| After coming off one of our most spectacular trips yet,
we were very excited about the outlook for the '06 R.O.C. Tournament. Weather
forecast looked fair and seas looked to remain calm. Joining the regular
crew and also from last years R.O.C were Ronnie, Aggie, and Shindle.. and
new with us this year was Gabe, Ashton, and Lindsey. All the crew has
fished at least several times aboard the Nyati and things look to be shaping
up pretty good for the weekend.
We leave Port Aransas around 5:30pm and rock on out. Our plan
was to cruise out slowly saving fuel and hit our happy hunting grounds from
the week before and arrive right before sun up. We arrive around 5:00am the
next morning and see several other boats gearing up and fixing to start as
well. Come 5:30am and the games begin and boats begin to battle it out. Things
are off to a slow start and only a couple Blackfin Tuna and Mahi are being
caught. A couple prime-time hours pass with no arrival of billfish in our
area but we remain optimistic.
The trolling remains slow but we begin hooking into the smaller
variety as Shindle quickly boats a decent Blackfin Tuna. Not the monsters
we are looking for but little activity is better than none.
The day goes on and we continue to troll. Dodging various showers
and brief torrential rain, the bite is still on the slow side. Little or
no action is being presented on the surface and a large area of broken up
and scattered weed make the trolling more and more tedious. Ronnie and I
head to the Tuna tower to look for signs of life.
Another hour or so passes and unexpectedly a line in the spread
gets bashed. Gabe jumps in the chair and locks in for a fairly solid mystery
fish.
Taking no chances we treat this fish like a bill and Gabe powers
her in on the 80W. The fish finally makes it to the surface and we
are able to confirm it is indeed a billfish. An average but feisty White
Marlin. We are back in the game and pumped. Gabe has just caught his first
White from Texas waters and the Nyati's 3rd White in week. We tag and release
her for another fine day.
We continue to troll hoping its time that the action would soon pick up.
Scott stands guard.
After about an hour of trolling we start getting some knockdowns on
the outriggers and then finally get hooked up. Moose hops in the chair but
we soon realize we have a mediocre Dorado. On any other day it would be a
nice catch.. but right now we are going for the godzilla's of the sea. However,
any action at this point is more than welcome.
Moose cranks her in quickly and we leave the lines out. We continue
to troll as the sun goes down picking up pesky Blackfin (not that we don't
love Tuna or anything). We give it til about 9pm and then decide to start
the Tuna slaughter. We clear lines and head back to the rig in hopes of nailing
a few Yellowfin Tuna. Moose gets out the cutting board and we start going
to town with the chum.
We get down to business bringing in the Tuna. They then begin
hitting topwaters as well and Scott is the first one to score with a
solid Blackfin Tuna... its now Yellow but surely going into the box.
We begin banging out tuna after tuna. With no Yellowfin in sight
yet we decide to make a couple long drifts. By now most everyone has
gone to sleep and we end up putting out a shark bait.. a lively torpedo of
sorts.. to swim aimlessly on an 80W. Meanwhile we continue to harvest large
Blackfin Tuna and continue to chum. We take another pass and continue again
to hammer the tuna. About an hour passes a large fish takes the big bait..
it is either a god-like yellowfin or a shark.. our money is on a shark. We
get Aggie in the chair only long enough to get a few cranks before the fish
lets go. We reel in the bait thinking it were gone, however had been bit
in half and mangled severely... and mouthed by what was without a doubt in
all likihood a Mako.
We get another lively torpedo back out but are soon interrupted
with the first Yellowfin Tuna of the night and Shindle begins his slayfest.
Aggie soon after gets his first YF of the night and the real games are just
beginning.
We start chumming up a storm and are soon rewarded. Not long
after and I get in my first YF of the night. Another high quality chunk of
sashimi gets thrown into the ice box. Now we are getting into the action.
While still not as big as we would have hoped for, we are still
in hot pursuit of a possible giant. As the night goes on explosions erupt
all around us in the shadows. We begin to unlock the secrets of the night
as Shindle and Aggie put on a full Yellowfin Harvest nailing one after another.
After all said and done we had the fish box and 270qt icechest full of
sushi-grade Yellowfin Tuna. Ronnie continued to the drive as we would try
to gain every extra second of bait soaking time until the day crew got up
to troll. Staying up all night we were finally rewarded in the last few hours
of darkness.
After the Tuna Slaughter had concluded, the day guys got the
spread organized and begun the troll in search of more bills. Right off the
bat we picked up a couple more Blackfin in which we were now tired of. The
trolling continued for the better half of the morning and just like the previous
day things remained quite slow. We had a couple nice Dorado in the spread
and had a lure nailed but a toothy critter of sorts. Having to travel back
in YT slowly trolls us back towards home.
We end up trolling for a couple more hours and then decide to
pack it up. Shindle breaks out the pirateness and we cruise a relaxing trip
back to the marina to check out how the tournament went. While we just missed
out in placing in the White Marlin category, felt we'd at least make an
appearance.
We finally get back to the dock at sunset (minus Gabe who had
to take an escape pod to catch a flight to Grand Cayman). We begin the fish
cleaning but first and as always take a group photo of the always exciting
trip.
We just missed out on placing in this year's R.O.C. and happily
passed on the Wahoo trophy which we held at last years event. While we did
not win anything, this tournament was a test of our endurance.. for us being
out on the water 6 of the last 9 days. Upon reflection Gabe gets a beautiful
White Marlin which we were able to tag and release, and the Tuna Cowboys
went to town in the midnight hours. Just the ability to fish in any tournament
on a boat like the Nyati is an absolute pleasure. Great friends always allow
for a fun and entertaining trip and while we didn't nail the beast this trip,
our hopes are still high and will be awaiting the next great adventure. Thanks
YT and crew.
Living the Adventure..
- Oz |
