Blue Marlin release 29 July 2007 Waynes World

Pulled out of Owls creek little late 0500...had my GPS set for the 44 Fathom wreck to start fishing...about 10 miles short of the mark I spot a pod of porpoise so I pull back the throttles and Steady, Otter and Captain Fatbeard put start putting out lines.....the WWB was out, steady was letting out the 2nd long rigger when the first long rigger gets hammers.....then the WWB gets hammered but gets cut off....Jeff is on the fish that came tight and skillfully battled the 62# YFT to the boat where Otter sticks a gaff in him.....Get reset out and about 20 minutes later the left long rigger...(G&H sea witch with Mylar) gets nailed...otter grabs the rod when the fish jumps....Steady yells Marlin....Otter said yea, it's a white...I said No, I think it's a Blue one....fish is swiming to the boat when Otter hands the Rod Off to Jeff since he was a billfish virgin and we wanted to throw him in the water...the fish gets about 100 Yards off my stern when he sees the boat...he greyhounded and when he did, there was no doubt what he was....Mr. Blue Marlin is hooked up on still thinkin....We get all the lines clear while he's screaming line off the Penn International 50W and once lines are cleared I send Jeff up to the bow and commence to run the fish down...gotta love a center console...he makes a lot of jumps before he comes to the side of the boat..steady has leader and is pulling the fish up to Bill him and release the fish...I tried to take a picture but it ended up just being Steady's hand on the leader...he was about 2 feet down and went under the boat and broke the leader ....great release on a Blue one for Mr. Captain Fatbeard, who is now calling himself a Professional Marlin Fisherman (PMF).we celebrate our Blue release and finally I get the crew to get lines back out and I decided to change up and put out a Pink Sea Witch (oh no not blue and white)...well of course this gets hammered and is Screaming drag...Otter is on the pole and finally gets the fish turned....10 minutes battles puts a 32 Pound Wahoo in the boat....this is all before 10 o'clock.Spent the rest of the day playing with Whites who kept coming in the spread but just batting my baits around...pulled lines in at 2PM and headed to Fishermans' Wharf for the Citation and ceremonial "Creeking" of Mr. Jeff Brown....Don met us there to enjoy the festivities....Great day and great job to Otter, Steady and Jeff...thanks to Don for coming by the house to drink a couple of beers and he even wanted to get bloody so he cleaned the YFT...here's some shots....Bob

27 July 2007 Cigar

Had Steady, Surfer Dave, Keith and Mike (Gusman) onboard today. We had fun..ended the day with 1 Wahoo, 4 Mahi and a few missed fish...Fed a White Marlin and had him hooked up, handed off the rod to Keith..all he could do was hold on while the fish was tearing out line....he jumped off while we were clearing lines.Had 1 Tuna bite that we know of that didn't come tight....Water was crystal Blue out there today and around 80 degrees. Lots of Marlin caught today for the Tournament.....Great working with Persistance and Wired up today...Talked with Billable while we were running in, they were still heading out and getting ready for the night chunk/swordfish bite...hope they get into them...Bob

Norfolk Canyon 8 July 2007 Citation YFT

After a late night call from Don stating he was still 10 miles off the beach we scrambled and put another man in the Back. So it was myself, Otter, Steady, Surfer Dave and TEX (guys who caught his first YFT last week and it was a citation).Left Owls Creek around 0400 and had lines in at 0610. 5 minutes and we get a small Mahi on the Sea witch. Troll around and find a Post that had just thousands of bailers on it so we pulled out the spinning gear and played with them for a bit. Put enough to make a few sandwitches and called Mega Bite over to get his charte some bailing action.Trolled south from the mahi and finally get a Tuna Bite, had 5 rods go down all tight....then all of a sudden a big ass Blue Marlin eats the Get Reel Tiki Bar and commences to pull it through the entire spread knocking 3 fish off the lines, he dropped the TIki bar and hammeered the WTFB and screamed drag on an 80 2 speed before the 80Lb Fluro decided to part ways...nice fish...we land 2 of those Tuna...get a few more knock downs but nothing tight....getting ready to call lines in when a single 40Lb class YFT east a Get Reel Tiki Bar (again)..boat him...so we go 3 for 8 on the tuna and boat about 20 Bailer Mahi....great day on the water....Bob

Norfolk canyon 6/30/2007

weather man could not have been more wrongererererer....Left Owls Creek at about 0345 Am to a wind free slick ass calm ride out to the norfolk Canyon...slipped between a couple of rainstorms (no lightening) and pulled up in the TIP of the canyon at approximately 0610 and deployed lines. Had myself, Steady24 , his buddies Tex and Jeff (great guys). only one guy responded to my post for a ride and he had to back out late last night (no his fault) so had myself, 2 anglers and steady....First hit was a double hookup on gaffers in the eastern mouth of the Canyon...no debris just two knockdowns ...good show and got em both in the boat...trolled into the South Wall of the canyon and had a Get Reel TIKI Bar with e G&H Chugger behind (yes, I put the two of them together and they didn't burst into flames !)..this hit comes tight and screams drag...blow up on the 2nd Tiki Bar and he doesn't come tight.....Tex is on the rod, harnessed him up and spent the next 30 - 40 minutes fighting this tough fish...he was a fighter for sure....Steady sticks him and Jeff is right behind with a short gaff and put the fish in the boat..first thoughts was Big-eye but turned out to be a YFT, nice one...He ended up going 72Pounds at the scales for a YFT Citation for Tex.troll in behind waterdog after he hooks up and three lines go down..hum, 3 lines, 3 anglers and somebody to drive the boat...we work it out and get 2 out of the 3 in the boat.......both fish are 55 plus pounds...very nice class of YFT this year....get cleaned up turn around in the middle of the canyon....lines out and immediatley both Tiki Bars get hammered again..both tight for a bit and then one pulls.....get the 2nd fish to the boat and lost him at the gaff !......put two more stray Gaffer Mahi in the boat....troll troll...look at my watch and it's only like 930 or 1000 AM....dam...about 500 boats show up at the canyon and bite turns off ...we pulled lines and headed in.....wind had kicked up a bit but not bad...gorgeous day out there with no thunderstorms or scary winds....I always say..you don't know unless ya go....Bob