About 10 years ago Joseph Koening started fishing with me. He always brought his 8 year old daughter Jordan with him. She loved fishing with her father and as you can see from the pictures, they had a lot of fun together on tour boats. We had one day about 8 years ago, where Joseph caught over 5 striped marlin on the fly with me, that was a great day.
A few days ago Joseph and Jordan fished with me again,.. Jordan is 18 now and going to college.. Its so much fun to fish with our guests and friends and watch the kids grow up. every year they get a little older and next thing you know, they are young adults. Its really cool to watch Jordan grow up into this wonderful young lady.
This time it was Jordan's turn on the fly rod for striped marlin. We went over everything and she was ready.. We put the teasers on the water and 10 minutes later had a hot striped marlin come up on the spread. This fish was really hot! So, he came in crazy fast.. Jordan kept her cool and made a good cast. As soon as the fly hit the water, the marlin pounced on the fly. Jordan set the fish hard and the fish exploded into the air right next to the boat.. With a minute or so, the reel was screaming and fish and taken about 300 yards of backing and was grey-hounding away from us.
About half way through he fight, Jordan foot slipped, and she lost her footing. She almost got pulled out of the boat, but she was a trooper and didn't let go of the rod..She regained her footing by herself, and continued to fight this bull of a marlin.. After about 45 minutes she got the fish to the boat and we got a quick picture before releasing it.. the fish was strong and healthy.
This was 100% Jordan, All's I did was coach her.. Great job girl and what a super memory to last a lifetime.
This story could end right here, but it was now her father turn at a striped marlin.
So Joseph gets ready and we put the teasers out. We stayed in the same area and saw nothing. I wanted to go downwind as I was betting the marlin had left the area and we tailing down water. Everyone was looking at me kind of funny, "you leaving fish to go find fish?" Thats one of the biggest no-nos out there.. Well, we left the area and went downwind. I got lucky (my middle name) and soon afterward another super hot marlin came into the spread… Again this fish pounced on the fly and took off like it was headed to Hawaii. This fish fought totally different than Jordan's fish, this brute was a down and deep fighting fish.. Joseph fought this fish for over and hour and half, battling for every inch of line reeled in.. Finally the fish was at the boat and as I was leading him, and getting ready to grab the bill. The fish gave a super hard tail flick, and one big head shake and in a mili second, it was broken off.. If we grab the leader on a striped marlin, its a caught fish. We use very short leaders on our marlin fly rigs, usually 5 to 6' ' long.
So both father and caught caught striped marlin on the same day.. What a super cool experience and it was a honor to be part of this great experience. Thanks guys for fishing with me all these years!
BTW. Joseph had the new Cam Sigler 4 piece 14 wt marlin fly rod and it was a super rod. Just great rod to cast and fish with.. It has the softer tip for casting and the super strong butt for fighting big fish.. I cant recommend it enough.
Jordan and me with her first striped marlin on the fly.
A younger Jordan with a dorado.
Joseph, and a younger Jordan with a striped marlin.
8 year old Jordan with a dorado.
A teenage Jordan with a dorado
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