Fisherwoman nets big catch on birthday

A fishing expedition that reaps you a prize catch is the stuff of every fisherman's dream - and one that Ruth Newton, Dubai's only professional fisherwoman on her birthday.

Ruth was enjoying a two-day fishing break off Malindi, Kenya, on February 8, when she caught a 278kg beautiful black marlin.

Ruth, who skippers a 34ft Black Fin Sports Fisher, the latest in the fleet of an organisation called Yacht Solutions at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, describes her hour-and-a-half struggle to claim the catch that was five times bigger than her.

The fact that she could claim victory is a true testament of the power of technique over brute strength.

"The marlin struck and I immediately looked around for someone else to take the rod, but they were all up on the fly bridge," she recalls. As she picked the rod from its holder, the captain gunned the engine to set the hook, and the crew lunged to grab Ruth by the belt to stop her being dragged overboard by the powerful tug of the marlin.

"The first 30 minutes really hurt," she said. It took every ounce of energy in her 58 kg body to handle the struggle. "Then I broke through the pain barrier."

But she hit a stalemate halfway, and the only solution was to tighten up the drag on the reel and ask the crew to tie her with rope to the chair - just in case!

The feat has been named an unofficial All Africa Women's record and the boat captain in Malindi has issued a standing invitation to Ruth to return and take on any of the current record holders.

While the three colleagues - Ruth Newton, Chris Deane and Graham Owen, caught 1,395 lbs of Black Marlin together during this Kenyan expedition, their organisation, Yacht Solutions, has launched a campaign for Sailfish Conser-vation around the waters of Dubai.

Since the last fishing season in October of 2002, representatives of Yacht Solutions successfully caught, tagged and released back into the waters about 50 sailfish.

"Until three years ago, the sea around Dubai had the third best count in the population of sailfish around the world. However, commercial fishing has taken its toll and there has been a decline in the number of sailfish since then," says Chris Deane.