Marlin spears NT boat
Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2014 2:06 pm
Pro mack fisho Norm Hedditch was working his timber boat South Seas Daniela north of Melville Island when a black marlin left him with a souvenir.
The big fish speared his boat and left part of its bill stuck in the hull.
He told FFF this week: "I never heard or saw it happen. In the evening we dropped anchor and I went down to the engine room to do the daily checks.
"I noticed the bill straight away, and thought to myself 'that wasn't there this morning'.
"It had gone right through the hull and there was several inches sticking inside.
"The hull of the boat is about an inch and a half thick, and made from tough Jarrah wood, with a fibreglass skin.
"The fish must have been doing 50km/h to penetrate the hull like that.
"I find it incredible it went through at all - you would have trouble hammering a nail through the hull."
Norm said the hull was not taking water and the incident had not cost him much in repairs because he had to slip the boat this week anyway.
"It was due for its annual paint job," he said.
"I have only heard of this happening once before, years ago, in the Torres Strait, although I believe marlin-fishing boats are occasionally speared.
"We caught only three marlin last year on our mackerel gear, so we don't see a lot of them.
"This spear is not going to come out easy, we might have to cut it off and sand over it.
"It was an almost watertight fit.
"I was concerned that if it fell out at sea we would have had a big problem with water getting in.
"The bill portion left in the boat was 175mm long and 40mm in diameter."
The big fish speared his boat and left part of its bill stuck in the hull.
He told FFF this week: "I never heard or saw it happen. In the evening we dropped anchor and I went down to the engine room to do the daily checks.
"I noticed the bill straight away, and thought to myself 'that wasn't there this morning'.
"It had gone right through the hull and there was several inches sticking inside.
"The hull of the boat is about an inch and a half thick, and made from tough Jarrah wood, with a fibreglass skin.
"The fish must have been doing 50km/h to penetrate the hull like that.
"I find it incredible it went through at all - you would have trouble hammering a nail through the hull."
Norm said the hull was not taking water and the incident had not cost him much in repairs because he had to slip the boat this week anyway.
"It was due for its annual paint job," he said.
"I have only heard of this happening once before, years ago, in the Torres Strait, although I believe marlin-fishing boats are occasionally speared.
"We caught only three marlin last year on our mackerel gear, so we don't see a lot of them.
"This spear is not going to come out easy, we might have to cut it off and sand over it.
"It was an almost watertight fit.
"I was concerned that if it fell out at sea we would have had a big problem with water getting in.
"The bill portion left in the boat was 175mm long and 40mm in diameter."