Q: I'm in the Andamans now and will start fishing soon. I was just wondering what the best depth is for targeting blacks? And would lures do the trick, or is a dead bait much better? Where do think they would congregate the most?
Jason Pipe,
Canary Islands
A: Good question. Blacks are more of a continental-shelf species than the blue marlin you are used to in the Canary Islands, more like sailfish as far as water depths are concerned. I catch most of my blacks in 100 fathoms or less. I've caught heaps of big blacks in water less than 50 fathoms and even hooked a bunch in 30 to 35 fathoms. That being said, this year in Cairns was slow along the shelf but pretty decent out wide (10 to 50 miles) in 1,000 to 3,000 fathoms around big tuna concentrations.
In Cairns, we use natural baits more than lures, mostly dead baits. We do use live tuna maybe 10 to 15 percent of the time if we know exactly where the fish are concentrated and the weather's calm.
Any shelf that sticks out from an island and holds small tuna in a given spot is prime live-bait country for blacks or blues. If you have to roam and cover ground to locate the fish, use the same lures you do on blue marlin and/or big yellowfin tuna. Commercial tuna fishermen have caught a lot of big marlin on metal jet heads.
Blacks are very different from blues — more like sailfish, only bigger and stronger. I've had one up behind a dead bait for more than 30 minutes and still got a bite. That would never happen on a blue! And remember, no marlin cares how pretty or expensive your lures are — cheap and ugly ones work just as well.
