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This last weekend we fished Poco Bueno on Ambush. This event is something we look forward to all yr and devote most of our time and effort towards preparing for this week. This year had a most incredible ending, perhaps one that's not over yet...
To give you a little backround, myself and friends started fishing Poco in an outboard powered 33 cat. This is a kill tournament, traditionally dominated by the big boats. The prizes and prestige are high and the week is covered in events, parties and hype all leading up to the blue marlin weigh-in friday and saturday. Despite the grandeur of the tournament there always remains a small group of outboard powered boats ranging anywhere from 26'-36'. When i say group i really mean 2-5 out of 90+. Last year we fished it in a center console with the dreams and hopes that perhaps we would be the ones to show up on the second afternoon with one on the deck that's bigger than the rest. This year and last year we came disgustingly close but lady luck and destiny were not on our side....just yet.
In recapping the last week Ill start at the beginning and that kicked off with most of the Ambush crew heading out on a prefish/transport trip to Poco Bueno in Port O'Connor TX. A ridiculous section of the gulf of mexico was covered that weekend before Poco looking for any significant signs of life, rips, whatever. Fishing was steady however only 1 marlin was spotted. His appearence was short and sweet but enough to get everybody fired up. Several mahi were caught, as well as some wahoo and a nice yellowfin which turned into some serious grub for us all.
After arriving to our base for the next week we really enjoyed ourselves to the fullest extent. Meeting captains, drooling over boats, talking smack to our friends, and trying to get on that just right wavelength of confidence, humbleness, and all out rage. I spent hours looking at the competition and noting how far we've come, trying to grasp and imagine how much further we can go. For Poco Bueno, this was a special year with the largest payouts ever in Texas. The Blue Marlin calcutta valued at $1,000,000+ and the meat fish pots Yellowfin , Wahoo, and Mahi roughly totaled another 280k. With 94 boats this year there was a lot of money to spread around and hopes were high for everyone participating.
We left out at 730pm thursday with the flotilla of boats and ran towards Perdido, a floating production platform that sits in over 8k' of water, the biggest and deepest in the world but more importantly according to the charts and our experience it was where we needed to be. Only a handful of boats had pointed their battlewagons to our similar heading...we were feeling great about the decision from the get go. Our original intent was to run to the mexican wx buoy which lies 216nm se from the port o'connor jetties and after several days of fuel calculations and debate we decided against it and went for the equally appealing, 50+nm each-way closer option. 'Lines in' was not until 7am the next morning affording most ample time to get where they needed to be, catch some rest, and awaken at daybreak ready to hook THE one. We got the teasers out, set the out the spread and began the troll immediately after the call came over the radio. The 10 other boats around us all doing the same trying to weave intricately amongst each other as we all did doughnuts around that big ole can out in the middle of the gulf. The seas were mirror calm and could not have been any better. There were also a couple large supply vessels there supporting Perdido, C-Legend and Grant Candies, and when the workers on the platform and boats awakened that friday am they were treated to an amazing dance off of hardcore fishing and world class sportfishers.
We were just getting into our groove around 730am and as we passed by the stern of the C-Legend we saw a neon blue billboard flash off and away from the boat. As we decided to turn left and head in the direction we hoped she veered, we began a pattern parallel to another boat called the 'Happy Hour' not more than 100 yards away. As they then passed by the bow of the next work boat the call of 'Happy Hour hooked up!' echoed and the ballistic whitewater aerial show began. I cant remember how long they fought that fish for, probably a little under an hour, I was too busy watching our baits and trying to not get distracted. The next call over the radio was muffled with cheers and celebrating as they radioed the committee boat that it was a legal fish, measuring 107" a very fat head and a tail as big around as a volleyball. They started their way back to the docks shortly after with their fish. Things got really interesting for them later as we heard they had a fuel line leak and were losing prime on one engine...Poco rules state that if you catch a legal fish day1, you must be back before midnight....so this made things really interesting for them. From what I can gather, their crew all took turns in the engine room keeping a prime on the motor so they could make the deadline. They did it and they placed. Good for them and mega congrats Happy Hour!! The entire rest of the first day we spent working our asses off live baiting mahis and tuna, trolling and teasing. We caught some medium size mahi and wahoo, but did not see anymore billfish. Others around us had released several white marlin and sailfish and after we saw the boat traffic further dissipate that evening we made the call to stay put and fish that next morning with only 3 boats left there.
That Friday night we feasted and got our rest on like true kings. Before turning in we made a call on the sat phone and got an update on the standings...surprisingly there was word of the drama for Happy Hour and their slow progress in, and of several weighed blues, all of them in the 400-500lb range with the largest coming from Marlin Majic - a 31' fountain center console , apparently they were live baiting at another platform called Hoover Diana. COULD IT BE THAT A CENTER CONSOLE PENETRATED THE RANKS OF THE BIG BOATS?!?!?! Even though it was our turn to be on a sportfisher as we heard the news of 'Marlin Majic' that old fire of David and Goliath began to rage within us and we went to bed chanting HELL YEA! F YEA!
Saturday awoke with the same slick-calm conditions and prayers that we would find a legal fish where we were. Things were pretty slow until around 9am our spotter up in the tower started screaming that we had a good fish bat the long rigger..too bad we were channeling 2Pac and barely heard him over the 'COME WITH ME, HAIL MARY' blasting out of the speakers. Pac's spirit visited us in the form of a 500lb blue and we missed it. Typical for our luck lately. She came and went so fast that no body else saw her and we all began to hope that wasnt our only real shot for the tournament.
We broke away from Perdido and peeled off towards the other rig (semi-submersible) Danny Adkins which was several miles away. On the way there we hooked a good white marlin that would only get us addaboy points. It jumped off before the release and shortly after we spotted another small white. By now it was mid-morning and we all decided to pick up and start our long run back to the dock hoping that we would find something to change our fate. We ALMOST had that chance when we came across the mother of all rips and began to troll it. Within 20secs of putting the lures in the water we had a mahi, wahoo, and small blue nail our makaira lures all at once. The blue was strong for his size shaking his head out of the water for quite a while and tearing it up around where he hit the shotgun. We almost lost the 80w as it was being deployed when he hit. Before long though the fiesty blue shook the hook loose.
That pretty much ends the tournament for us as we made our way in hearing all of the updates over the radio. Via texts we found out that some of our friends on their viking 'Custom Billed' were also on their way in except with a legal fish. Only problem was they blew an engine 70nm out and after looking at the time were expected to arrive back at tournament hq past weigh-in. They needed to come up with a creative way to gain speed and then everything went overboard, they all situated themselves on the bow and brought a fishbag full of beer and the only ice left on the boat and were able to get the viking on plane and up to 20kts. They made it in on one engine with minutes to spare saturday night and a 360+ blue securing their place rounding out the top 5 in the money. Congratulations fellas!
But wait, thats not all....WTF happened with Marlin Majic???!!! The gossip and word spread like wildfire that their fish had been protested by other boats nearby and it was looking like it could be a disqualification.....WHAT?!!!?? ARE U KIDDING ME?!?! Come Sunday the announcement was official and most were in complete shock at the story of what happend....this is directly from 'Marlin Majic':
'Day1 we're fishing and hook up into a solid blue. The fish was leadered and stuck with the flying gaff. The fish parted leader, then ripped free from the flying gaff momentarily. The fish was mortally wounded with the gaff shot, and was billed, tail roped, and boated.' 'The amount of time that the fish slipped the gaff was probably close to 1 minute. The only thing that was 8 to 15 minutes was the fight itself. The actual distance of the fish from the boat was inside of 50 yds. A split second or a minute... these facts are irrelevant, it was a caught fish.'
According to IGFA rules and the statement released by the Poco committee yesterday, they DQd the fish and first place was taken by the second place sportfisher 'Whap Bam Boom'. There have been all kinds of allegations and accusations flying around but as of right now the decision is final and any further challenges will be taken up in court. I am sorry for the fate of Marlin Majic as they worked hard and weighed in the heaviest fish, period. David did beat Goliath, at least for a little while. I dont blame 'Whap Bam Boom' for the ruling as they deserved to be where they were also....The IGFA technicalities can throw twists and turns that sometimes even Sherlock Holmes would have trouble deciphering. Throw in a heated moment with a $1M+ fish sitting next to the boat and the ultimate outcome can surely be a surprise. I guess thats the point!!
Adios and see you next year POCO!!
Anthony
Mexico-Offshore.com
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Originally Posted by squirtis
