Fact: If you want to run your own boat out into the ocean and fish for marlin, you’ll have some bills to pay. Big Bills. Fact: The first time you watch a billfish tail-dance from the port side of your boat to the starboard side you won’t care one iota about how much the trip cost.
We spend plenty of allegedly disposable income on fishing boats, fuel, rods, reels, and lures, and no form of fishing eats through the angling budget quite as effectively as the pursuit of bluewater pelagics. You might be tempted to try tangling with a billfish on the cheap, but cutting corners in this case simply doesn’t work. If catching a marlin is in your plans pry open that wallet and get ready to throw around some cha-ching.
Buy A Dredge
A shocking number of people who fish offshore and hope to catch a billfish fail to spend the money on a dredge. For a couple-few hundred dollars you can get a good small-boat dredge (plus a weight and line for rigging) that stows easily and can be deployed from a stern cleat. And it will boost your chances of success by a huge margin — there’s a reason why no serious billfish pro on the planet would be caught trolling rigged baits for whites without a dredge in the water. Check out the Stripteaser Small School Kit Marlin Dredge, Strike Point Tackle Value Bar Dredge Kit, and Squidnation Australian Small Boat or Compact Dredge Kits at Alltackle for some affordable options.
Buy A Spreader Bar
Yes, we said a spreader bar — sure it’s a tuna lure, but these things attract a ton of attention and since most small boats will have half as much fish-attracting stuff dragging through the water behind them as a big boat professional will, pulling one is a good move. Just be sure to deploy it on the opposite side from the dredge and run a ballyhoo 10’ to 20’ behind it and off to one side, so the billfish has something more to its liking close by if all that splashing commotion draws it in. Keep a close eye on it, too, and if you see a weird-looking stick flipping around among the plastic squid, crank the ballyhoo up to the bar then drop it back repeatedly until it catches the fish’s eye. We could specify a few choices here but the truth of the matter is that any spreader bar splishing and splashing along the surface will draw attention and you don’t actually want the fish to eat it, so take your pick.
Buy Twice as Many Ballyhoo
Unless you’re a pro, you have a pro aboard, or you’re exceptionally good at rigging ballyhoo, half the baits you’re rigging are bound to be sub-par. Actually, it might be more like 75 percent. The reason is because a rigged ‘hoo should swim, not drag through the water. How often do you hold your bait next to the boat, to watch it and make sure it’s swimming and in a fully upright position? Do so, and you’ll be amazed at how many of the baits you rig don’t cut it. Full disclosure: I’ve been rigging ballyhoo for well over 30 years and even back when I had a boat at the beach and fished offshore 30-plus times a season, at least a third of the baits I prepped needed additional attention and adjustment before they were swimming properly.
Here’s the costly rub: you can only adjust the way a bait is rigged so much, before you either rip the belly, split the bill, or otherwise ruin the ballyhoo. At that point you have two choices: run a crappy bait, or rip it off the hook and start all over again. If you really want to fool a marlin into biting, the choice is obvious… so bring twice as many baits as you think you’ll need.
Buy SST
Yeah, you can find free services, and they’re helpful. But not nearly as helpful as the pay-fors. You’ve heard us mention SiriusXM Fish Mapping more than once, and there’s a reason for it beyond the fact that they’re FishTalk supporters. The freebies tend to update their intel far less often, offer far lower resolution, have fewer fish-finding features, and you certainly can’t access them when you’re in the middle of the ocean. That’s why they’re free. Pony up, and you’ll discover you do a lot less guessing and a lot more catching.
Buy a Slip
Yup, this one costs big-time. But when you have your boat in a slip at one of the oceanic marinas, you’ll have the chance to meet and talk with many other offshore anglers, and hopefully a few of the professionals. You’ll learn a ton even just getting a transient slip for a week or two. You’ll see what’s on the end of everyone’s lines as they come in at the end of the day, and you’ll quickly figure out who’s been successful and who has not. Spend as much time as you possibly can at the marina for as long as you possibly can, hang out at the dock bar and restaurant (there went more money!), and spend breezy afternoons waxing your boat. You’ll be amazed at how many knowledgeable people you can meet and how much you can learn.
Budgetary Maneuvers
We know it can be tough to go offshore fishing on a budget, but we do have a few suggestions on how to save some cash elsewhere to make it possible:
- Sell your spouse’s car. They’ll be in better shape if they bike to work (explain this gently).
- Sneak around the neighborhood on recycling day and snag all the aluminum cans out of the recycle bins. Aluminum goes for about $0.30 a pound, which is 32 cans. So 480 cans equals one gallon of gas at the fuel dock. If your boat has a 100-gallon tank 48,000 cans will completely cover your bill. See how easy that was?
- eBay your kids. Shoes. We meant to say eBay your kid’s shoes.