| The weekend weather was looking quite optimal for once in
terms of billfish encounter probability. With that being said, another journey
aboard the Nyati takes place over the weekend. Repo and Mickey join Jared,
Ronnie, Scott, Capt YT, and myself for the expedition.
We left Padre Island late Friday afternoon after replacing and
fine tuning a slight mechanical issue. By 10pm we are at our temporary location
in attempt for Swordfish. The wind had died down and the seas were calming
drastically. With a well lit moon still up, it was killing our bite. We made
a couple of long drifts without activity and moved into deeper water a few
miles. We made another long drift and while still slow, bait starting showing
up in the lights. After a while we started netting several grander Flying
fish non-stop.
Still slow we obtain some bait and keep them iced down for some
possible Tuna for the following night. We shortly take off and head to our
main destination by sunrise.
Come day-break we get some nice baits and throw them in the
Tuna tubes while Ronnie rigs up some live baits.
The sun rips over the horizon and the day is fixing to heat up.
With Scott, Jared, and Repo managing the baits, we have a good
feeling about the day and the anticipation that something is about to happen
grips us. Not long and a bait is picked up. Scott feeds the fish the bait
the then hits the drag. Fish On! It is a big girl, with an appetite for a
large meal. Hopping in the chair, Scott is ready for battle.
Scott battles the fish, strategic in fashion, always staying
on the game and compensating for any unpredictable moves. A solid mass of
Marlin, the fish comes in slow and steady on the 130 and then line often
disappeared back off the reel. Each passing minute Scott is able to gain
small amounts of line back. After nearly 45 minutes, we have the fish less
than 100yds from us and Ronnie is ready awaiting the leader.
We get the fish closer and finally see color. Shortly after
we work it to the surface and our guesses are correct, it is indeed a solid
healthy Blue Marlin, and probably our largest Blue of the year thus far.
Ronnie maintains a good flow of water over the fish to allow for a good revival
and safe release.
Ronnie and I switch positions while he gets his camera for a
couple quick pics. Scott hops off the chair gets a good look at his trophy
Marlin ready for release.
The Marlin is released and swims off hopefully to put on a couple
hundred more pounds for a future battle with a sportfisher. Scott has landed
his largest Blue Marlin to date.
We run out of desirable baits and begin trolling. The seas have
flattened out and the sun reigns the day with pure hotness and bright skies.
A couple more hours pass and with Scott up at the helm Jared, Repo, and Mickey
maintain the spread. We get a knock down and the fish starts breaching away
from the boat. Marlin... Fish On!!!
Jared jumps in the chair and we clear the lines.
This fish, a cracked-out Marlin, has an affinity for
adrenaline-induced domination, and a lean attitude to match. The restless
fish actively breaks the surface ruling the realm between air and water.
Reminiscent of the shark in the movie Jaws as it sways its head out of the
water trying to chew his way through the rope, we see in the vast distance
a head and bill that wave and slice repeatedly in the air.
Jared pounds on this fish with the 80W. Showing no mercy, he
battles the fish to boat very quickly. Technique smooth and steady, form
and performance... flawless. After a few short minutes the fish is in range
and Ronnie grabs the leader and I sneak in and grab the bill.
Still very energetic and disturbed by the fact that if fell
prey to a plastic display of bait, the Marlin is chaotic at the boat. Banging
me up fairly good I hang on just long enough while Ronnie removes the hook
and Jared to take a view at his beautiful Blue Marlin.
Jared leans over and get a quick picture. After a few seconds
the fish is released and wastes no time shooting off deviating away from
the boat.
Another successful Blue Marlin release for the Nyati. A good
way to break in the weekend. We get back to the grind and get baits back
out. With the pouring heat and pure calmness, the action has slowed down.
We continue on.
We troll for several more hours enjoying the time on the water.
Jamming out to music or listening to the football and baseball games on the
radio, we are always in good spirits and enjoy the time away from our real
'lives'.
Later in the afternoon we get a couple knockdowns. We then get
a fish come into the spread and nail the center-rigger. It comes back and
hits it at the surface just long enough to see a bill break the surface while
slashing the lure. The fish is shy enough to not eat the bait and we just
can't get a hook up on him. We troll around for a bit longer with a couple
more knockdowns with little activity until sunset.
Come sundown we put up the trolling gear and prep for the Tuna
bite. We begin jigging and the Tuna action is not responding well to the
bright moon right overhead. We get near the rig and jig up a few Almaco Jacks
up to 20+ pounds. We nail countless hardtails that we throw in the livewell
for bait later on.
The bite still remains slow so we drift away from the rig for
a couple hours and experimentally put out Sword baits down deep. Actions
still remains slow and with the moon closing down on the horizon, we give
it til about 2:30am and then reel in the Sword baits to head back towards
the rig. One bait is mashed by a mystery fish however we pack up the 80's
and get the jigging gear back out. We start dropping down again and begin
hooking into Blackfin. The Tuna bite is slowly starting to turn on. Another
hour or so and we start to hammer the Blackfin Tuna. Getting a few for cut-bait,
we put a few chunks out on drifts. I then get a Yellowfin a hair just shy
of 40lbs and then Ronnie and Jared shortly follow up with a double.
We continue to jig, drift, and chum. The Yellowfin bite remains
quite minimal. We knock out more Blackfin and a couple more dink YF. We once
again hug the rig trying to find the YF and end up drawing Cuda's and odditys
to the boat such as Black Jacks.
We hang in there for the pursuit for Yellowfin Tuna, but they
just weren't feeding or weren't there period. Pre-dawn, the sun will be up
shortly and we decide to obtain some live baits for the morning showdown.
By 6:30am, we have baits out live and swimming in hopes for
them to meet their doom. It did not take long and a bait on the 130 gets
hit. I feed it to the monster the lies underneath the dark glassy reflection
on the water. I then tighten the drag and get Mickey in the chair. The fish
stays on long enough to show a bit of resistance but then in just over a
minute the Marlin spits the bait. The bait is brought back in and bill-rash
on the leader and a crunched tuna is the only sign of the action that took
place.
A tough loss but we get baits back out. Not long and we get
another suspect to take a bait. Sucking it down, we are pretty confident
this time. Mickey hops back in the chair and we get him strapped in for battle.
We have the fish hooked and Mickey is doing a great job at an
attempt on his first Marlin. However, after about 5 minutes we suddenly feel
slack only to have the hook somehow pull free. We bring in the bait, once
again crunched with obvious display of bill-rash up the leader. An interesting
specimen of a creature had either been brought in on stuck to the leader
or induced out of the stomach of the Tuna. Whether from the Marlin or Tuna,
this deep-sea dwelling creature, appearing to be a relative to the common
ribbonfish, was a snack for some speedy fish.
An enigma of how we pulled two straight hooks on live baited
Marlin, we deal with another tough loss. Hard to obtain the proper baits,
we end up eventually getting a few Rainbow Runners to live-bait with.
We bump-trolled the Runners for a while with little action.
Then we decide to bring in the baits and head on in. After discarding one
of the live-baits, YT looks down and sees a brilliantly lit-up Blue Marlin
come up to the boat and inspect the bait. Too little too late. We eventually
head on inshore and the Marlin probably grabbed an easy meal.
YT allows us to quickly stop on the way in and jig up some tasty
creatures... or try to at least. We rock out for about 30 minutes catching
and releasing many undersized Amberjack. We did finally land one Snapper
and I got a quick tasty Grouper heading straight to a sandwhich on my plate
later today.
We picked up and released a few more small AJ's and then called
it a day. Heading back inshore and just as we are about to break the jetties,
Scott puts up a few flags and we ride in on the sunset.
We once again had another fun filled adventure on the
water and Scott and Jared both landed two very beautiful fish. The summer
is over but the action is still around for a little bit and YT and the Nyati
will allow us to continue taking advantage of the bounty's and the gamefish
battles to be had. Thanks to Ronnie for contributing some great photos.
Thanks again YT and from the crew of the Nyati,
- see ya on the open water...
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