Thursday, July 5

[Stuart Wade]

Rex, Cliff, Chris & I departed the dock around 5am bound for the Norfolk Canyon, we had lines in there by 9am. Dave on the TOP NOTCH was hooked to a blue one when I shut down. My short rigger goes off & Chris captures his first ever gaffer dolphin (he's caught tuna but never dolphin). The fishing sounded really slow up & down the line except for reports of marlin sightings. Meanwhile, Dave is still hitched up to a blue one. Around 11 or so, Dave announces the fish died during the fight & he had him "laying in the cockpit". Sad the fish died but congrats to the Capt, mate Bobby & the anglers for having the patience & endurance to fight the fish for such a long time (there is a snapshot of the fish hanging on the VBFC website). Around noon, my long rigger goes off & Rex grinds in a buff yellowfin. Also wanted to mention that Bob on the FIN SEEKER scored 2 blue ones & a white one, what a day. No marlins behind my boat today but it's just a matter of time that I get my first one for the 2012 season. Arrived back at the dock around 6pm having logged 172 nautical miles & while consuming 76 gallons.

Stuart
SPORTSMAN

[Earesponsible]

Nice work. Did you hear anything on the radio from the Washington Canyon?

[Stuart Wade]

I didn't hear a peep out of there & I was in radio range. I did fish as far north as 41580 (I even got teased about going to Newfoundland on the radio at one point).

Stuart

[Earesponsible]

Thanks. That boat of yours sure sips the petrol, must be nice.

[marlin64]

Thanks. That boat of yours sure sips the petrol, must be nice.

What make boat and motor?,sure would be nice to have one so easy on fuel....and congrats on the gaffer and tuna

[b8 boy]

Stuart, your mileage has me wondering. What engine are you running and what is cruise and wot?? You left out at 5am and arrived at 9 am and lets just say 80 miles later(prob. 75) so you were running 20 mph? Last trip on mine we ended up 46 miles out of OI and we ran in at 40+ mph the whole way, made it back in an hour + 15 min but I payed for it burning almost 100 gallons. If I keep her around 4K I will burn about 1 mile per gallon or a hair better. Thanks for the report. Martin

[Stuart Wade]

Martin & Marlin: She's a 1997 Carolina Classic with a 315 hp Yanmar diesel. From Little Creek to the Canyon is over 70 nautical miles each way. At a 6 knot troll for 4 hours adds another 24 nautical miles or so. I like to keep up with how many miles I run each trip & use my GPS sumlog to record same. My boat goes along way on 50 gallons of diesel. I cruise her around 3300RPM & the engine is sucking around 10gph at this (22knots or so), WOT is 3900rpm & depending on load, she's making 32 knots burning 19gph. Stuart

[Gotta Gaff 'Em]

Heard about the blue at the docks by word of mouth was wondering if it died during the fight..... Heard quite a few boats landed blue marlin and many more hooked and lost. Buddy of mine got 6yft a blue and a nice wahoo