Sports

A SoCal Bro Just Caught The 2nd Largest Blue Marlin In California History, The Largest in 84 Years

#blue marlin
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Catching blue marlin in California is rare, but by no means unheard of. However, catching blue marlin in California weighing over 500-pounds is pretty much unheard of. All the massive Pacific Blue Marlin caught these days are usually taken in either Hawaii, Panama, or Costa Rica. California’s a great place if you’re looking to catch a trophy striped marlin or white marlin, but for whatever reason the big blue marlin have stayed away….until recently. This past Wednesday Matt Santora landed a 662.2-pound blue marlin fishing out of Point Loma.

Ed Zieralski of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports:

In what has been an ocean fishing season filled with thrilling catches of big, exotic fish from Southern waters, Matt Santora’s landing of a 662.2-pound blue marlin Wednesday morning nine miles from Point Loma tops them all.
So far.
Santora, 34, was fishing from his 21-foot Wellcraft center console boat, Finbomb, with his friend, Andy Vo at the wheel, when a fish hit his trolled, custom-made marlin lure made by Brett Crane of Crane Lures. It was tied to 100-pound test line. The line went screaming off, and they knew they had a good fish.
“We were fishing for marlin and wahoo, especially marlin, when it hit the lure,” said Santora, who owns Finbomb (www.finbomb.com), a fishing apparel company. “We had a good feeling we were going to get a marlin, and when it bit, we knew it was a marlin. We just didn’t dream it was this big. But once she jumped, we knew.”

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Mad props to Santora for doing something that nobody else in the state of California has pulled off in his lifetime! Also, I went fishing in that region of SoCal not too long ago and more or less got skunked. We caught some yellowtail that day and it was a fantastic day on the water, but no marlin were sighted (or caught).

For more on Santora’s near-record breaking fish CLICK HERE to head on over to the San Diego Union Tribune!