I really want a hoo but I'm getting sick and tired of running offshore when sometimes all I want is to just fish locally. Having this super El Nino has me really wanting a Hoo (Top 10 fish on my bucket list), especially a local one.
My buddy Scott went on his boat but travelled outside the islands where the fleet has been churning the water with their trolling. I opted for the close local banks as the amount of high speed trolling really messes with my gas milage.
Conditions looked good before the storm so my fingers were crossed.
(https://i.imgur.com/mQ8Pn6s.jpeg)
Even a sailboat was headed out the inlet with two 50 wide trollers on the back!
(https://i.imgur.com/mXQpqMl.jpeg)
I wired up one of my Mad Macs just in case. I was ready for my Hoo!
(https://i.imgur.com/0L6rSFl.jpeg)
My plan was to only troll 4 rods this time and have the Mad Mac on my electric reel so I can reel up quickly if one of the other rods get hit.
(https://i.imgur.com/sBnV55g.jpeg)
I passed a bunch of birds and dolphin but didn't see much on the meter and it was right on the shelf drop off. I didn't see any fish, but those annoying birds that kept grabbing my micro jig I planned on using to catch little yellows for bait with. I should have tried around a bit more, but I was already hearing wahoo being caught and knew I had to get to the outside of the banks that were still 7 miles to go.
(https://i.imgur.com/Qpgo2qs.jpeg)
The life around the ocean was non-existent out here and hardly any sword guys also anchored up. I was only trolling for 45 minutes when I thought I saw two birds floating on the water and realized it was a fish. I started trolling over to it thinking it was a marlin but NOPE! It was probably a 9-10 foot Mako! Holy sh!t it was huge and I wanted it! I trolled right past it and it came over looking at my trolling spread but didn't attack. I reeled up my trolling gear while keeping an eye on it and put on some wire leader to a big circle hook. I brought some Big squid in case I deep dropped for swords while I was out there.
The minute I was all baited up I looked up and he was gone. No where to be found... Jeezus!!!
(I actually have some video on my action camera, but I need to figure out how to post video's here.)
I searched and search but no love so I put the trollers back out. About 20 minutes later and I get a screamer on the marlin jig! A decent marlin (probably 90ish pounds) jumping and doing marlin things. I kept the boat in gear and reeled up my trollers. By the time I started to crank on him, I only got a few minutes of fight before it threw the hook and gone... Ugh... This was going to be one of those mornings.
I decided to switch things up and throw on the Kogahead as a troller and pulled out the McRib for good luck!
(https://i.imgur.com/nINyFbu.jpeg)
Next 30 minutes not a thing so I took off the Kogahead and put the other Marlin Jig on. I loved the spread I was trolling but just needed to find some fish.
Soon as I switched the lures, I saw a couple of fins out of the water and trolled by. It was another marlin but made a few turns and just disappeared. I boxed the area for a bit for nothing.
I kept trolling (zig zagging from the outside ridge, over the high point to the inside ridge and back. I saw a few more fins and cruised over to see a baby swordfish! Well, it was probably 50-60 pounds so just the size I wanted! I cast the big squid out to it, but it literally just sounded and I saw on the sonar it heading to the bottom.
I decided at this point I was going to drop for swords. I went on a drift from 650' to 1100'. I actually made a test drop to see if I would get any tangles and soon as it hit bottom I was on! Finally a fish in the bag, but it messed up my squid... Good thing I had a second.
(https://i.imgur.com/MXOoMNR.jpeg)
I reused the bait and caught a couple for the bag. By far the deepest rockfish I have caught. I was at least hoping for a black gill!
(https://i.imgur.com/2p0mkOH.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/XNoOeNf.jpeg)
They were puking up a bunch of tuna crab!
(https://i.imgur.com/wp5CreH.jpeg)
I decided to reset and really drop for swords. I set it at 800' and made a killer drift but to no avail.
(https://i.imgur.com/tr1DCZ0.jpeg)
It was getting late and I made the call to run and gun looking for a paddy or any sign of fish. I heard they were crushing the YFT off LJ but I wanted to look for my hoo. As I was running, the water erupted in front of my boat and a HUGE Marlin jumped! It had a sharp dorsal fin and was probably 400+ pounds! I put out the two big marlin jigs and trolled for a half hour in the zone for nothing. Now I am way later than I was expecting, especially being on Halloween that I have to get back to the house.
During my troll, I had two screaming rippers on the smaller chrome jet head, but neither stuck. They were screamers so I had no idea what they were.
I ran to the inside ledge and saw absolutely nothing. No boats, no fish, no nothing... but I did see some stuff on the sonar as I was coming up so I dropped the electric for sharks/swords and also the bass rod since it was only 450'.
Then out of the blue, a boat starts running right towards me and set up about 200' away. WTF were they doing? They had no clue and just wanted to have another boat around, but it really irked me they did this. It was almost worse than stealing a paddy since there was no reason I should be there so definitely even worse than why they shadowed me. (I took the picture but decided not to post it)
I could see my big squid getting smashed by smaller fish and I couldn't hook them on that big squid/hook combo. I dropped my bass gear and put on a 250-gram pink ball jig with a strip of big squid strip on it. I hit the bottom and made a few bounces when WHAM!!!!! I knew it was big right away! I took my time, but man, I could barely gain any ground on him. Every time I got 20 yards, he took 20 yards or more. Then I noticed him getting wrapped in my electric line so now the panic started setting in. I kept thinking it was a shark this deep, but it would have definitely bit through that line holding the proportionally smaller hooks.
Finally, I get it to color and HOLY CRAP! A Yellow from 450+ feet down! Unfriggin real!
(https://i.imgur.com/1vIoV6l.jpeg)
I made one more drop as I was already 2 hours behind schedule and nothing so I packed up and headed to the barn.
What started out as a promising trip, turned south pretty quick, but literally the last cast saved the day!
It was an easy ride back and the boat was cleaned and covered up for the storm. Today was not what I was dreaming about, but that last second win sure was sweet.
Thanks for reading!
Interesting day, that yellow in 450' is crazy. With your shoulder too. The big fish sightings are tantalizing.
Did you bring a flying gaff for swords? That's pretty much the only purchase keeping me from targeting swords right now, I don't want those things green anywhere near the boat.
I assume my shoulder will probably be getting "Plan B".
A deep YT to save the day, pretty sweet ! 8)
A Nosy Neighbor setting up Shop next to you is always irritating ::)
Speaking of Koga.... He is MIA lately ???
Hope the shoulder situation isn't too brutal on you ;)
I need to get the rail mount for my camera. Probably could use a remote control to start recording also.