fish T A L E S
Just then the surface burst
in a blur of iridescent blue
and ocean foam. Both fish
came soaring out of the
water simultaneously. They
hung in the air, sizing up
their enemy, and disap-peared
into the same hole.
Everyone saw the lines were
wrapped and tangled.
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WBM
“Roger, that fish is gonna come straight up when it feels the
pressure. Be ready to reel,” Luis yelled down from the flybridge.
Just then the surface burst in a blur of iridescent blue and ocean
foam. Both fish came soaring out of the water simultaneously. They
hung in the air, sizing up their enemy, and disappeared into the same
hole. Everyone saw the lines were wrapped and tangled.
“Go to neutral!” the Dawn Lee’s captain yelled to El Conquistador
as he pulled both throttles back. “You gonna have to cut your line.”
“Cut yours!” Luis challenged.
Wilbur was capturing all the action on his camera. He knew he
was witnessing something special. Ironically, Roger was thinking as
he waited for his fish to jump again that no one from his little home-town
of Frostville, North Carolina, would believe this tale.
With the lines crossed, each angler was now tied to almost
2,000 pounds of raw fury. Neither boat was willing to cut its line.
There was all kind of danger. The boats were too close, the two fish
together exerted more power than one man could possibly reel in, any
mechanical malfunction could cause a collision, sinking one or both
boats, and who knows what else could happen. Marlin have rammed
boats and even impaled fishermen. Their spears are 4-foot weapons
of destruction. But the stubborn fishermen were
not going to yield.
The fish went deep again. In the lull before
the next action, Wilbur swung his camera
toward the El Conquistador. With the boats
stern to stern the camera was focused on Roger.
Wilbur could see the intense concentration
on the angler’s face. Just then Roger picked up
the rod tip and reeled hard. Some gut reaction
in Wilbur made him stay with the shot. He
recognized the man!
The fish again exploded through the
surface, coming up only a few feet from the
El Conquistador’s stern. The mate was startled
and stumbled backward, falling to the deck.
The two fish slammed the transom with their
full weight. The male slid off to the port side.
The much larger female’s
spear came halfway
up over the stern and
impaled Roger in his
face.
There was a momen-tary
pause and then the
heavy fish slipped back
into the water, dragging
Roger with it. The mate
scrambled to his feet and
grabbed for him, but he
was gone. Just gone.
Wilbur gasped but kept filming. The guys on
the Dawn Lee were at the stern looking into the water. Nobody moved.
The captain of the Dawn Lee shouted for Squiggy to throw a life
ring toward where Roger had disappeared. When the ring hit the
water, it automatically activated an EPIRB (Emergency Position
Indicating Radio Beacon). He came off the flybridge and jumped into
the water. The El Conquistador’s mate went in too. They dove under
but knew it was futile. The weight of the attached rod and belt would
have taken Roger down even if he wasn’t mortally wounded from the
stab in the face.
Squiggy told the man who had been fighting the male marlin to
reel in to see if it was still on the line. He did but the fish was gone.
The fish had definitely won this round.
Wilbur and Squiggy pulled the Dawn Lee’s captain out of the
water. Luis came off the flybridge and helped the mate climb back
on the El Conquistador. They rafted up the boats side by side. The
activation of the EPIRB would bring swift action.
The Dawn Lee’s captain stood in the cockpit drying off.
“Ain’t never seen nothing like that,” he said. “I’ve had people fall
overboard before but could rescue ‘em pretty quick. That fish looked
like it meant to kill that man.”