VanN
08-15-2009, 08:31 PM
:yes:We cleared the OC inlet at 0540 hrs with no clear idea of where to catch a fish, so we aimed for Poormans, and put the spread in on the 35 fathom line, trolling to 50 fa and then turning north towards the Baltimore. Great ride out, nearly calm seas and light wind, water temp 77.8 nearly all day throughout, and water color from 25 fa out was slightly dingy blue. Trolled 40-50 fa until even with Hot Dog and turned west into the 30 fa notch outside the Dog. Only one knockdown early from a small mahi which chewed a teaser wo hook. From the Dog, we went towards the Ham Bone, and worked the area in between more than one circle, when at 1400 hrs, all hell broke loose with the short rigger (multi-colored Black Bart el Squid Sr lure) and the WWB (pink bird w/bl&whIslandw/hoo) went off nearly at once. We'll never know what hit the WWB (either a large wahoo or a large marlin) but when we went by the pink bird, the main line had separated and the islander was missing. We cleared the remaining lines and chased a 350-400 lb blue for the next half hour. At one point, the 50TLD Shimano was nearly spooled of its 80 lb braid and 200 yd topshot of 80 lb mono, and before that, the fish managed to get under the downrigger, and Steve, Derek and Ray passed the rod under and saved the day. After wrestling the beast to a point that Derek could tag the leader, Steve and Derek got their second blue of the year. They also managed to retrieve the El Squid Sr without getting gored, then spent another 20 minutes attempting to revive the marlin. When it seemed to respond, they let it go and it swam under the boat and we heard its bill being shortened on the stbd prop, but we think it will live to fight another day. It amazing how a dull day can turn around on a dime. We attribute this in part because Steve had been throwing money to the Fish Gods just before the double hookup.
Van "Classic Hooker"
Van "Classic Hooker"