February 9, 2012 Brett’s IGFA Billfish Royal Slam

Brett fished on the 7th with me and we were lucky enough to get a nice blue marlin to help him get closer to completing his IGFA Billfish Royal Slam.  An IGFA Billfish Royal Slam consists of catching an Atlantic and Pacific Sailfish, Atlantic and Pacific Blue Marlin, Black Marlin, Striped Marlin, White Marlin, Swordfish and Spearfish.  Now Brett needed just a short nose spearfish to complete his IGFA Billfish Slam.  Today the weather was pretty rough but better than the day before.  We headed north to the Grounds and found decent water conditions but it was still fairly uncomfortable to fish in.  I zig-zagged my way into the wind trying to make it as comfortable as possible and as we got closer to the ledge the waves got steeper and steeper.  It just wasn’t looking good so I made a pass on the Middle Grounds and as we neared the ledge the long line 50lb outfit started to scream.  Brett got in the chair and started to fight the fish.  With the waves getting steeper, I turned the booat downwind so we wouldn’t rock-n-roll so bad.  The fish never surfaced and for  awhile I thought maybe we had hooked a 30-40lb yellowfin tuna.  The leader finally popped up and there it was…a 35lb short nose spearfish!!!  Exactly what we were fishing for to complete Brett’s IGFA Billfish Royal Slam!  It had taken Brett 2 years to find this elusive fish and we did it!  We see quite a few of these fish throughout the year and I can honestly say I have never been so happy to catch one!  Congratulations to Brett for capturing his final fish in his IGFA Billfish Royal Slam!