| Hale Yeah Offshore Report
Port Aransas, TX
June 27th-28th, 2009
Report by Ronnie |
After sitting at the dock for 4 weeks the crew was foaming at the
mouth to go fishing and the forecast was looking good so away we go to the
deep blue. The crew for this trip would be Jerrid, Gabe, Andy, Nena, and
myself. We broke the jetties around 6:30 pm on Friday and pointed to our
destination 155 nm away. The seas were chopped up a bit but we kept thinking
it would get better as we went but we were mistaken. Our speed kept dropping
as the hours went by and by the end of the night we were only making 8 knots
and getting soaking wet as every other wave was breaking over the bow....
As the sun started to light up the sky we transfered fuel and put
out the spread. It was uneventful for the first couple of hours and then
something smacked the short rigger and as I turned around I could see a nice
Blue shaking his head right behind the boat. It didnt last long and the fish
released itself. I put the line back in the rigger clip and we contined our
troll. A short while later I decided to switch the long rigger lure out with
a brand new one I had just got, and after adjusting its position in the spread
Gabe and I both liked the looks of it and I even made the comment that my
money was on that lure.
Not 10 minutes pass and bam, a Blue Marlin nails it but misses the
hook then hits it again, then again and finally Gabe got the hook to stick
and the fish is pissed.... After clearing a few lines Jerrid gets on the
rod and starts the battle. Jerrid had a hand full off beef jerky when the
fis hit and instead of throwing it he decided to cram it all in his mouth
and eat it, this didn't work to well and he ended up with a chunk stuck in
his throat. About 5 minutes into the fight Jerrid is hacking and gaging trying
to dislodge the beef jerky then he started throwing up reeling the whole
time and finally gets it out. The fish spent most of it energy jumping at
the begining of the fight and it came in pretty easy. Gabe grabs the leader
then the bill and we have our first catch of the trip. After a few pics we
realese him to fight another day.
With the spread back out a few ours pass with no action until Jerrid
starts yelling from the helm that there is a Blue chasing bait just in front
of the boat and a few seconds later we have our second Blue on and as Gabe
was clearing lines he gets hit and we have a double but Gabes fish is a 25
# Mahi and he punked it quickly so we could get back to the Marlin. This
fish belongs to Nena as she has been talking about catching her next Blue
stand up. The fish spends alot of time in the air and quickly ware's itself
out but by this time we have more than half the spool out. Nena went to work
on the fish as I backed toward the fish, once we got straight up and down
it was all Nena and she did a great job finishing off the fish. Gabe grabs
the leader and Jerrid the bill and we have our 2nd Blue of the day and Nena's
first on stand up gear.
Back to fishing and Jerrid spots something in the distance so we head
over to it and its a buoy of some sort and as we passed I could see 3 large
triple tails and lots of small bait fish then bam, fish on, bam, double Mahi
and they are not little ones. After a short fight Andy, and Gabe land both
fish and on the next pass we land a Wahoo, then another Mahi before heading
back to the rig.
We trolled until sundown and landed another Wahoo before pulling in
the spread. Out comes the Tuna tackle and the talk of fresh Yellowfin on
the grill begins. It didnt take long and Jerrid pulls in the first Yellow.
It was still kicking a little as Gabe took off a loin for the grill. With
the pit fired up and Gabe cutting up steaks we could hardly wait for dinner.
With full stomach's we get back to fishing and I nail a Yellow on a swim
bait but then the action dies for a while. We set up a long drift and find
out that the Yellows are hanging away from the rig. We picked away at them
all night and ended up with 8 Yellowfin and lost a few more, one that put
a hurt on Gabe and then took half of my gaff with it as it swam off !!!!
With the sun starting to light up the sky we pull back up to the rig
to catch some live baits. Bait was easy and in 15 minutes we had the Tubes
filled. The baits go out and we clean up the boat and ourselfs. After being
up all night I finally hit the sack and leave Jerrid driving, and Gabe and
Andy to run the deck. They caught a nice Mahi while I slept on a tuna that
would not even fit in its mouth...
Jerrid woke me up when it was time to hit the road and we transfered
the last of the fuel and headed for the house in slick condtions. 7 hours
later we are at the dock with a few hours of light left to get pictures,
clean fish and the boat.
It was a great weekend on the water with a great crew, great food, and lots
of fish....
- Ronnie and the Crew of the Hale Yeah
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