By 
I have yet to applaud a greater one in my roll, although a highly experienced colleague of mine tagged a blue last year in the waters off Kadavu. To quote him directly: ‘It was the biggest blue I’ve ever seen. It scared the crew to death when they saw its size. I reckon he weighed at least 900 pounds.’ She was tagged and released. On a trip to the Kadavu Seamount in November of last year we saw an angry blue jump that would have easily reached 700lbs and a couple of years ago a colleague of mine tagged and released a black marlin on the Kadavu Seamount that was estimated by the then publisher. of BlueWater magazine as something less great. The Fiji All Tackle National Record for blue marlin is 447 kg (983 lb), which was caught in 1997 with 80 lb class gear.
It’s clear that the elusive Fijian Grander is out there, but with very few good quality heavy equipment charter boats looking for it, the iconic Fijian Grander has yet to be caught.
When we get that rare chance to exclusively target a monster, these are the lures we use most often:
Top ‘BFG’ 22 inches – MBT Lures
From left to right
Moldcraft – Wide range ‘ 12 inches
Marlin Magic 14″ Big Dog’ Mirror
John Lau – Linda’ 14 inches – John Lau
John Lau – GoodHead’ 14 inches
Pakula – Smokin’ Joe’ 14 inches
These are our top ‘go to’ lures for targeting large marlin. I should add that on board Bite Me we have a selection of about 40 odd lures 12 inches or larger. Guests sometimes ask us to run a full variety of Pakula lures, such as the big Smokin Joe, Sprocket, Wombat, etc., or sometimes we run a full variety of 14-inch John Lau lures. A couple of other lures should get a mention. We often go for the smaller but extremely effective Joe Yee Apollo, but this draws hits from all sizes of marlin and, more worryingly, some wahoo as well. The Nightmare Ball Bearing Big Top Gun has accounted for a number of big fish in other countries, including an 800lb blue Bimini in the Bahamas in 1999. The John Lau 12in Talibung in black/red/yellow is also very effective and has represented several very large blue marlin in Hawaii.
I have mixed feelings about targeting a trophy marlin. I very much enjoy the opportunity to try it, but I know I would be sad if we ever had to weigh such a magnificent fish. One of my guests will catch the best of his life, set the Fijian national record and I’ll leave it at that. Once this is done, I will firmly go back to the tag and release corner. Until that day, I intend to thoroughly enjoy watching my anglers tag and release all those ‘almost ones’…