Some fishing days are about filling the ice box. Other days are about experiences you'll be talking about for years.
This was definitely one of those days.
I launched with one thing on my mind: wahoo. Unfortunately, those striped demons once again reminded me why they're even more frustrating than bluefin tuna. The fish box stayed empty, but what happened instead was something I never expected.
(https://i.imgur.com/CcITBCD.jpeg)
I launched to beautiful conditions. On the way out it was warm and blue water. I found a paddy at the drop off to the abyss and caught 3 small yellows to about a pound and stuffed them in the live well for something greater. I started my journey until I reached the parking lot of swordfish boats out there.
So picture this... trolling solo on the flats boat with five rods spread out, covering water for marlin and wahoo. I was a little nervous what was going to happen, but it excited me enough to want to try to know... hopefully.
(https://i.imgur.com/ZFxXn5z.jpeg)
Throughout the day, the ocean was putting on a show. I spotted a pod of orcas, saw a few jumping humpbacks, a lone sky-high jumping devil ray, an elephant seal, and two tailing marlin. It was one of those rare days when every direction you looked there was something incredible happening but not in the way of foaming tuna or wide-open paddy fishing.
(https://i.imgur.com/KYbwnhM.jpeg)
Then one of those marlin decided to play.
The problem was that I wasn't exactly armed with traditional marlin gear.
I spotted the fish on the surface and scrambled to make a cast. The problem was that I didn't exactly have a dedicated marlin setup ready to go. The only rod available was my heavy saltwater bass outfit, so I pinned on a small live yellowtail and fired it out to the fish.
A moment later the marlin ate.
That's when the chaos started.
The fish was hooked on a Penn 400 low-profile reel matched with a G-Loomis 30-65 lb. rod. Great gear for a lot of things, but battling a marlin wasn't exactly what it was designed for.
The second the fish realized it was hooked, all hell broke loose.
Being solo made things especially interesting. I still had five other trolling rods in the water and a marlin determined to empty my reel. I hit the electric reel to get one rod out of the way while I drove the boat and tried to reel in line so now only had 4 to contend with.
(https://i.imgur.com/AroRwwA.jpeg)
The only way to stay in the game was to drive the boat aggressively and chase the fish. Every time the marlin made a hard run, I was throttling after him to keep from getting spooled. Somehow, I was steering, watching the remaining trolling gear, and fighting the fish all at the same time.
The marlin wasn't cooperating either.
(https://i.imgur.com/BMERRU8.jpeg)
It went airborne repeatedly, launching itself completely clear of the water like a cruise missile. My action camera managed to record some of the chaos, but unfortunately, it wasn't pointed where it needed to be. The best footage ended up being me frantically trying to gain line while the fish was launching all over the ocean.
Not exactly the documentary production I had envisioned.
Still, after a 15-20 minute battle filled with boat maneuvers, line recovery, and more than a few moments where I thought the fish was going to win, the little bass reel somehow held on.
Eventually the marlin came 25' from boatside. He turned towards the boat to spin around and his bill went right across the line and PING!
That's when the reality of what had just happened finally hit me.
I'd managed to hook, fight, and successfully "sportsman's release" a marlin on bass gear while trolling solo with four rods out (Thank goodness I did get the electric troller in, lol).
The fish swam away strong, the gear survived, and I couldn't stop grinning.
(https://i.imgur.com/QSTMPNV.jpeg)
I trolled the next 25 miles for not a single short bite.
(https://i.imgur.com/DxJM3nU.jpeg)
I decided to weave through the parking lot of swordfish boats and go on a paddy hunt.
(https://i.imgur.com/WW1Cz4B.jpeg)
I found not one, but 5 HUGE paddys all about 7 miles from shore and in 1600' of 77.4-degree blue water. Nothing doing until I saw a huge dodo jump at the next paddy in the line! I shot over there and cast my 80- gram sniper on the bass rod and it gets slammed! DODO On and it was a good one. In the 16-18# category, but on the 3rd or 4th jump, the iron came flying out of his mouth like a bullet right at me. No harm but scared the crap out of me.
Then two more started jumping next to the paddy, one big bull, and a decent sized hen. I switched lures 8-10 times, but couldn't get them to go, and they disappeared. I trolled the area with small pink feathers to try and fool one into taking the troll, but nothing was around...
I needed to get back home so I started charging in. The wind started to pick up so this was the perfect time. Along the way I saw some really silver tuna jumping. I think they were skippies, but I never saw skippies jump out of the water like that before (horizontal and fully out of the water like a bluefin). I couldn't get them to strike my sniper, so I kept going. Then I swear I saw Sierra Mackerel jumping! I've seen them plenty of times down in Baja and I swear I saw a bunch of yellow spots on them. Once again as I got close enough to cast, they sunk out and I couldn't even get a short bite...
Water was 77 almost everywhere!
(https://i.imgur.com/8wSj7ms.jpeg)
I continued my journey in.
Sure, there wasn't any wahoo in the cooler. In fact, there were no fish in the ice box at all.
But some days the scorecard isn't measured in pounds of fillets on this day.
Sometimes it's measured in airborne marlin, screaming drags, near-spooled reels, and the kind of ridiculous solo battle that reminds you why we keep going back offshore.
This was one of those days.
As I was passing SeaWorld, I stopped to dump the yellowtail in the bay and took some video. Now there are 2 more yellows swimming the bay. Hopefully we can establish a good-sized population back there. LOL
Well damn.... I've been trying hard for these things and in the right spots, but those skinnies still elude me!
Well thanks for reading and until next tide! I know I missed a bunch more, but I'm done typing.