First Day of Fall (9/23)

[Latimeria]

I called up Steve to do a little early fall tuna run, but he had other plans.  I opted to just see what I could see instead and brought a rod from everything for bass to Bluefin.  The ocean was pretty mixed up from the hard overnight winds, even if the pictures don't really show it.

I passed a couple of buddies fishing and I saw Yoder was bent.  I slowed down to talk to Randy while we watched Yoder pull on a nice fish.  Unfortunately, it was a BSB and not the yellow he was hoping for.  I was torn whether to head out for tuna or stick around here.  The wind was supposed to get bad in the afternoon, so I decided to run to the tuna grounds. 

Plenty of dolphin at the edge of the world as well as bait and birds (I tried fishing it, but the water went from 66 on the inside to 69 at the drop-off and nothing happening)



I get another 3-4 miles out and I see a splash out of the corner of my eye.  Then I catch it again and think it's a dolphin, but then realize it may be a mako.  What the hell, I sent back a Yozuri and a feather.  In literally a few minutes my reel starts screaming and I look back to a bunch of splashing and white water.  I've never seen a mako behave like this, but no clear visual to ID it.  I was still in a little disbelief what was actually happening at this moment. Then I see a bill slash back and forth!  HOLY CRAP!  I went to take a picture but almost dropped my camera overboard and I didn't want to lose this fish. 

I later realized that I hit the video button and it took about 5-8 seconds of video and not a normal still shot.  It literally was a huge surprise since I didn't think I took anything!
I only got one clear grab and the rest was looking like a car accident or something with me throwing it onto the seat.!  I started to dig into the fight and got a flow going that put a lot of pressure on him without taxing the line.  80# on a Penn Fathom 60-2speed.  Nice gear, but possibly a little under gunned for this boy...



He actually sounded after the crazy few first minutes and I just kept working him in slow as not to make any mistakes.  Then a headshake and gone.  I would have said I was heart broken, but I'm not sure I was ready to land a marlin at this moment.  All of my big gaffs and ropes were in the hatches and I did not prepare for this... Oh well.

I lost track of the fight, but a minimum of 15 minutes, but it felt like a half hour, so I'll stick to that.  It was really fun knowing I had a marlin at the other end.

At this point the wind started to blow about 15 from the NW and made trolling just this area tough (and also soaking me with all of the spray).  The tuna guys were still about 8-10 miles away and I know I didn't want to beat myself up just getting out there, so I turned around to look to see if any of the yellows showed up.

I pinned on a BIG squid from my last squid trip and sent it out on a 1/2 oz glow egg sinker and 6/0 hook.  My trolling motor was literally coming out of the water when I had it on spotlock and the wind and the tide were in absolute opposite directions.  I was thinking just to call it early when my smaller rod doubled over!  I could tell whatever was on the end had some weight, but the line snapped.  f@ck...

Then my big rod went off!  I knew it wasn't a bat ray since it only wanted to dig straight down, but there was a lot of talk strikes on the line and weird bouncing.  I started to think I had a sevengill, but this thing was really fighting hard.  The new Batson rod was getting a work out!



He finally stops digging and I start to make some headway...  Not a Yellow... Not a Halibut.... Not a Sevengill... but an old friend.



I couldn't get any good pics as the boat was bouncing too much and I saw his airbladder/gut in his mouth.  My guess was 45 pounds.  The in the water pics didn't really show it all, but I got a picture in the boat and it was pretty impressive.  This release was so much fun with the new sonar!  After I revived him, the blob was still in his mouth, but I headfirst pushed him down and watched him swim down 45 feet on the sonar, start to come up and then went straight down to stay.  I absolutely love my Lowrance HDS Live!



I forgot how bad they can hamburger a hand!



I dropped another big squid down and got picked up again!  Same fight so I knew it was a BSB.  This time on a flop or roll and the hook pulled.  I decided to just call it the day instead of dealing with another BSB, so headed to the barn and called it a successful trip! 

I'm bummed I couldn't get all the way out for the tuna, but seriously would never have thought a Marlin and Bass would have been the fish I fought today!

That's it, thanks for reading. 

[jrodda]

Wild couple of specimens to pull on. I think that trip will stick out for a while. I would be super bummed if I lost a marlin 30 minutes into the fight but glad you weren't broken up about it.

[Latimeria]

Wild couple of specimens to pull on. I think that trip will stick out for a while. I would be super bummed if I lost a marlin 30 minutes into the fight but glad you weren't broken up about it.

Don't get me wrong, I was really bummed when I lost it and was thinking it was going to be another skunk filled day.  Catch the BSB at the end helped washed my displeasure away some.

[Tim524]

Bumpy conditions but quite the unexpected hookups, not to mention a solo session. Your Deckhand will be much appreciated for the next Marlin I'm sure

[skrilla]

I think you've caught more BSB in LJ than I have heard BSB reports. Cool Loch Ness marlin shot. 

[vdisney]

I got excited just reading this, glad you got a picture