Quote from: jrodda on Today at 11:30:26 AMExciting trip! Never a saw a paddy this weekend so hopefully some of those drift up this way.

It was only a manhole sized paddy, but held a TON even 50 yards away!  As for the one I found when the navy threw me out, well that was as big as your boat!

My shoulder was toast, but I needed another shot at marlin.  I reset the Curmudgeon to fish and only planned on hitting the water from 6-12.  The forecast seemed it would be the best day all week, so I needed to get out there again and try to redeem myself for the lost marlin.

I headed straight out to where I was on Saturday and the forecast was totally wrong!  It was windy and choppy the entire way out!  Ugh... I get out there and start trolling.  There are like 4 other boats all doing the same thing and looked suspiciously like fishing for wahoo and marlin.







I had zero hits and was wet from all of the spray coming over the rails when I saw the big paddy!  I ran over and started casting my little iron and instantaneously caught 4 tiny yellows in a row, but there were dodo all over the paddy!  Then a guy in his 36' Pursuit trolled right next to the paddy as I'm fishing it but no time to get pissed.  I pulled in a few small YFT (Nerf football size) and even hooked a few of the dodo that launched my iron like a missile when they jumped! 

I was ready to tie on a better lure to get the dodo when I hear cop sounds behind me.  There was a navy boat behind me saying I had to clear the area.  There were 4 other boats around, but he shot up to me first.  I was like "Are you kidding?"  "There's a million miles of abyssal plains for you to do drills but you have to park it over the ridge everyone comes to fish?"...  He said I need to be 7-miles from this location in a north easterly direction at bearing blah blah blah...
He didn't like that very much, so I complied and started heading in that direction as well as the big Pursuit that kept trolling around me.

He shot over to another boat and kicked them out before moving to the next boat and doing the same.  I got a mile away and said f@ck it and threw the trollers back out and the Pursuit did the same.  We were heading exactly on the course he said to go.  Then the Pursuit hailed me and said to look back...  There was that Navy Squid all up on my ass telling me to go.  I said "I can only go 15 tops in these seas and I'm trolling at 10, what's the difference, I'm heading to where you told me to head".  Well, he didn't like that even more and gave me a final warning so I reeled up the rods and gave him the big final bird before running again.  I know he saw it because his loud speaker said something the minute I did it.





I got about 5 miles away and said f@ck him and put the trollers out.  I saw more mantras jumping and flying fish, but was on the outside ledge of the shelf before getting into rockfish land.  As I was going, I saw a big Mola that followed me around and more mantas jumping. 







Then I caught a glimpse of it again and it was a marlin!  I pretty much had everything reeled in except my marlin gear and started boxing the area.  ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!

Literally 5 seconds and one jump later he was off.  10 more circles and I decided I was done.

On the way in, I found a paddy and started using my little bass jig on it.  Well, no ahi... or wahoo.... But TONS of tiny yellows! I caught about 12 and released before packing it in for the barn.



No fish in the bag for me but also a lot less cleaning when I got home.  My shoulder is a wreck, but it felt good to get the boat out 2x in a weekend.

Thanks for reading and pictures to come later.

I had my buddy who bailed on me last minute for an emergency, but I already had the boat packed so was on in the morning no matter what.

I wasn't sure what was going on locally over the week, but I knew it would be a little bumpy for the Curmudgeon... and it was billed as forecasted.  Sharp/short period 3-4' waves @5 seconds made for a sporty trip out to the 9-Mile.



Water was super clean and bright blue, so I threw out the trollers.  I put out a 4-rod spread with a big Mad Mack for wahoo, a big marlin troller, and two chrome jet heads in case.
I ran south but didn't see much.  Plenty of Devil Rays and flying fish, but very little else in the way of the signs that I was looking for.  I missed a few of the jumps, but also potentially saw a few marlin mixed in with the rays.



I switched to head north and try the 178 area instead.

It was a long, boring troll and I was thinking about maybe just heading to LJ and look for yellows when both of my Jet Head rods doubled over and started screaming!



I got both in and they were legit skippies!  All lit up as hell and the fresh pictures just make them glow!
I cast out a small iron on my bass gear and a screamer again!  I gaffed this one, but it showered my boat in blood, and I didn't like that outcome so I decided I would bounce more if I had the chance.
Next cast and I had the chance!  Unfortunately, I bounced him on the casting platform, the hook pulled and he rolled out of bounds like basketball and back into the drink.  Oh well.







I continued my troll and found a beautiful paddy that appeared to be full of bait.  I pulled out the little iron on the bass gear and started jigging it by the paddy.  Well, the same as last week... this paddy was full of little nerf sized yellowfin tuna and small ½ to 1-pound yellows.






I think I caught a dozen total, maybe more and released all of the baby yellows, but kept the footballs.  I saw a few dodo but I couldn't get them to bite for some reason.  I decided to troll circles around the paddy and see if there was anything bigger on it or around it.  I made about 8 loops before deciding to start to troll home when my marlin rod started screaming!

Nice striper doing the greyhounding thing and my first marlin for the curmudgeon?  I fought it for about 10 minutes, and I could not get him to budge from 30 yards from the boat.  I got him close once, but he went... "NOPE" and then locked me down.  I started to angle the boat in a way so I could gain some ground when he jumped again and threw the hook... UGHHHH!!!!



Well, I didn't need any more marlin meat anyway and I went from thinking I was going to release him to keeping him, so it was bound to get off since that was my original plan.  LOL

I worked my way back through a desert and just called it as it was getting late and the only thing I found on any remaining paddies were the tine yellowtail, so all in all it was a great day.  I would have loved to get my mitts on the marlin, but I still had a lot of fun fighting it on my skiff. (My skiff lacks a lot of room to maneuver around the console!)

That's it.  I'll post pics later tonight or tomorrow.

The way in was a mess with the Thunder Boats racing in MB.  Too many drunk idiots out there....

I had an almost epic day on Saturday and almost had a more incredible day today!  f@cking Navy Squids pretty much closed down all of the inshore banks and forced me off my paddy full of YFT, YT, and Dodo.  f@cking really pissed me off....

I'll get a post up here as soon as I can.

Yep, that all seems right about the Maiden Voyage!  Once again, beautiful boat!

As far as the GWS... I've seen a dozen jumps in my boat and they are always unreal!  Squatch used to think I was lying until he finally got to witness a big one leap!  Super cool stuff.

Man... you guys didn't just go fishing, you went on a full‑blown Survivor: Dana Point Edition. LOL

Fuel line patchwork, dead battery, sunglasses retrieval mission, bathroom pit stop... at this point I'm convinced Jake's real job on the boat is "Chief Crisis Pump‑the‑Bulb Officer."

That skipjack story had me laughing, especially since you were thinking you've got a medium bonito and suddenly... your reel starts singing opera. And Jake's first gaff job being a literal blood sprinkler? Chef's kiss. That console is gonna smell like a crime scene until at least Thanksgiving.

Glad you broke the pelagic curse though. A season without one would've been rough, but you pulled it off with style... and duct tape. The turds at the end were just the ocean's way of saying "good hustle."

Solid report, Jeremy. You earned that poké.

I'm just flooding the boards for no good reason now....

I was thinking about getting some better-quality stuff made for the XX edition but would probably need to pre-order so I don't purchase more than I need to.  Would you guys be willing?  I have a few months of recover for my Surgery in November, so I will have time to get some things done.

I'm going to start making smaller versions for rockfish.  These things really work great.

I just picked up a free descending device online, so no longer have to use the wire hanger rig but I will keep it on board in a pinch.

I just sold some more fossils, so now I bought the electric reel and sweet rod for basically rocks!

Koga is going nowhere this year.  I need to crush that Zonie this season!

I'm just looking at this boat again.  What a cool little rig!

I'm looking forward to seeing what you catch on that beast!  Best time possible to pick up that boat!

500+ Pound Blue Marlin....

500 Pound Bluefin Tuna....

Wahoo in SoCal....

Amberjack in SoCal....

Manta Rays, Whale Sharks, etc....

Timmy my boy!  Get the Cyclops out!!!!