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Fished with Ned Washburn and Pete Dirado hoping to get a fish for this weekends Dick Tonks Tournament... Ned seems to think he can catch a fish on my boat every year and for the last few years it's been true!... Pete is still looking for his first fish on his "New" marlin caster he bought years ago...

Started out Saturday and made bait at izors and was fortunate enough to make enough for us and for Chris who normally is loaded up down in Dana, but it didn't happen and so we offered up a few fresh baits for the day. We had hoped he and Geoff could parlay them into some fish for their Tournament....Always feels good to pass bait, if anyone ever needs it and we can spare it, we look forward to do so...

Headed back in and fixed the Autopilot so it would be ready for Sunday.

Sunday came and we were able to head out and start just below the Rigs at an area that in days prior had some early bites (Pesky Tx). Sure enough, Pete finds a tailer and we make our way towards it, but it sunk out after it popped twice. Guys were saying they weren't staying up good so easy to be out of position. No cast. We donut that area and find bait and a couple of jumpers around the bait ball so we are thinking that at least today, the fish seem to be around the bait balls...not always the case but maybe because they've been here so long, they've settle in... especially since the bait hasn't left the area it's easy for them to find. No cast, no bites....

Hear of some fish in another area and so we start that way... upon arrival, we meter another bait ball and sauries gray hounding... we decide to change to taking off the squid chains on the riggers and stingers as we haven't got a sniff all morning and Royal Slam has already had 3 bites that haven't stuck, all on "naked" jigs...

seems like that paid off as the left rigger with the Ice blue and Pink Polukai lure gets bit and we are on. Ned gets the rod and Pete and I clear and we settle into a fight with a bigger fish... with each jump you could see the fish was thick... it hardly jumped but acted more like a tuna. Luckily Ned did a great job with the fish and we didn't mess up in the end game and we were rewarded with a clean release on 30 lb... High fives around and we tried for more....Ned was tired...jelly arms he said.

Later, in that same area at the bottom of the shipping lanes we found feeders and jumpers but couldn't get Pete his fish... We pulled the rods at 5 pm and headed in. Of course we found a big jumper at 5:10 and were able to get a bait on it but it didn't bite. Another fish feeding 2 miles above at 5:30pm for not bites... By then, we were just below the bottom Rig and we boogied home with a few flags to fly...

Thanks Ned and Pete for a great day...


jeff

Pete DiRado will be a guest on Blackfin.

Thanks for the Ride Geoff!!  It definitly was a Great Trip.  Old stories about the Club and members, Jeff T & Pat comparing apps and figuring out where the fish would be...Awesome stuff...Go Dana!!!

Bringing guests David Herrera and Rusty Wink on Wild Bill.

I’ll begin by saying this was the most satisfying tournament we have participated in. The communication and sharing of information between the 3 boats was fantastic.

The results proved that when we found out we won Top Club and Top Team awards plus 2nd place angler (Chris Bailey ) and 6th place angler (Zach Waters) On top of that we were so close to winning it all in a down year where only 10 fish were released.

For the club members who don’t fish for Marlin, you need to give it a try. Sure it’s boring when you troll around all day and don’t get any action but there are days when the action in non-stop. Day 1 was one of those days.

Team Jefe graciously pre-fished on Thursday. They found the fish and had a fantastic day, releasing 2 fish. I’ll let Geoff fill in the details. This information set the stage for everyone to be in the right area at lines in.

Day 1 -Showtime

I fished with Bob Waters, Zach Waters  and Ryan McDonald. We got the pre-fish dope from Geoff and left the harbor at 5:20, head to the drop off at the 270. We had 2 working guys so we were late to the area (as usual) with lines in at 7:15.  Water temp was 70.6.

At 8:15, at 39-36 we saw a feeder but couldn’t get on it as it was too far away
At 8:40 we get a zip on port short corner, put a drop back in the water, which ended up being a shark bite off. (1)
At 9:00, at 41-38 we see a feeder
At 9:35, at 40-37 we get a knockdown on the stbd rigger, super secret EAL lure (2)
At 9:55 at 38-38 we see a feeder
At 10:10, at 38-38 we get a knockdown port rigger(3)
At 10:50, at 36-37 we see a jumper 71.5 water then get a. knockdown on the rigger and short corner (4-5),

At 11:16, we get a double on a blue short corner and eal stbd rigger. Both fish have good hook set, both fish head to the bow and are taking a lot of line off the reels. Zach is on 20 lb, Ryan is on 30 lb. Both anglers are worried about being spooled. Ryan's fish is cut off when the fish cross each other. Zach’s fish is still on. We concentrate on that fish and release it at at 11:43. We are happy as clams but realize we should have released both fish. The worst part for me is, the magic lure is gone. That lure accounted for 7 or so knockdowns this season alone(6-7),

At 12:45, at 36-37 we see a feeder,
At 1:15, at 36-36 we see a jumper,
At 37-37, we find a school of large tuna on the surface but we think it's porpoise and just motor by.
At 1:30, at 38-39 we see a feeder,
At 2:30, at 36-39 we see a jumper,

At close to 5:30 we start heading towards the island and wanted to check out the 500 fathom drop off. At 5:50, at 39-32 we get a knockdown on the port rigger (.

The count for the day 8,2,1. We had a lot of action.  We put drop back mackerel and ballyhoo in the water but never came close to getting those baits in any fish other than the shark.

There was a lot of boat activity in the area just above the 270. At some point, I decided to find new ground that wasn’t being hit hard so we moved from the 270 towards the 286. This was the best decision of the day as it put in place to get the double hookup.

Day 2
We got a late start and head to 286 area. 

At 9:30 we get a mako bite on short line and release it.
At 9:51, at 37-38 we get a knock down on the port rigger. takes a lot of line off the reel before coming off. (1). I called it in a little too soon so they counted it as a knockdown.

We worked the area we got the fish on day 1 for that single opportunity. We eventually joined the fleet above the 270. Lots of boats working that area.

At 12:45, at 40-41 a fish comes into the pattern, first on a short line, then the stbd rigger, goes to the port rigger. Zach puts drop back in water, fish goes to drop back, turns away and disappeared. Nothing else for the rest of the day. 1, 0, 0

Nice trip. Good weather. I fully believe we should have got 3 fish but that’s marlin fishing for you.