Big Rock 08 Report

[TROPHY SPORTFISHING]

Well after getting back to the swing of things finally got time to sit down and put a little something together from our Big Rock week. Mike will have some video to follow i believe he's working on it as we speak. The best 2 days of Blue Marlin fishing i've seen at the end of the week. Our crew consisted of Myself at the helm, Derek on the wire, Josh Lee in the chair on all the fish and Matt and Mike manning the gaffs if needed and handling all other cockpit duties. Our first day was monday catch a couple of mahis get one Blue Marlin look but no bite. Tuesday was slower catch 1 mahi and see a small bill white or sail blow thru at mach 3 that was all. We choose to lay Wed to regroup and get our heads right. Set out Thu. on a piece of water we watched wed move up from the south not much tide conditions looked right just said a prayer and waited for lines in.
Well at 9:15 or so we get our first shot hot Blue Marlin bite on the left flat a 600 or so fish lazily greyhounded away from us taking 500+ yds off an 80 wide she was good but after 6 or so mins she came unglued. A while later we get another bite right long good fish dogged down on us right off the start after a 20 min fight Josh got her close we get set to take her if she measures out but after 10 mins of keeping her on the leader and taking a couple of measurments we got 109 in. looked to be upper 4's not thick enough to go over 500 and definantly not 560. Turn her loose and get set back out.
I guess about 30 min or so later get a wide open all hell break loose bite on the right flat fish airs out clearing the left flat to eat the right one. Another good fish i believe Josh got her in 10 min she stayed up on top (light drag) so we went after her hard in reverse. Derek gets here on the wire and Mike measures her at 107 then 107 1/2 on the second measure my guess was some where mid 4's no more. Once again we get set out and roughly 30-45 min later we get another right long bite mises it Derek gets a couple of cranks on it and BOOM she's there. Get cleared and go after her pretty cool as we are going back my buddy Tom on the Double Shot is going back on a blue right beside usprobably 150 yds away. She finally dogs down and after 10 min of corkscrews on her she comes up Derek gets her quick and Mike puts the measure on her 103 in but nice and thick so Matt cuts her loose. By now we are prety much speechless
To top off an already awesome day we get another bite around 1 or so and catch a sailfish to round out one of my best days on the ocean never cuaght 3 blues in one day before.
So on Fri we set out not far from where we were on thu and boy was there a crowd good flury of fish for the first hour. We get one that pops the rigger but won't come back on it. After a few hours of trolling we headed south below the fleet working 70-80 fathoms looking for a new piece of water coming up the beach from the shot. Our company working the 50-40 fa was the Barbara B. After several hours of searching and a priceless call we found what we were looking for. Tide fell out to 1 or less kts bait flyers and cobalt blue 79.8 water just like thu. Make our turn to the east and shotgun pops out nothing then the left long goes down no one saw the bite but it was taking string good. Josh made short work of a upper 200 fish in a bout 10 min. Turn her loose and now we are breathing a little easier. Get set out again and almost exact same place on my eastern turn we get bit on the right long another 250-300 class fish stays on top the whole time putting on a show Josh settles in on her and in 5 min we get her on the wire while still going about 8 kts in reverse what a fish she put on a hell of a show turning 180 on me in about 2 sec forcing me to go full ahead trying to get away from her as she headed for the pit. Now shit was pretty much coming unglued we still had a little time left and get situated again. Just below our previous 2 fish we get a 3rd bite heading east again left flat this time never get a chance to call this one in to busy trying to get on her but it was short lived she came unglued while still pulling about 16 lbs of drag 300 yds back.
What a week saw 9 Blue Marlin had 7 bites Catch 5 and a sailfish to boot. All i can say is i'm thankful to have a great crew top notch angler and a good rig under us along with the Good Lord steering us in the right direction. We ended up winning 2 dailies on Thu and Fri and 2nd place overall release tied with one of my old friends and one of the guys who taught me alot of what i have learned Ben Smith (Tooth Doctor) along with Capt Scott Earp on the Tiger Runner congrats to them. Here is a few pics hope you enjoy and thanks to all who pulled for us and agian to my CREW!

[TROPHY SPORTFISHING]

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[babalaza]

Awesome report! VGJ out there

Great pics as well

[Mustang Sally]

Pretty work, Trophy!

[WET FLOORS]

pretty work john,
you guys sure made a heck of a run on the release division, i talked to dr.scott earp tuesday after br and he was on cloud 9. roy earp (dottie c) scott's dad was my dentist until he retired and scott took over. btw jack jones was fishing with us. anyways congrats on some awesome fishing.

[Tuna Taxi]

I'm glad we finally get to hear the story. Congrats John and crew, we had a great time following your tournament and cheering for you. I was beggin to see you on the release board one more time Friday, but that sure is a catch of a lifetime on those 2 days.

Great job, couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of guys.

[O-SEA-D]

Great report and congratulations on a great tournament.

You guys did an awesome job

[hotshot1]

Nice work on the tournament and the read, A day to remember

Small world though, Capt Ben and his brother Sam were my first introduction to the great blue . Ben sure can run a boat. Sam and I were roomates in college,

[Hatterized]

congrats to the Trophy team......outstanding....a tourney u will never forget....

[WAHOONBOX]

A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH AT 100 FATHOMS......THAT IS WHAT WE HAVE HERE!


JOHN, CREW.....GREAT STORY....PICS ARE PRICELESS! I JUST USED A FULL BOTTLE OF SALT-X ON MY KEYBOARD.......


YOU MADE US ALL PROUD.....LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU IN THE BARTA....LEAVE A COUPLE FOR ME.