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Old 03-26-2021, 02:33 PM
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Coiloil37 Coiloil37 is online now
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Oz
Posts: 2,113
Default Skip the ice, let’s go bill fishing.

Yesterday was a disappointment. The forecast was for .9m seas and 25km/h wind in the afternoon. The morning was supposed to be calm. We were on the water shortly after 4 and the ocean was flat. We ran the first ten miles at 30+ knots and then the wind started to pick up. I had to slow down to about 23-25 knots and we punched through to the banks. We got there just as the sun was starting to creep over the horizon and I stopped to put the outriggers on. The wind was howling. Think southern Alberta howling. Blow your hat off, make your eyes water, hard to hear someone talking type wind. By the time we had the spread out the wind chop was at about 2m with whitecaps and about a 2 second interval. We could only troll about 4.5 knots without getting pounded and there was still a lot of banging and spray being thrown into the boat. Lures wouldn’t run right so I switched everything to skipping gar.
Almost immediately Nolan was sick and throwing up. We did about two very uncomfortable laps of the area without a bite and Nolan was as green as a little leprechaun. The wind hadn’t slowed down and the chop was getting worse. We wouldn’t be able to run home much faster then we were trolling so I pointed the boat for land and started home on the troll. Just inside the banks we had a hit and Nolan was on the rod. It looked like a Spaniard or wahoo but he lost it about 20m from the boat. A little while later we picked up a longtail tuna about the size of the one the day before and a few minutes later a small mahi in the 80cm range. We were flat out controlling the boat and didn’t take pictures. We trolled back fairly disappointed and called it a day.


As for the day previous. The other two blacks.






And this was the second one but we didn’t get good pictures of. When porter grabbed him by the bill I got the hook out but the marlin went off (like they all do). Porter took the abuse for a few seconds before losing hold of the bill. The go pro was pointed a little to high to get all the action but he was a good fish. Much bigger then the other three, porter thinks bigger then the 160kg he caught a few months ago, I think maybe 130 kg but we didn’t get a measurement so we will never know. Doesn’t matter anyway.








And boat side with porter getting the washing machine treatment. It’s really to bad the camera wasn’t pointed down enough to get the action but that was the first time we ran the gopro so it’ll improve next time.














As for that fish where porter had his shirt off.




At one point his fish ran under the boat. I backed off it but the line was going under the boat and back out. He said the line was hooked under the boat. The only thing down there besides the outboard is the keel guard that the last 3” is peeling off the hull a little. I told him that, he handed me the rod and I tried to pull the line off it with the rod tip under the boat without success. Next thing I hear is “well I’ll go in and unwrap it”. He jumped in, swam under the boat, came back up and said yea that’s the problem. Swam back under and unwrapped it, got back in the boat and took the rod back and managed to land the fish.


It appears the tuna have arrived so hopefully next month we can find a few of the 100+kg yellowfin and some 50kg longtails to load up the freezer for the winter. The junior models are good eating and not a concern for mercury but we need to find the big girls in the brief window they’re around.

Last edited by Coiloil37; 03-26-2021 at 02:52 PM.
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