Florida’s Okaloosa County led the way more than five years ago in financing placement of nearshore FAD’s to improve pelagic fishing. Now, many more fish attractors are in the works. (Okaloosa County)

As a rule, the odds suck of any of us ever catching a blue marlin, including those of us who have worked at it for years and spent thousands of dollars trying.

Of course, for a lot of folks, it’s “So, what’s a blue marlin?” and doesn’t matter.

But you know who you are, if you have to look that big blue monster in the eye.

The odds are going up, exponentially, in the Gulf of Mexico.

Starting this year, Texas will join Florida in deployed near-shore Fish Attracting Devices (FAD’s) to make it possible to reach marlin water without traveling hundreds of miles offshore. 

Okaloosa County, Florida, put out a series of eight FAD’s in 2020-21 from 60 to 80 miles offshore, which were such an immediate success that they’re currently planning four more, even closer to shore. 

With modern high-speed catamaran fishing boats, the first 8 FAD’s can be reached in about two hours on many days. The new set may take only an hour.

And when you get out there, the fish are waiting. The first set of FAD’s produced a 300-pound blue within a week of deployment, and they’ve turned out many, many billfish and other pelagics since.

The FADS attract big schools of pelagic baitfish, which in return attract mid-size species like mahi, bar jack and blackfins, which in turn attract blue marlin.

This series of Hilton FAD’s has been approved for installation off the Texas Coast this year, bringing blue water opportunities to anglers from Galveston southward. (Hilton’s)

Texas has just received federal approval to place 14 more FAD’s this year. With backing from Tom Hilton’s Hilton Marine, an offshore data service subscribed to by most offshore commercial and recreational anglers as well as many in the oil industry, and from the Houston Big Game fishing Club, the 14 FADS, equipped with an array of scientific instruments, will be deployed within a few months, theoretically opening pelagic angling to hundreds of more boats from Galveston southward.

Add to this the continued widespread installation of high-powered 360-degree Furuno tracking sonar that can reach out thousands of yards to lock on to an individual billfish on many sportfishers plying the gulf and the odds of success are perhaps better than they’ve ever been that you can expect to catch and release a blue on any given trip in the Gulf.  

What’s It Cost?

It ain’t cheap to go marlin fishing, unfortunately, but if you have focused on battling a blue marlin, you probably already know that. The cost of the boat, the captain and mate and massive fuel expenses mean an all day trip is going to cost a minimum of around $4800. It can be more than twice that on larger boats or for an extended trip. (The Furuno Omni sonar setup alone on these boats costs over $100,000—you get the idea.)

Fortunately, you can split that expense with angler buddies—if four chip in $1,200 . . . it’s still pricey, though not prohibitive for the marlin-obsessed but income-limited. Of course, you split time on the rods with this arrangement, so your chances of being in the chair when the strike comes are reduced accordingly.

What are the odds of catching a blue in a single day trip? Not huge, but they’re far, far better than they were prior to the arrival of the fads and scanning sonar.

When to Go

Some marlin hang around far offshore in the Gulf all year long, but there’s an influx of fish generally following the 70 degree temperature line if other conditions including food availability are right, roughly from April to October, nearest to shore in July-August-September. Marlin are caught in the Gulf every month of the year, but the ones caught outside the warm months are mostly incidental by anglers looking for wahoo, yellowfin and other pelagics.

This monster 1,145.6 pound blue caught last year is the Alabama state record, evidence of the enormous size possible in the Gulf of Mexico. (Alabama DCNR)

Speaking of these species, while your odds of catching a blue marlin are relatively low, you’re odds of catching these species are very high, and they are outstanding—in fact unbeatable--table fish when eaten fresh.

The Alabama record blue,  1,145.6 pounds caught in 2023 aboard the 55’ Viking Best Trait helmed by Captain Chris Mowad, came in late October, about 160 miles southeast of New Orleans in 6500’ depths. While that was the fish of several lifetimes and caught beyond the FAD line, a blue of 300 pounds or more is a distinct possibility on any given warm weather trip for those charter captains with long range sonar and an understanding of where the FAD’s are located and how the fish relate to them. 

Learn more about Hilton’s services here: https://realtime-navigator.com. 

— Frank Sargeant
Frankmako1@gmail.com