The girl and the sea

Young Arkansas angler tackles big marlin

Emily Franks (second from right) caught this 130-pound striped marlin Dec. 30 in the Pacific Ocean near Camo San Lucas, Mexico, after her friend Smith Ney (second from left) dedicated the first fish of the day to her. Ney caught a large mahi-mahi later that day.
Emily Franks (second from right) caught this 130-pound striped marlin Dec. 30 in the Pacific Ocean near Camo San Lucas, Mexico, after her friend Smith Ney (second from left) dedicated the first fish of the day to her. Ney caught a large mahi-mahi later that day.

— On Dec. 30, Emily Franks of Little Rock ended 2010 in style when she caught a 130-pound, 103-inch striped marlin in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja, Calif.

Vacationing with her family and god-family in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Franks - a seventh-grader at Episcopal Collegiate in Little Rock - caught the fish on her first deep-sea fishing trip. Witnesses were Marshall Ney, Richalle Ney and Smith Ney of Bentonville. Richalle Ney, Franks’ godmother, invited Franks and chartered the boat through The Slippery Lizard guide service. The guide gave them a choice of fishing calm water in the Sea of Cortez or rough water in the Pacific Ocean.

“He asked us which kind of fish we wanted to catch, and my godmother said we wanted to catch big fish,” Franks said. “He held his hands about a foot apart and asked, ‘BIG fish?’ She extended her hands all the way out and said, ‘No. BIG fish!’ ”

The guide explained that they would catch a lot of small fish in the Sea of Cortez. They might not catch anything in the Pacific, he warned. But if they did, it would be big.

They rode 22 miles offshore in rough seas, but Franks said they slept most of the way. Once they got to the fishing grounds, the guide set out lines, and they trolled two hours without a bite. Franks said the group was marveling over a pod of dolphins when a marlin breached. Franks wasnot impressed and didn’t understand why the captain was so excited.

“We didn’t realize how big the dolphins were,” Franks said. “The marlin was half the dolphins’ size, and I thought, ‘That’s just a baby! I’m glad it’sa marlin, but it’s not that big.’ ”

The captain whipped the boat through a U-turn and pulled the bait across the marlin’s path. The fish struck, and a discussion ensued over who got the honors.

“Smith said since it was my first time that I’d get the first fish, but I wanted him to get it because he’d never caught a marlin before,” Franks said. “We had a little argument, but he was very gentlemanlike, and he said, ‘This is your first time. You take it.’ ”

Franks settled into the fighting chair with the rod between her legs. The battle was a long series of pumpand-reel sequences in which she lowered the rod, pulled it up and reeled furiously in repetition. After awhile, her shoulders and arms burned,and it was hard for her to muster the strength to lift the rod. Richalle Ney grabbed her wrists and helped her lift. They fought for about 45 minutes, and when Franks got the fish to the boat, she no longer thought it was a dink.

“It was big,” Franks said.“We laid it in the back of the boat, and it touched both sides. It made me realize how big those dolphins were.”

Franks was also touched by the marlin’s exquisite beauty. She described it as having shimmering shades of blue, brown and green.

Later, Smith Ney hooked and landed a large mahimahi.

As happy as she was to land such a fine trophy, Franks spread the credit around. It wouldn’t have happened without the Ney’s invitation, without Richalle helping her pump the rod and without Marshall cheering her on during the fight.

“And it definitely wouldn’t have happened if Smith hadn’t been such a gentleman and let me have the fish,” Franks said.

For Emily, the marlin capped a great sporting year in which she also killed her first deer.

Dr. Hayden Franks, a Little Rock dermatologist, said the biggest fish that got hooked that day was not the marlin,but him. Taxidermy and shipping costs for the fish exceed $1,000 and climbing.

“I must have ‘sucker’ tattooed on my forehead,” Dr. Franks said. “They called and said, ‘Oooh, Mr. Franks, your fish is almost ready. We just need $450 for crating fees.’ Then, they called and said, ‘Oooh, Mr. Franks, your fish is almost ready. We just need $300 for shipping fees.’ It’s become a pretty expensive deal.”

The final battle is taking place over where to mount the leviathan. Emily wants it in her bedroom, over her bed. Mom says no.

“The fight is on,” Dr. Franks said. “They’re both pretty strong-minded, so we’ll see how it turns out. We’re repainting her room. It was pink, more of a little girl’s room, but Emily wants to repaint it so the marlin will look better in there.”

“I think it’s just partly her wanting me to stay a little girl,” Emily said. “She doesn’t want a great, big fish in my room.”

Sports, Pages 32 on 02/20/2011

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