It has been a struggle worthy of being the subject of a novella like Ernest Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea", and just like the tale of the American novelist one of the proragonists is a Blue Marlin, the huge oceanic fish. This time however the fisherman is just a 18 years guy, Nick Dobbyn, but what's really astounding is that he managed to kill the Marlin with a spear gun!
It all happened in Auckland, New Zealand, which in these days is the stage of the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series that I've already spoken about in this blog. The battle lasted two hours and a half and left Nick totally exhausted but happy aout what could be probably the first Blue Marlin caught on spear.
Nick Dobbyn speared the 213kg blue marlin after he spotted it "tailing along" on the surface of the water last Saturday afternoon.
"I got ready and we got close to it, about 50-60 metres away. I jumped into the water and swam closer to it when I pulled the trigger. That's when the war started."
It took off with the most "explosive power" he had ever seen, dragging the spear, which had been clipped on to a buoy. "I had to swim to catch the buoy."
Than he tried to get more shots off - but the Marlin had other ideas and fought him for nearly two-and-a-half hours He stayed above the water for most of the battle, during which he was dragged about 3km!
Nick said he never thought of abandoning the fight: "If you're an idiot for pulling the trigger, then you have to stay with it."
Nick Dobbyn. Photo Paul Estcourt
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