Captain Greg experiences a fishing slump

This season, the offshore billfish bite has been pretty good. However, I have not been fishing offshore with the gusto of previous seasons.

 

Between recovering from a heart attack and a travel schedule that seems to have me out of town every time the billfish bite is going off, my billfish release numbers are not very impressive. Unless of course, you find zero to be impressive.

 

On July 5, I set out to break zero. Elliott and I felt good about our chances. Offshore, the wind and waves were calm. Using our satellite services, we identified a temperature and current break in 300 to 400 feet of water.

 

Wanting to stack the odds in our favor, Elliott and I decided to target sailfish instead of marlin.  With this in mind, we downsized our tackle and the lures in our trolling spread.  

 

Elliott and I pulled away from the dock at 5:15. The ride out was smooth, and we made the 60 miles in good time.

 

Soon as we hit the temperature and current break, the ocean was alive. Flying fish were everywhere. Birds were hovering over schools of blackfin tuna that were crashing minnows on the surface. I looked at Elliott and proclaimed, “Today is the day.”

 

It took a few minutes to deploy our trolling spread of strip dredges, teasers and small lures rigged on 60-pound monofilament leaders. But it did not take long to get our first strike.

 

A blue marlin crashed a small popper rigged with a small ballyhoo on the short outrigger position. Light tackle. Light leader. Big blue marlin. This combination rarely ends well for us.

 

The fish put on a tail walking show and quickly dumped the spool of the Shimano TAC 25. I turned the boat to follow the fish and Elliott began to recover the line. Unfortunately, about then the marlin chafed through the 60-pound leader.   

 

The next bite was a repeat of the first. Early in the day we were 0 for 2 on marlin. We accidentally caught a wahoo and some mahi but were still a big fat ZERO on billfish. A couple of hours passed. This gave us plenty of time to lament our poor decision making.

 

Then Elliott saw a sailfish take a swipe at the lure on the long rigger. It popped up again behind the teaser and then crashed the lure in the short outrigger position. When the fish jumped, I thought, “it looks like a sailfish but only smaller.”

 

The fight was short and after a quick picture we released the small sail.

 

We were no longer ZERO! With the ice broken our confidence was once again high. Elliott returned to the current and temperature break the next day (with heavier tackle) and released a nice blue marlin. No longer zero!