Slip Slidin' Report--4/29/10.....Making Memories 1 Day At A Time

[Squid]

SeaBiscuit, JMS-ILM, and myself joined Slip Slidin yesterday for another go at the blackfins. Weather was predicted to lay out for the day but we all thought it was still going to be bumpy. Decent ride out and it continued to lay out (just as predicted.....go figure!) throughout the day. The trolling spread was put out first to try and catch a wahoo early and mark the blackfins for jigging.

Marked a nice pod of them and started jigging. SeaBiscuit caught the first blackfin of the day but was only left with the head. Sharks were REALLY bad and you couldn't get anything past them. Lost LOTS of jigs real quick and had to make a move.

The trolling bite had begun to fire off as several wahoos were coming aboard throughout the fleet. Just as we were discussing what to do (troll or find another batch of fish), Capt. Rick Croson said he was on a pod that didn't have any sharks so we joined him.

Started off with a few small ones before the big fish moved in. Myself:



JMS-ILM:



And Capt. Slip:



SeaBiscuit also caught his share but somehow managed to escape all pictures.

We quickly filled one fishbox and even released a few. Never thought I'd see tunas escape the hands of the butchers....

In the midst of a steady bite, the unthinkable happened.....both Nick and Nick got jigs cut off on the drop by what we were assuming were sharks. As I dropped my jig and threw the reel in gear, I managed to get two jigs on the rod before getting slammed. This fish burned off line at 25 lbs. of drag and we all figured I had just hooked the shark that cut Nick and Nick off. This fish had run out instead of down like a shark, though, so we eased the boat up to him and got straight up and down. It was then when I looked down and saw the stripes on a lit up wahoo! A short run later, he popped up on the surface and turned to the boat where Matt stuck a gaff right in his skull. Wahoo on a jig is quite a rare sight.....better to be lucky than good!





As he hit the deck, the assit cord broke.....not sure how it didn't break before then considering where he was hooked:



Congratulations also to Capt. Rick and crew who also had a wahoo on a jig!

After the excitement, the blackfin bite was on again. Matt caught fire and boated several fish including one that did a number on his jig:



Didn't take long before the second fish box was full and we were catching and releasing blackfins because we were out of room!

Decided to troll a bit longer before we went home to try and catch one more wahoo although we weren't really sure where he was going to go if we caught one. The planer rod was the first to go but we pulled the fish off shortly after. Trolled a bit more and marked bait like I've never seen before----75 feet thick and 50 yards or more wide. A couple passes on it and one of the top lines fired off. I happened to be beside the rod when it went off so I got fighting duties. Matt wired him up and Nick stuck the gaff in his head:



Two boxes full of tuna and two nice wahoo makes the captain happy:



Weather breezed up a bit on the way home but wasn't too bad.

Final dock shot:



Thanks Nick for another memorable day offshore! As always, I throughly enjoyed myself! The weather and fish both cooperated just fiiiiiine.

[clt_capt]

Quite a catch - The hoos on jig are becoming commonplace for you guys. Congrats

[merry marlin]

All I can say again is WOW! The Dream team at it weekly.
You guys sure know how to find those beauties... Great pictures of an amazing grade of blackies! The wahoo's sure are quality fish too...
MM

[Agitated88]

Those "book end" Whoo's look nice...hell of a day, congrats to all! Thanks for sharing the story/pic's!!

[WhiteLakeBuc]

Dang!!!! What a haw! Congrats guys!!!!!!!

[saltwaterbucks]

Wow, amazing day on the water. Thanks for sharing with us.
SWB

[Shortfin]

Damn ,you guy's tore it up good ,

[Going Deep]

Outstanding catch guys...you wrightsville guys have been on fire this spring..congrats!

[Squidnation]

you guys are my heros. if i lived closer you would be sick of me in a week cause I would be waiting at the end of your driveway everyday like dennis the menace. are we going fishin mr. nick?

[Robja]

Damn what a great report. The only thing missing is you left Miss Squid at the dock. She is due for another cover shot in Fishermens Post.