Kevin Hibbard shows how he drives the boat once a blue marlin is hooked, from driving away from a fish that goes straight down to keeping the bow into the current. He also explains why he keeps the spread to four lures, so the boat is free to go after a fish the moment it bites.
Boat Driving Skills for Blue Marlin with Kevin Hibbard
(00:16:47)
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Instructor:
Kevin Hibbard
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How should you drive the boat when a blue marlin sounds?
Boat driving for blue marlin on a fish that goes straight down means not staying on top of it. A fish feeling the pull from straight above wants to sound, so Kevin Hibbard drives away to create an angle and a belly in the line, and keeps the bow into the current so the water helps lift the fish.
"Any animal, person, fish, or whatever is going to always fight opposite of pressure and pain," he says. As the fish comes up, the belly below pulls it from underneath. Fight it down current and "you two are going to be together the whole time." He also fights fish off the corner with the chair turned, so the belly doesn't go under the boat.
Should you back off the drag when a big marlin runs?
The instinct is to tighten up when line is screaming off. Hibbard backs it off "almost into free spool, if not free spool." As the spool empties, a strike drag set at 28 pounds climbs toward 45, and with a belly in 130 pound line the fish may be feeling 100.
He has watched anglers panic and push the drag up, "and pow. It happens every time." His rules: keep the fight close, and "play it like it's hooked." Tackle is what the crew controls, so a terminal tackle failure is "not acceptable. You wait that long for that bite."
What do you do when a blue marlin doubles back on the boat?
No rule works every time. "It's rock, paper, scissors," Hibbard says. A fish can rip a couple of hundred yards off with the rod pointed at the horizon, then jump off the bow. Rather than whip the boat toward a jump, he follows his line until the belly comes out and comes tight off that.
Other boats have even called on push-to-talk phones to say his fish was jumping off to the left.
Inside the video
- Four lures, two a side, with no dredge, mud flap or shotgun, and why that frees the boat on a bite
- Why 50 pound line keeps a marlin on the surface and 130 with 40 to 45 pounds of drag sends it down
- Small marlin as "little bottle rockets"
- Keeping the cockpit quiet so a first-time angler doesn't join the chaos
Questions About Driving the Boat on Blue Marlin
Why doesn't Kevin Hibbard run a shotgun line?
When a big fish eats and the boat stops and backs up, a shotgun line down the middle drops right into the pattern. "You're basically handcuffed," Hibbard says, with nowhere to go until everything is cleared, and you lose line while you wait. With four lures, his crew clears one and he's after the fish.
Why does lighter line keep a blue marlin on the surface?
A fish fights against the pressure it feels. On 50 or 30 pound line with lighter drag, it feels less on its face and tends to stay up, which Hibbard says gives the crew more control. On 130 with 40 to 45 pounds of drag, the fish feels it and wants to sound.
What is a radio fisherman?
It's a captain who hears a hookup up the coast, then another down the coast, and runs to each one instead of working his own water. Hibbard says it takes you out of the game. Stay in your area and hit it hard, and tomorrow you might be the rock star of the day.
The Tackle Behind the Boat Work
Every move from the bridge depends on the rod, line and drag the angler is holding. That setup is in blue marlin fishing tackle with Kevin Hibbard.
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Captain Kevin Hibbard is a Kona-based marlin captain and wireman who runs the 2nd Offense out of Kona, Hawaii. He learned lure fishing from Kona's best, including Captain Marlin Parker, and has handled granders off Hawaii and Australia, including a reported 1,018-pound black marlin as the mate. He holds the shortbill spearfish world record on 16-pound tackle and is the first captain to win the Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament's Henry Chee Memorial Trophy in back-to-back tournaments. A Pelagic Pro Team member, he teaches Kona lure spreads, hook rigging and reading structure for big marlin on In The Spread.
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