| Nyati Offshore Billfish Report
Port Aransas,
TX
August 5th-6th, 2006
Report by Oz |
We are about to make our 3rd great voyage in the past 4
weeks out far into the Gulf. As always, our plan was to rock out Friday
afternoon and take it easy hoping to save fuel and get to our destined waters
by sunrise. Our past 2 trips to the middle of the gulf resulted in Tuna and
Marlin which are happily our primary targets. Eyeing the weather, we had
high hopes and maintained a continual thirst for more. Having decided that
Rainbow Trout would be more fun than Yellowfin Tuna or a psychotic Billfish
(just joking bro), Scott skips this trip and heads up to the mountains for
an off week. To pick up the slack and join YT & Lea, Moose, and
myself is Clark, Yakmon, Josh, Dusty, and some of their chicks Susan,
Allison, and Julie. Curmit was scheduled on the trip but due to miscommunication
with his work had to miss the trip at the last second.
Packed and loaded down we finally leave Port Aransas around
6:30pm and cruise out. The seas are moderate and calming down by the hour..
looking good. Come 7am we are at the floater and begin the morning troll.
Not long after we get baits in the water a lure gets nailed.
We grab the rod and get Moose's buddy Dusty in the chair. After a couple
minutes the hook pulls on the fish. A tough loss on a possible Billfish but
we remain optimistic and get the spread back out. After only a few more minutes
of Trolling we get hooked up on a good fish and finally force Lea into the
fighting chair.
The battle wages on.
Lea battles the fish like a champ giving it all she had. After
about 10 minutes she brings in the first fish of the trip... a beautiful
White Marlin. This becomes Lea's first Marlin and the entire crew is pumped
up.
The fish is tagged and released and the Nyati gets its first bill of the
weekend.
We once again get baits back out and despite picking up the
White a bit earlier, the weed begins to kill us and we all make an executive
decision to move to a different location and troll to the new destination
a few hours away. With an hour or so we get another knock down and a better
fish. We get Moose's buddy Josh into the chair and get him strapped in for
battle.
Cranking down and fighting the fish like a pro, you'd think
he had done this once or twice before. After a quick but solid fight
we see color and know it is another Marlin. Josh gets the fish to the surface
and we can confirm it as a Blue Marlin. We get the fish near and YT decides
to have fun and handles this baby.
We get a good tag in it and a few pics and she is ready for release to grow
up and be a grander.
Josh is off the wall with his first ever Marlin. With two Marlin
under the boats belt for the day, we have many satisfied faces on board.
But as with Nyati standards, the show must go on and get back hard at work.
Soon after Yakmon gets his first of many fish of the trip with a beautiful
Mahi.
The fish keep coming and we get the rod over to Clark's wife
Susan who is already stoked then lands her first Tuna.. a beautiful
Baitfin...errr Blackfin.
A few slow hours pass and catch up on a late afternoon lunch
and are about to approach our new destination. A few baits get hit and finally
get a hook-up for Allison (Moose's Chick) and powers in another Tuna in no
time.
It is now approaching dark and we get anxious for the night
time festivities.. ie Tuna. We begin cranking Blackfin after Blackfin releasing
several. After a couple hours Yakmon gets the boats first Yellow of the night.
They would only get bigger from here on out.
Julie and Lea would be the night crew party animals while Clark
starts getting jiggity with it and after countless Blackfin of his own, he
brings in a beautiful Yellowfin.. his first ever. Meanwhile Yakmon slays
Blackfin.
A priceless smile for a solid August Yellowfin.
Soon after the trend would continue as Dusty would nail two solid Yellowfin
back to back.
After all the continuous chumming, we begin to get schools of
Dorado blasting in the lights eating our chum. I pick up the first and then
Dusty lands a solid Mahi. Meanwhile Yakmon slays more Blackfin.
Clark then hooks up shortly after on a chunk bait.. this time
to an aerial Dolphin. After a good solid fight Clark gets him close and we
stick'em with the gaff.
The fish was amazingly lit up with brilliance and Clark now had a sore body
but a hefty smile.
The night went on and Blackfin continued and a couple more YF
here and there. The chumming continued and would eventually bring in a 7'
Dusky Shark to the back of the boat to inspect things out. I've seen many
Silky's but this was one of the first Dusky's I have encountered in the Gulf.
Come early in the morning and after already losing a fairly large Yellowfin,
I was able to con one into taking a bait and finally stick my first Yellow
of the night.
YT and Moose wake up to the YF chaos and while everyone else
is passed out sleeping, we try to get the last remaining tuna of the night.
We chum up the rest of the bait and get some mega Tuna in the mix buzz the
tower. I am hooked up to another Yellow, only a monster. Meanwhile Moose
gets hooked up and nails his Yellow of the trip. Doesn't take long and Moose
gets his in.. another solid fish. However, mine is not playing games and
simply begins overpowering me with its shear size. The battle goes on til
after sunrise.
The new Breakaway Tuna rod proved to muscle in the previous
Yellowfin without a challenge, but I am being thoroughly worked here on a
tug of war battle in which I am hardly gaining. While a very well engineered
reel and superior gear ratio, the Daiwa Saltist 50H is just simply incapable
of hammering down a solid heavy drag that the competitors hi-end leverdrags
are able to do.
After a longer fight then wanted and being pulled over a half
mile, the fish munches the fluorocarbon and a possible grander Yellow is
free. Tough loss but it is times like this which make us realize you can't
always get in the big boys every time.. But I will have my revenge
soon :)
The sun is up blasting rays of hotness down and we pack up the Tuna
gear and get lines out and begin trolling. Except for a couple Blackfin and
a Wahoo things are slow and troll back towards home. After a couple hours
Moose is hard at work maintaining the spread and teases up a billfish 3 or
4 times before finally getting him to hit. We get Moose in the chair and
clear the spread.
After a few minutes of quality work Moose muscles in a very nice Sailfish.
We get the hook out and insert a tag and let the lit up sail swim back to
the deep blue.
This becomes Moose's first Sail and a the boats first unofficial
bill 'Slam'. Everyone is energetic and thrilled about the fish. We then continue
to troll for a couple more hours and things go back on the slow side until
we come across structure floating in the water. We make a few passes picking
up a couple more Wahoo before the rain gods drench the boat.
Not long and we pack it up and rock on in back towards home.
There are smiles all around the boat and this trip is once again another
success. Lots of quality fish both table fare and sport are caught and give
the new guys and girls a thrill of a lifetime.
A little victory celebration for the Nyati begins the journey home.
Late in the afternoon we get back to dock and get the traditional
group photo. Once again the flags come out and smiles remain. The cleaning
of mass amounts of Tuna, Wahoo, and Dorado wrap up the remainder of the night
as the rest of the gang clean the boat.
It is amazing how many incredible trips you can endure in a
short period of time. And while I am desperately seeking to get back down
the beach, you absolutely have to take every opportunity like this you get
to go out where not many people dare to venture. Everyone had fun and a special
thanks to YT and Lea along with Moose for helping manage the trip. The Nyati
will continue its quest for the grander Marlin and we hope to depart once
again in less than 48 hours where another report shall grace EC when we get
back. Thanks guys and until then...
Living the Adventure..
- Oz
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