100 pound Albino Sailfish in Quepos video

[GringoJohn]

I finally got my new Nikon D5100 camera today, and today we took it out for the first time on the water. Got some really good aerial shots of some sailfish, and also some video from it. We were actually hooked up today, when a totally white, albino sailfish swam right past the boat. I've only seen one other one my entire time down here so we were casting, and jigging and popping trying to get it to bite something. After I finally realized it wasn't going to bite, I ran for the camera and snapped a short little video on the beast!!! Check it out:

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[sarabande]

I trust that you eat every fish that you hook and land. Frankly to do otherwise as in releasing the fish begins to ask questions of your understanding of the word cruelty.

 

[GringoJohn]

I trust that you eat every fish that you hook and land. Frankly to do otherwise as in releasing the fish begins to ask questions of your understanding of the word cruelty.

Ok, let's say your wife buys you a ticket to see Brazil. You are super excited to go, and while you are there, you want to explore the rain forest a little bit. let's say you go on a tour. While you are touring the jungle, you get caught in one of the native people's trap. They find you, and we'll say the local indian sketch artist draws a picture of you with ashes...or whatever Indians draw pictures with, maybe clay or dung or whatever... At that point, would you rather they filet you and eat you, or let you go???

First time I have ever heard that catch and release fishing is cruel, and killing the fish and eating them in Humane... We'll agree to disagree...

 

[WestWittering]

Wow - it looks prehistoric. I'd be terrified of the pointy bit! & in the last photo I think it's getting angry.


Di

 

[Fantasie 19]

Wow - it looks prehistoric. I'd be terrified of the pointy bit! & in the last photo I think it's getting angry.


Di

Well to be fair you might be too...

John - how stiff are the swords on those fish?? is it bone, or are they sinew/gristle??? Seem to remember reading somewhere that there have been instances of those swords getting stuck in wooden boats.....

 

[Nautibusiness]

Well to be fair you might be too...

John - how stiff are the swords on those fish?? is it bone, or are they sinew/gristle??? Seem to remember reading somewhere that there have been instances of those swords getting stuck in wooden boats.....

I have been lucky enough to catch (and release) quite a few Blue Marlin in my time.
The bills on all bill fish are rock solid. As sharp as a spear.
I've fished off a wonderful boat, Dreamin 'On, a Garlington 78. She's a stunningly built grp boat, but with a wooden transom and that transom is well and truly battle scarred with pot marks from bills along it's length.

The entire Billfish family is indeed fascinating and also remarkably diverse. Sailfish are one of the smaller species in the family with the Black Marlin growing to the largest sizes.
Sailfish and Blue Marlin are the most acrobatic of the family and it is these displays which attract anglers from the world over to fish for these incredible fish wherever they may be found.
The Broadbill Swordfish is the sheer brut of the family that has immense stamina and strength. They spend the days down at the edge of the continental shelf and are found in both tropical and surprisingly temperate seas. At night they rise up through the water column to chase down fish and squid.
The Black Marlin can be truly enormous, hard to distinguish by the untrained eye from the Blue Marlin with a key point being the pectoral fins don't fold flat. Possibly the cherry on the top of the cake for most billfish anglers despite the relative lack of acrobatics compared with the Blue. This cherry tends to be for those that have caught the fabled "Grander". A 1000lb Marlin is a huge fish, but most likely attainable by those fishing for Blacks.
Several other species of Billfish and Marlin exist and then you can also move across into the very weird world of the Sawfish... stranger still.

 

[GringoJohn]

Man, it's hard to say what's it's made of. They are pretty durable, but if the fish goes nuts when you grab it's bill and you don't get the bill close to the mouth, they'll break off. I've only seen it happen once, as my mate handles a lot of fish, and I imagine he already cracked it somewhere else. We see lots of them with no bills though, so who knows. They are very stiff though, and they have little spines all the way down the bill that are lick a super sticky sandpaper. They can slap another fish and cut it in half from the abrasive. You have to wear gloves or it'll take the skin on your hand just by rubbing up against it. Very interesting fish.