Marlin Caught Off Washington Coast

Fri., Sept. 5, 1997

From Staff And Wire Reports

This is a big fish tale.

Two men fishing from a small boat on Wednesday landed a 104-pound marlin, the first ever caught off Washington’s coast.

“I’ve been keeping a list of fishes that have been recorded in Washington state and no marlins appear on my list,” Wayne Palsson, a senior fish biologist with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, said Thursday from his Mill Creek office.

Marlin usually are associated with tropical waters. On the Pacific coast, they seldom stray north of the southern Baja peninsula.

But water temperatures off the West Coast have been unusually high thanks to El Nino, a weather phenomenon that brings a massive influx of warm weather from the equatorial Pacific. That’s attracting an exotic mix of tropical fish rarely seen in the region, biologists say.

Dick Miller of Cle Elum and Mike Halbert of Issaquah were fishing for albacore tuna in a 24-foot boat when they hauled in the exotic catch Wednesday morning about 30 miles off Grays Harbor.

“We realized what we had after it jumped six or eight times,” said Halbert, 55. “We knew what marlin looked like. We were pretty shocked.”

Halbert said it took about 90 minutes to get the marlin in the boat.

Local journalism is essential.

Give directly to The Spokesman-Review's Northwest Passages community forums series -- which helps to offset the costs of several reporter and editor positions at the newspaper -- by using the easy options below. Gifts processed in this system are tax deductible.

Meet Our Journalists

Jesse Tinsley

Meet Jesse Tinsley. As a certified drone pilot, this veteran Spokesman-Review photographer often can be seen capturing beautiful aerial photographs of our region. Sometimes though, the job requires getting down with the dogs.
Jim Meehan

Jim Meehan is no stranger to Zag Nation. As the lead writer covering the Gonzaga men’s basketball team, he tells the stories behind the game and gets fans a bit closer to their favorite players.
Molly Quinn

There is no artist in Spokane like Molly Quinn. Her whimsical style is instantly recognizable to readers of The Spokesman-Review. She has painted gorgeous illustrations that instantly elevate the journalism accompanying it. She brings to life the stories that defy photography. She makes our pages better.
Rob Curley

Spokesman-Review editor Rob Curley loves to talk with people and learn about their lives, whether it's a best-selling author or a stranger he meets downtown on his walk to lunch. It's that inquisitive nature combined with a playful sense of storytelling that helps make our newspaper different than most.