At around 1600 – 1700 the alarm of the fishing reel went off with an incredible sound of a very fast pulling fish. We both dashed to the fishing rod.

As Tobi was there the same time is let him act. He took the rod and immediately pulled 3 times to ensure the hook holds. Then the fighting started.

We have developed our routine. I get the fighting belt and tie it around Tobi who really fought hard. The fish took 300 – 400 m from the reel indicating it’s a fast one. After each pull, Tobi could just reel in about 30 – 50 cm of the line. Roughly estimated 100 pulls are needed.

After quite a while fighting getting the fish closer, Tobi said he feels tired already. Watching him I could understand it. We discussed briefly how we could transfere the rod and the fighting belt from him to me and found a way to do it safely.

Then suddenly we saw a fish jumping about 200 m behind the MaRe. The way the fish jumped indicated a marlin is on the hook, but we could yet recognize the fish as such.

Suddenly, Tobi could reel in without much effort. The fish was gone.

Fortunately the lure was still attached. A detailed inspection of the lure, showed that a hook was bent and the little but strong keyring, with which the hook is attached to the lure, was bent open. It must have been a pretty big fish, most likely a marlin.

Tobi mentioned that it was better this way because we would not have been able to get it on board.

I remembered what fishermen in Cuba told us about their struggle to get a big marlin on board of their fishing boat. I too was glad that it ended this way.