Ernest Hemingway’s novella, The Old Man and the Sea, immediately came to mind upon hearing that young Patrick Webster, Island Harbour fisherman, had a Blue Marlin rope-lashed to the side of his twenty-seven-foot, open fishing boat named Opportunity, struggling slowly from the far north, back to Anguilla. After considerable time and effort, the mobile phone signal range allowed only a garbled call to be placed to his two brothers, Tim and Vernon.

Prized 840-Lb Marlin caught in Anguillian waters

Though still far from shore, Patrick needed immediate help to heft the fish into the boat. As he learned later, his efforts of hip dragging the fish back to Anguilla resulted in rope failure in one instance and the fish’s gill and jaw separation in another. He had to head south instead of southeast because he had left the third member of his fishing party on Dog Island to grub whelks. This mandated a return lest he leave his partner overnight in the harsh wilderness without food or water. Exactly as Santiago (Hemingway’s Old Man) endured in the novella, Patrick was worried about sharks being attracted to the enormous fish tied alongside the hull of Opportunity leaving behind a long and distinct trail of blood, easily detected by predators near and far.

One clear question regarding his plea for assistance was how much help was needed (e.g., how big is the fish?) His dubious reply was that the fish was half as long as Opportunity, known to be twenty-seven feet long.

As happenstance would have it on a lazy Saturday afternoon, the only boat immediately at hand was a small vessel, The Fishy, owned by his father, Steven. The Fishy is only fifteen-feet long and narrow like a torpedo, powered by a forty-horsepower outboard engine. Patrick was some fifteen nautical miles away, and the six men rounded up to lift the Blue Marlin over the gunnels of Opportunity would have overwhelmed The Fishy. This consideration resulted in arranging for another Island Harbour boat, Bateau Godot, a thirty-four foot, aluminum, diesel-powered boat to assist in the operation. Aboard Bateau Godot was also a Nikon digital camera in anticipation of the photo imagery between The Young Man and the Sea and The Old Man and the Sea. Bateau Godot seemed especially apt, as the boat was christened in the name of the absurdist play, Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett. Absurdity, unlikelihood, not believable, improbable, incongruous and untenable all came to mind when Bateau Godot was approaching Opportunity near the northern tip of Dog Island. Patrick and Opportunity had made about ten miles, hip-towing the Blue Marlin and the stress and strain on the fish was apparent. Three twisted strands of polypropylene rope had unraveled with the trussed fish alongside Opportunity. The primary objective of getting the fish out of the water to avoid further perils was, however, accomplished. Remembering that Santiago lost his Blue Marlin prize to aggressive sharks, Patrick Webster was nobody’s fool, as he had wisely sought help in getting his catch to the dock. This symbolic and factual connection was inspired by Stephanie Oliver, who had given a copy of The Old Man in the Sea to Patrick. As a noted author herself, the symbolism of the story and further tribute to men who fish for a living seemed especially apt for Patrick.

The six men mightily, absurdly tugged and pulled the enormous fish through the stern transom door using colourful conversation and commentary. Now, with the prized Blue Marlin safely on board Bateau Godot, the proud assistance team motored away to Island Harbour, Anguilla. Meanwhile, Patrick dutifully detoured in Opportunity to find his marooned fishing friend, Errison Vanterpool, on the far side of Dog Island. The men onboard Bateau Godot began the inevitable, bragging about how indispensable they had been with this gigantic fish maneuver.

This Blue Marlin had some characteristics suggestive of a Black Marlin, but the fishing literature explains that the “blueness” often turns grey to black following gaffing. The definitive test of a retractable pectoral fin proved this fish was a Blue Marlin. This test was used, despite the fact that the Black Marlin is typically found only in the Pacific Ocean. However, other elements were not typical of Blue Marlin, as the species rarely ventures into shallow water. The Anguillian coastal geophysical characteristics could have made the catch atypical, as there are undersea outcroppings that protrude upward from a deep sea floor to very shallow depth. Some of these undersea plateaus are many hundreds of acres and are extraordinary fish habitats. Migrating whales often cavort and linger in these rich grounds to feed during their long migration. This Blue Marlin was hooked at the southern tip of what Anguilla fishermen named Center Bank in about 250 feet of water at the edge of the undersea plateau.

This catch is memorable, because the Blue Marlin is typically ignored by Anguilla fishermen. They simply do not have the time to troll around deep water in search of game fish that has a limited commercial market. Though not well known, Anguillian territorial waters are teeming with Blue Marlin and other billfish species. Many people have marveled at the enormous Blue Marlin caught by Cleve Webster displayed at Wallblake Airport, Anguilla. Astonishingly, that huge fish was caught with a rod and reel well inside the shallow water near Scrub Island. Patrick described his initial response to this catch with nearly the same imagery as Cleve. Cleve said that it felt like he had snagged a fish pot rope, as the sudden lost momentum of the boat, and the immovability of Anguillian steel lobster traps, gave him the sensation of being anchored, instead of hooking a big game fish. As with The Old Man in the Sea, Santiago taught and guided the young lad, Manolin, in matters of fishing and life, Cleve generously mentored Patrick. It might be said that generational teaching of the art of fishing and life is the essence of the Island Harbour village spirit and character.

Patrick, likewise, explained the same initial rod and reel sensation to his fishing companion, Philmore Brown. As would be typical when trolling for game fish, the boat momentum keeps the line taut, making it difficult for the fish to break away. However, in this instance Patrick put the gear into neutral, thinking as Cleve, that he had snagged a lobster trap rope. As he maneuvered wrongly, there was that sudden burst of fish energy that takes line out from a reel with a steady, forceful sound, instead of a jerky zing zing zing that typically occurs with a big Wahoo or Yellow Fin tuna. The boat had become stationary, and the run off of line had eased, except for the reel noise occurring with every wave as the boat rises up and falls off each crest. It was as if the big fish simply sat on the bottom (again like hooking an Anguilla made steel lobster trap), but now Patrick knew that something alive and heavy was at the end of the line. Then, inexplicably the line went weak and slack. All this while Patrick was wrapping the line and gaining footage without knowing exactly if distance was achieved with the boat moving toward the fish or by the fish nearing the boat. Through continually cranking the reel, the fish was provoked and broke the surface of the water some two hundred feet astern. It swam rapidly toward the boat in an aggressive, surging lunge. Fearful now, Patrick planned his escape should the fish jump into the vessel, as was widely viewed on sports television showing Blue Marlin jumping into sport fishing vessels slashing about with a deadly sword and injuring the fishermen. As with Santiago, who Ernest Hemingway claimed was a retelling of a truthful fish account in The Old Man in the Sea, Patrick also wondered how many times the fish might have been hooked and how wise the animal might be to the ways of escaping a hook. It appeared that this fish had decided to give every ounce of energy over the short term to either escape or die.

Regardless of the dangerous fish antics, Patrick was wrapping line, as the fish ultimately dove down instead of attacking the stern of Opportunity. Patrick had counter-intuitively but aggressively tightened down the reel drag, which, in retrospect, seemed foolish. Evidentially, this made the fish work very hard for every foot of line taken and reeled. Periodically, the big animal would take fifty or even a hundred feet of line in a steady determined pull, but without any notable jerkiness, except on three different occasions. These pulls were endured by Patrick’s favorite, almost worn-out, Senator Series Penn 9.0 reel and J & R Custom rod setup. No matter what, Patrick had now seen the beast and decided in his heart that he must not give an inch of line without an almost fully tight drag. On the first of the intense fighting encounters, the fish went perpendicularly deeper with a strong pull of line. Then, she came to the surface and raised her head out of the water, shaking it violently. In one remarkable pull, and instead of relaxing the drag, Patrick engaged the motor gear and chased after the fish until the animal went perpendicular and sounded again.

Following second and third vicious head shaking above the surface, Patrick began to have a psychological, determined advantage over the Blue Marlin. This edge emerged well after the fish went astern, and deep, and bent the J & R Custom Rod level to the gunnels, and Patrick turned his face away in fear of the rod shattering. He warned Phil to watch for flying glass from the rod, as he envisioned the worst shattering imaginable. Everything held together, and Patrick decided to fight the fish to the gunnels before hours had passed. Continually wrapping line gave way to a fully tightened drag. Patrick instructed Phil on gaffing tactics, saying that he should stay away from a leaping fish and not get entangled and injured. Patrick methodically wrapped the fish and even moved the rod from the port side rod holder to the starboard side with Phil’s help. Then, the Blue Marlin circled underneath the boat three times, which obviously included going around and under the engine feet and propellers, causing great consternation and panic.

In a now-or-never moment, Patrick and Phil agreed to make an all-out effort to raise the billfish head out of the water and take a one-chance gaff. Patrick wrapped the line almost to the eye, connecting the lead weight leader, and stand tall and high with the rod lifting the fish head to the deck level. Reaching with a six-foot gaff, Phil dug into the fish slightly below the pectoral fin from the port side stern quarter. Amazingly, the animal was stunned-still or depleted of fight, but she continued to flop and flounder with her body and tail. Patrick quickly pulled off several hanks of line for slack, should the animal flop away, and grabbed the second gaff. Sticking the next gaff deep into the fish at the same pectoral fin level, the Blue Marlin was imminently imperiled. Patrick went completely astern with a rope and submerged his head and part of his torso and cinched a rope around the middle of the Marlin. All the while, Phil was holding a gaff in each hand, straining to hold the fish in position. Patrick grabbed the next rope and proceeded to go into the gills of the giant head to thread and tie a rope between and through the gills and mouth, making a complete loop. In the first and second instance, the fish clamped down on his hand, leaving Patrick fearful of being bitten hard. He then tried but failed to thread the rope through the passage. Circumstances demanded that a rope be secured in the intended manner, and on the third try Patrick fed the rope into the back of the mouth and waited until the fish gasped the air. He then dared to reach into the jaws, and jerked out the rope. With that mouth tethered, he used the fish pot winch on Opportunity to lift the head completely to the block stop.

Once secured, Phil and Patrick make every attempt to lift the fish torso over the gunnels and into the boat without success. In essence, the fish was caught but not boated, exactly as happened with The Old Man in the Sea. The fish and the fishermen were all spent and with few options. They tried towing the fish astern but the drag and sway made the boat wobbly and meandering. Exhausted, they relented and lashed the fish to the freeboard side of the boat exactly as The Old Man in the Sea and turned south toward Dog Island to retrieve Errison from his whelks grubbing. Phil bemoaned the slow progress with Dog Island ten miles in the distance and fraught with fish losing perils. Island Harbour was much further still. They each had a mobile phone, and periodically they began to receive LIME cell tower signals. Before long, they were able to call Tim, Patrick’s brother. The fish trussing proved worrisome and faulty on several occasions. The Marlin’s lower jaw separated, and other tying techniques were employed. Ultimately, Opportunity putt-putted ten long miles to Dog Island and the rendezvous with Bateau Godot.

As often happens in Anguilla, significant events are quickly broadcast via the radio stations. The men on Bateau Godot, Tim and Vernon Webster, Trivon Smith, Wayne Johns, or possibly, Kenrick Bryan had called the radio stations. As expected, a cheerful crowd of Anguillians had assembled on the Island Harbour pier awaiting Patrick and his historic fish. The men on Bateau Godot were the first to ponder the animal completely out of the water and estimated her size and weight. Some thought seven hundred pounds. and other thought more, much more.

Bateau Godot slid to a gentle all-stop and tied up on the eastern forward end of the pier for access by a crane truck that would be required to lift the fish up and away from the deck of Bateau Godot. Many people jumped on and into the aft section of the boat and took seemingly hundreds of pictures with cameras and cell phones. People from all villages came to behold and participate in the history making moment. With some difficulty a crane truck backed onto the apron of the pier and, after bracing the stabilizing feet, lowered its boom and block. The fish was lifted and maneuvered slightly aft of the swim platform for more picture taking, as seen with this report.
Still, the Island Harbour fishing village did not have any scales for a fish her size. One idea was to use the Albert Lake scales at the quarry, but efforts to find someone willing to come and open the facilities on a Saturday proved unsuccessful. Next was the Department of Agriculture; however, two attempts with two different scales proved undersized. In the meantime, someone reached Albert Lake himself, who personally opened and supervised the quarry scales for this momentous event. Mr. Lake weighed the fish and handed Patrick the scales printout at 840 pounds. He assured all present of the accuracy of the measurement. He went on to observe that the fish was bigger than a cow and marveled at how the men had gotten anything that large ashore.
Shortly thereafter, a third of the fish was purchased and delivered to the CuisinArt Resort and Spa. The remainder was then preserved in Cleve Webster’s commercial freezer. As usual, great discussion ensued about the fish and Patrick’s adventure in catching it.
It is noteworthy that the fish measured thirteen feet, six inches long, with a girth of almost five feet. The Marlin literature notes that fish this size sometimes tip the scales at over a 1,000 pounds. Considering the time between the fish leaving the water and being weighed, the fish might have shed ten to twenty percent of its body weight in lost fluids alone. Some reports have recorded catches taking as little as forty minutes with 1,000 pounders. Blue Marlins this size are also typically females, as the males are usually much smaller by comparison. Blue Marlins are not on any threatened species list at this time; but they may become endangered soon because 99% are accidentally caught as a by-product of long-line commercial fishing. Obviously, rod and reel fishing is therefore inconsequential in the overall threat to the species.
This catch is arguably the largest rod and reel fish caught in Anguilla’s entire game fishing history. According to published accounts, this fish appears to be the largest Blue Marlin caught in the West Indies in over a quarter century  in a generation  according to the IGFA (International Game Fishing Association) official records. One Blue Marlin expert, Capitan Peter Wright, observed that few of this species ever reach 1,000 pounds, and these larger fish are typically caught beyond the tropics and sub-tropics. Regretfully, Anguilla is unable to meet the advanced certification rules and requirements, including an IGFA-certified scale, to formally submit this specimen to the association. However, the bragging rights shall never be diminished nor denied. Perhaps this beauty from Anguillian waters could best be remembered by a replica of Patrick’s catch for display alongside Cleve’s Blue Marlin at Wallblake Airport.

| Printer-friendly page | Send this article to a friend |

World News