Entry by cmco While jigging deep over some structure in the Sea of Cortez the call came out of two of my fishing partners at virtually the same time “Tailers, Marlin, Marlin Marlin!” Quickly looking behind I see two tailing Billfish about 30 yards behind my kayak. All at the same time I am reeling in a five ounce jig from about 250 feet deep, letting out a live mackerel and paddling towards the tailers before they sink out. I finally got to the area where the tails were well less than a minute ago and the billfish are nowhere in sight. I decided to troll the live Mack around the area for a few minutes to see if they may still be in the area. After two or three minutes more of paddling the clicker on my lever drag reel starts to buzz slowly, not like a fish has taken the bait, but like I have a very nervous bait fish on the line. Continuing to paddle hard looking back over my shoulder I see the water exploding with the sight of a large Sailfish hitting my bait. Suddenly he takes the bait and runs. I grabbed the rod with both hands and hold on tightly while I throw the lever drag from off to full on to set the hook. The circle hook sets, the rod bends in half, the kayak spins 180 degrees and we are headed straight out to sea. The fish realizes that he is hooked up and starts jumping and spinning trying to throw the hook. As a life long freshwater fisherman it really is incredible how powerful this fish is. He is jumping so high and I am so low in the water it feels like I am flying a 110 pound kite. The fight goes on for the better part of an hour giving and taking line. Finally my wind on leader knot clicks through the rod guides and the fish is within 30 feet of the boat. This it the most unnerving part of the battle. There is a 110 pound fish with a two foot sword on his nose directly below my boat. We are separated by about a quarter inch of plastic and a few feet of water. At this point it becomes very clear to me that this fish can do whatever he chooses to. He tightly circles, shakes his hear, and makes a few more runs over the next half of an hour. We decide it is time to land the fish. My guide Jim Sammons from La Jolla Kayak Fishing paddles slowly up between the fish and my self and slowly pulls the fish up to leader, as he reaches for the bill the hook pulls and the Sail slowly swims away.

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