| Once again after having just a couple days of rest, we decided
to venture out to the deep for the weekend once more. Gabe, Cole, Ronnie
Jr & Sr, Nena, Moose, Scott, YT, Lea, and myself formed another solid
crew. Will the Billfish finally evade us or will we continue the fortunate
streak.
Loaded up we leave Port Aransas around 7:00pm and cruise out
to rougher than normal conditions. While the weather forecast had predicted
2-4' all weekend, the consistent onslaught of strong southeast winds created
hellacious chop and a rough ride. Water constantly drenched the boat even
at our slow cruising speed. We arrive to our destination right before sunrise
and start trolling one of the deep water oil platforms.
We encounter a few boats who are fishing the Legends Tournament
but the overall word is things are slow. After about an hour of two of quiet
trolling I take us on over towards a sister rig a few miles away. With the
sun starting to make its presence known and a rough unorganized ground swells,
we are wondering the best strategy to take. Suddenly we get a knock down
and Gabes buddy Cole hops in the chair and is hooked up on a solid fish.
After a short fight he gets it close enough to display its dark silhouette
and eventually emerges with a bill and a nice sail to go with it. Ronnie
gets the gloves and leaders the fish.
After a few quick pics and an insertion of a tag, the beautiful
fish is released and swims off to breach another day. Congrats Cole on the
first Billfish of the weekend for the Nyati.
We troll around and over the course of an hour and get two more
knockdowns but just can't hook up. Things then become rather slow (and hot)
and begin trolling aimlessly in zigzags around the system of deepwater platforms.
We continue to troll but take some time to relax and eventually eat lunch
while the sun is beating down on us.
After a couple more hours the sun begins to let up and an 80W
begins to scream for the horizon. We get Sr. into the chair and he battles
a heavy, heavy torpedo for several minutes.
Unfortunately after a few minutes the hook pulls on the fish.
A tough loss on a monster Tuna which we came to the conclusion through yet
obviously presented evidence. Nonetheless we get baits back out and not long
and we have a mega Blue come into the spread nailing a lure for a couple
short seconds before bending the hook. Another tough loss but we will soon
get it together.. hopefully.
We trolled for the rest of the afternoon and things turned quiet
at sundown. We get organized and get the Tuna rods out hoping they would
be out in this particular area. Being quite optimistic we bring out the chum
o rama and begin drifting and chumming up a storm. The Blackfin are the first
to show up and Moose and Gabe begin slaying them on the Jigs. We begin
getting some cutbait out and Cole is hooked up on a large Tuna.... on light
tackle.
He battles the fish on an equivalent Trout rod but can he actually
overcome the true power of the fish? After about 30 minutes we get our first
glimpse of the fish and is indeed a very nice Yellowfin. Moose has to bear
hug him and the rod to keep things going. After about an hour we finally
are able to stick it and get it on board. The rewards are priceless considering
the hardware involved.
Despite the full moon hex, we are fortunate and able to coral
up the Yellowfin. Game on as Ronnie experiments on some new hardware of his
own. Ronnie strikes and then soon Moose for the double.
Not long after and Ronnie Sr. gets into the action and hooked up on a speedy
sashimi.
The madness continues through the night with various Blackfin
and Yellowfin Tuna. The seas continue to rock the boat but the action continues.
Late into the night on our chumfest we bring in a shark to the boat. Having
identification issues we think it could be perhaps one Texas' more rarer
shark species. The only way to get a closer look is to catch him so I finally
convince Scott to get a wire leader and put a bait out.
Sure enough the shark which has been devouring our chum and
Tuna baits for the past several minutes wastes no time finding Scotts bait.
Scott muscles the fish in and sure enough is what we figured.. a virtually
extinct species in our location... an Ocean Whitetip Shark.
Not sure who's crazy idea it was but he was briefly brought
on board for hook removal and a few pics. We the quickly get back in the
water and release it before he ate everyone and everything in the boat. Great
release and great fish Scott.. another species checked off the list aboard
the Nyati.
The pre-dawn hours continued and Moose and Ronnie each nail a Yellowfin
and then I finally get a piece of the action. Once again another nice Yellowfin
Tuna to be put on ice with the rest of our bounty.
As the morning came the trolling resumed. The wind and seas
picked up once again provided for a bumpy ride. I stayed up til a couple
hours after sunrise helping maintain the spread and then went inside to crash.
A few minutes later a line gets knocked down and I come back out to clear
the lines and a solid fish is jumping far behind the boat. I get Sr. back
into the chair and strapped in but highly insisted on passing it off. He
hops out and passes it to me with about no line left on a 50W. We stop the
chaos and begin chasing the fish down. The game has begun.
It was a slow battle with the fish diving deep and not
allowing to give hardly any line. Almost an hour has passed and still plenty
of line to regain on the spool. The sun was toasting the deck and I was
practically married to this fish.
A few more minutes of inch by inch momentum and I am gaining
line back. After close to an hour and fifteen minutes we see color and get
our first glimpse of the fish. It is a Marlin like we figured but slightly
larger than previously suspected.
Gabe and Ronnie grab the gloves and leader the fish which was
barely wrapped up in the leader explaining the awkward fight. Nonetheless
the line is cleared and we get the hook out for the 2nd Billfish of the weekend
and perhaps the largest Blue Marlin yet on the Nyati.
The late morning action slowed down and things began to get
choppy on the seas. A couple missed fish and we begin trolling on back towards
home. A couple hours later a fish slams the spread and we get Moose into
the chair for the fight. We still don't know what it is but saw surface activity
on the top resembling a large Dorado or small Billfish.
Moose powers in the fish while it comes to the surface and we get our first
glimpse.
It is another Marlin, a White this time. Moose gets her in green
and obtains the leader.. however the fish decides to free herself without
our help and we are unprepared not getting any close up pics before swimming
off. Regardless we get the catch and another unofficial slam for the Nyati
two consecutive weeks in a row and Moose finally gets his White for a personal
slam.
The trolling continued shortly after and then we packed it up
to head on in. We arrive back at the docks just after sunset and pull out a
few fish for the group photo. Once again the fish cleaning lasted into the
night and everyone got their share of some primo quality table fare.
We battled the seas and heard the whales (or wind) howling at
the full moon and yet were rewarded with our endless efforts. Three more
bills for the Nyati to a most deserving crew. It was great seeing Jr. and
Sr. enjoy themselves and catching fish. Congrats to Cole and Scott on their
great feats and Moose on finishing the slam. When not catching fish, Gabe
is an excellent man to have around for knowledge and help. And as always
thanks to Capt. YT and Lea for being such honorable and friendly host. Thanks
guys.
Happy B-day YT..
- Oz and crew |
