is mounting!

Chris

[Amabledc]

el diablo blak/pink-clear. i have 5 blue marlin in july
in Cabeza de Toro, Dominican Rep.,;)

[Warren_Brantley]

I agree with the Post Above about the boat being the primary attractant. Wooden hulled boats such as the 31 Bertrams at Tropic Star and Jimmy Grant's old boat in Venezuela ('Waterman') seem to have the ambiance of a rich cello or finely tuned guitar when it comes to attracting billfish. Second place is wooden boat coated with fiberglass. Third is an aluminum or steel hulled craft and last place is any of the above with a radio blaring music as it is amplified by the water. As we all know, billfish and baitfish do NOT listen to music as part of their daily activities. Thus it is something that would make them wary or to be avoided. Speed is second. Spread of the lures is important as well as size; but we've caught blues and whites back to back in Laguaira on blue water bottle caps with holes carved in them with a pocket knife and they make wonderful water jets; just attach hook and ballyhoo. Top that off with a seasoned captain and crew; proper tackle; and the right season; and that's no big deal if you lose some of them; then it boils down to some luck as well. There are other ideas too. Unfortunately most captains are steeped in their homeport fishery and have not traveled around and captured ideas from others. So it is difficult to get them to try new ideas. They run the same patterns, baits, and route day in and day out; often spending too much of the day over dead waters where fish are not located. That's called "a boat ride". I don't take those. Lots of beginners in the sport do; and I did my share. Just some thoughts. Cheers all,
Doc