Ducks Tourny- Day 2

[Tuna Taxi]

Day 2 was another beautiful day on the water. We ran south to the 300 line with about a dozen boats, looking for the north edge of that eddy coming up from Wilmington. Found the circulation but the temp break as blended.

Had a mixed spread out, naked dinks on the flats and longs, spanyards on the right & left shorts with moldcrafts over them, and a horse w/ islander down the middle.

About an hour in, the right long explodes and the dirty white boy is on and screaming. Get the lines cleared and chased her down, and Bryan (BTH284) had her about 30’ from the transome when the circle hook pulled. He did everything right, must have had the circle in lip skin, rather than over the jaw. Oh well.

Had a couple more sniffs over that same spot, but nothing came tight. About an hour later, a blue came calling. She came up on the striptease dredge, grabbed it, and went down. All we got back was the weight and a broken 300# snap swivel. Hey Poon Man, Glenn needs another dredge!! I think momma blue liked it.

We searched around in 70 fathoms over some bait for a while, then the big shadow comes up the center, peels off to the right outside the spread, comes to the top, circles around and hits the right short like a ton of bricks. The 80W is screaming and it is on! Bryan jumped into the chair, with Mike (swancaller) and Glenn working the chair and coaching. Bryan played tug-of-war for an hour and a half before we saw color, and there was a lot of it. She started weaving right & left behind the boat, and after a lot of black smoke and some pretty work on the reel, Glenn had the leader in his hand. We got her close and Mike put the measuring line over. “Is she long enough?”, “Yes”, “Kill her”. She was a fat pig, and looked to be about 115 in the water.

God was smiling down on that fish. Mike lined the first flyer up on her brain and was ready to sink it when the mono broke and the flyer hook fell out of the handle. He grabbed the backup flyer as she rolled and opened her mouth, so Mike lip-gaffed her lower jaw with the flyer, and we brought her around to the door. Slid her in the boat and her bill was in the salon with the tail at the door. Put a tape on her an she was 106” jaw to tail, tourney min is 110”. Thank god we didn’t sink that first flyer or she would have been killed anyway. Back into the water she went and Mike brought her around to the side of the boat. Mike & Bryan swam her for about 20 minutes, her color came back and with a couple tugs of her head she told Mike she was ready to go. Off she swam.

We had to DQ the fish because we lipped her before setting her free. She may have made the 400# minimum, but we weren’t going to kill her on the chance she might make the weight minimum. She needed to be at least 451# to put us into 1st place, and she would not have made that.

That was it for the day.

Fishing with Bryan, Mike, Glenn, and Glenn’s son Patrick was a blast. First class all the way. For the tourney, we had a 300 class blue on the line the 1st day and lost her 40’ from the boat. Missed a couple whites that day also. Day two gave us a pulled hook on the white and the second blue. Two great days with some well-placed bad luck to keep us from a check.

450 points plus a meat fish tie breaker won the tourney. Oh well, we’ll get them next time.

We'll see if we can get some pics up once we get to a faster connection.

[Proheat]

Sounds like an awesome couple days. Sorry that you didn't come away with a check, but congrats on your fish!!!

[Glenn W]

We had the shots and got hooks in them to win, but it just wasn't meant to be for us this time. Here is Bryans 106" Blue:

[JMS-ILM]

check or no check....experiencing two days of carolina billfishing at its best like that cant be beat. awesome report Bill.

[Capt. Brian Daley]

Bill and Glenn sweet write up on the Ducks turney sorry you guys didnt place
those are some great picture there and I'am sure you had a great time on the water together you'll get them next time thanks for the reports

[Sea Draggin]

Thats some pretty work boys. Also, I congratulate you for your honesty and honorable release.

[Bite Me]

Great report and two days of fishing for a great crew.
Two days to remeber in any man's book.

Would have paid money to watch Glenn wiring a 400 pounder.

[Dave Sikorski]

Sounds like a great weekend. Glad to hear the Tuna Taxi is raising the bills.

Pretty work fellas and congrats on some great fish. Check or no check that's two good days of Carolina billfishing.

-D

[Persistence]

Nice report Bill...sounds like a couple of fun days out there.

[Glenn W]

I like the girls a little on the---- chunky side. Sorry no better pics of her. It was a littlebusy on the boat for a few minutes.