April Anhilation!

[Deep C]

I'll start this months reports off with my recount of swording last night... It was a major league smush and I hope the rest of the month which will include a lot of Bahama time includes more of the same!
I love a leisurly departure especailly when its going to involve swording. I was delighted when the party showed up and immediately made their wishes clear. "Screw the trolling part. We wants swords and we want to release only."
Well the second part caught me off guard but it was their nickle so the flyer stayed in the car. We slid out a bit before 2 o'clock and with four hours or more to kill before setting the sword baits. I decided to make a long run. . Even at that we still wouldn't need to go fast and the little Bertrams brand spanking new motors needed some break in throttle varying any way.
I found a happy speed which was around fifteen knots over the surface but was yielding about 12 over the bottom.I dug through my collection of high speed models of plastic and just popped four out for a hail mary type spread.
Alas not a nibble on the trip down.
I pulled the sticks back in front of Ft. Lauderdale and checked what the drift would be like. About ten minutes of jockeying the boat into the precise position fine tuned what promised to be a killer drift. Just as the sun sank below the horizon I had a pup doinking the mid bait. Son of a gun would not commit though. It got dark and I was expecting action but at first it was slow to come.
Then a mackerel I had on the top drift bait got stung. I picked up the stick and jigged it a couple times to get the fish to come back. It hit and dropped three times before finally running off steady. I dropped back and went to bow up but nothing was there inclluding my well sewn mack... I reeled in a set of lips and reloaded.
As I was sending a fresh mack back out we had a sword come into the light. No monster but a fair one. I tried to coax it to eat the mack but it showed no interest. Then my 100 foot bait went down hard. Short powerful run followed by a smokin one then it ran back at the boat. The angler wound like hell then almost donated my tiagra to the deep when the fish passed us and came tight again. About fifteen minutes later we let the 80 class fish go.
Things quieted down and I figured it was over after about an hour of nothing. Then the deep rod sang out. I put it in the chair with the boats owner, Paul doing the winding. I started to clear lines and was drilled by a fish as I was bringing the bait in. A short run then fish gone...A passenger was bringing the 100' bait up and he too got hammered but this one stuck.
We dealt with the duo for about 30 minutes before the second fish darted under the boat and cut off on the dive platform. The first fish finally gave up the ghost and let us let it (about 125lbs) go at the 45 minute mark. Fish two for the night had me grinnin ear to ear.
I scrambled to get the baits in the water again and no sooner than I got the spread set we trippled up on all the weighted baits. Two pulled hooks and the third made the trip to the stern. A 50 class barely legal was let go to grow up. Three down!
The spread was reset and I guess a half hour went by when the deep rod went again. Again clearing the lines resulted in a second bite but that was short lived. A few minutes later sword four got a closer look at us than he had hoped for. Another 50lb class fish capped off our night and we made for the beach.
I'll take four for ten any time. The hottest action I had this season for swords by a long shot.

[Deep C]

The morning was text book cler and even what could be considered warm to hot. The skiff ran like a top and the calm seas made for a delightful run. We did manage five diolphin with one gaffing class one mixed in but the highlight was the bonitos (little tunny) that were running from 8-15 lbs for the most part.
Lots of drag cooking going on and we even wrecked one of the jigmasters I rebuilt last month. With that the day savers are going to get run on tld 20/40 stars or speedmasters from here out... We saw two free jumping sails so close we could almost cast and snag them but we were on the troll. Yurtles on the increase had me looking for a cobe but none of them were in sight.
Water was good on the edge and we hoped for something bug but we settled for the steady action instead.
Back on land I changed the trim tab line on the Deep C so thats good to go...
Two halves on the mako on Wednesday ought to give me a better feel for that boat which I will be offering up to run on for hard core sword only trips...

[Deep C]

Ummmmmm. Wellll..... Ok I'll spit it out ... This morning sucked. I was looking forward to bangin some stuff aboard the Mako that is blending into my fleet. Water was perfect. Flyers kickin then the damn soutw west and even west wind turned on. Surely the water quality would outweigh the west influence...

I guess I was wrong. I slid to 700', tucked back in to the south, Hugged the edge, rocketed to the north, tried shallow tried deep, pulled my pants down and stuck my tongue out. Nothing to show for it. I hammered the cuda spots and we could see them but they did not want trolled bait. I went in way shallow where the spinner sharks were in force and they were moving too quick to get a good line on them.
Flyers kicking but nothing home. Even ran split tails down to see if I could get a king or hoo to cooperate. Nah... That didn't work. Had three slob yellowfins which we seldom see explode next to the boat but they were on sardines and would not play with the hoos period end...
First zero in a while

[Deep C]

I don't know how fish do it... Know when its east and decide thats when they'll eat. Same type patten, same conditions except winddirection and today they were right back to what could be called a good strong bite...
First fish, a stickin size mahi at 200 was followed by two more at 240' and yet another at 300'. Having figured those ones out I worked out to 600' where we trippled with one going 25 and a nother single not quite gaffing size. Water was clear. Wind was moderate and quite the enjoyable morining out there.

Today was born to busy so after cleaning the fish it was straight to Grand Slam to pick up my fresh hoos fresh off the boat being dropped off. I used to get them elsewhere but two years ago the ones they came up with were pretty well beat up, net spent and even kind of soft. Not to mention packed in ice... Last year that place failed to produce so this year I went to the Slam. They were willing to let me get direct from the boat but the boat guy didn't feel comfortable with it so we ran them through there. They were absolutely perfect! 1000 delicious flawless ones getting Deeped!

After that it was time to see the tax man. Thats when winning tournaments hurts . Yes they slammed me for the Mania tab from last year. At least I had two rebuilds and lure factory losses to offset it...

Now the hoos are almost ready to be turned for the second half of their secret juice extraction process then out comes the ziplocks and time to make my ballyhoo footballs...(Yet another secret)

[Deep C]

Well in typical fashion I was taking NOAA's 10-15 kts over the windshield heading out this morning... That 2-4' promised was exactly where they said it woould be except on top of another 4-6...
Bluest water I have seen not a hundred yards off the beach so it was an early splash and hard dig to the deep. Th fish did not want to play and the radio echoed the tales of "Its rough... No fish" from all corners. Most of the big boats had enough by 10Am and were bound for the comfort of a nice warm dry dock while I was enjoying life with two very avid fishermen and top shelf bass guides in their own right.
Forget the trough it was upsea and downsea today. The stuff was steep and thin. About every minute or so going into it I would punch through them instead of over them. Still these guys were game. Then one went green on me. That usually spells the end when one of two go down but he was a trooper. Between laughing at the fish he insisted we stay at it... The ocean behind us looked like we had been writing in morse code with the man made trail of small round "dots" and long "dashes".
He went below (the worst place and fell asleep, leaving me with one. Then bang bang bang we had a tripple of small dolphin. This was followed by two more and a cuda.
Seas continued to build then I looked back to see a slob monster yellowfin pile on a swimmin naked hoo on the tld 20's I was dragging and I knew the outcome long before it happened. I'm happy to say the knot at the bottom of the reel held well . The 30 sufix eventually returned to the spool with us all shaking our heads. A fresh snap swivel and hoo were tacked on. We added another dolphin before man #2 waived the white flag and had me seek the "W" on my compass.
So the day wasn't a total loss enough fillet of f the six filled a couple gallon bags so they at least have something. Same guys tomorrow but its supposed to blow again...

[Deep C]

I don't know why for sure but I think it was all this talk of splatter and plasma baths that had me in the mood to do the same. Like any other day I slide out and seek fish. Dolphin being the target for my guys that I had for yesterday and today. Yesterday was shortened by some seriously rough water but today though forecast to be 4-6 with thunderstorms was way off as knee high to a chihuawah was more like it.
I heard some chatter about fish in 700' and was pointed that way any how. Weeds got thick but nevre really lined up then I had three lines go down. In rout I could feel the hair on my neck stand up and for the second time we had a way big fish crawling all over the tld 20 outfits I have been pulling. The tld 25s with 40 are usual fare but mine have all been worked and respooled for the Bahamas run and I 've been using the 20's in their place.
Any way there was the familiar zig zag of a blue one comming at us on the left long. No chance that we'd get luck and she'd move up to the 50 I had on the inside rigger with a proper blue marlin bait. Well I was wrong and she hit the one I hoped for. No dramatics. She ate and it was game on! Of course there had to be some melodrama involved as I just don't get that lucky. so with that she decided to weave through the entire spread making sure to tangle every line in that water. There was a whole lotta line cuttin going on as she started her tailwalking antics and spectacular grey houding leaps. That line cutting is exactly why I don't risk my good stuff before Bahama or tourney runs...
Thirty minutes later she gave up the ghost and though not a pig she had worked us out pretty hard for being maybe 225-250...
I deployed the death spread again and Here came the dolphin. These guys were meat hunting and I got a bug up my scuppers to really hurt the green hornet buggers. Two spins joined the pit and the bailing began... We boxed our limit of thirty and let another twenty go before pulling out of there...
After the blitz it became appearant that my hooks must have found evert atery on every mahi we played with because we were effectively red top to bottom. You could tell where the passengers and I stood because of the clear spots our feet had protected the decks from the hemoflow ... I mean it was up at my helm. Down below. Running out the scuppers...
The promised thunder bangers did show up and eventually chased us all the way back to the dock... Catch cleaned. Boat cleaned. Time for a quick samwich then begin final work for the islands...

[Deep C]

After that bumpy crossing I have to say that all was much better after that.

We shot to the pocket ove the flats with glass smooth conditions. Blood pumped feverishly as I could see that stake and edge comming at me. I pulled the sticks back and the bottom plunged so ast the depth finder was having a heart attack trying to follow it in auto mode.
The baits were on their way out and Bruce started yelling birds! I told him that was the morning skippy run and dont bother chasing them. Of course he didn't listen and got me off my desired line.
I had to turn right hard to the corner where I was fearing dolphin and cudas would hem me in but we managed to escape. Weeds had me pushed out of some of my pinpoint spots so I had to take some evasive maneuvers. Suddenly I looked back and we were covered up by whites. They were slashin and doinkin everything in the spread. I came off the wheel to try and deal with them and get some steel sunk but when I came off the wheel Bruce in his excitement turned the wheel hard and suddenly I had no momentum to set hooks... So 0/6 was not a good start.
We made a half mile and got lucky with a wahoo that we released as we had no storage for anything big. Ducking weeds was the hard part. Then we got on 3 good size dolphini. Two did make the box and one we let go...
I worked and worked and then finally the weeds gave me a break to work the line I wanted. With that a double of whites raised. "Bruce, watch the bubbles out back here and don't turn." The first took three shots to bow up the second just two.
I let Bruce work em both. His first two whites and he was tickled! We worked it hard for several hours but the weeds had me pushed off my spots. With stray wahoo and cuda bites only to show for all that beating I decided to work back to the corner and then up the Rum Cay side. We raised a blue that just wouldn't eat and that prompted me to bang the area. A short time later we had a double back zig zagging behind the riggers. Heart stopping stuff and finally one piled. The rod stood up staright and I jigged the now bare lure with all my might. Took a while but she came back and it was game on!
Dumping the 50w at will had me turn and chase her. Bruce landed on his ass moving to the bow but held on. The fish stayed up top and in just about ten minutes we let the 200 class girl go.
I hammered it more but nothing more would raise. As it was nearing dark I wanted to just get to Rum Cay area and anchor up but Bruce who is now addicted to swording insisted we try. I knew before we started what the out come would be. Three way long fights with brutally big jaws fish...
Finally we slid out to Rum and Dropped the hook. Bruce wanted to bottom fish but it was already 11:30 and I was done. He did fish catching a couple triggers and losing a couple rigs then retired himself.
It seemed like I blinked and the sky was showing signs of light. We had six wahoo bights in the first 30 minutes releasing one of maybe 35lbs. I let Bruce chase his birds and we did raise a rat blue that I completely whiffed.. We had had a good run at the pocket and it was time to go. We shot to cat and decided to take fuel there as we were running perilously low and nine more miles could have been tough.
We slid down toward Bimini and drew a couple cuda bites. The wind was puffing from the south west and the rip was formed pretty good. Several passes before we bowed up on a tuna. At about 35lbs it was boxing size and joined the one mahi we had in there. We raised a mystery billfish that swatted my bird bait a couple time sthen took her south chasing what looked like yellowfins under birds. They were motoring and I was most of the way back down to cat before we caught up. They were those monster skippes we get and we wound up with two. Bruce had that look again and we set back up for a sword drift. It was bumpy and the drift pretty quick. Juat before we had reacched Bimini we doubled up. Both fish dumping most of the reels. I had the reel seet on my rod come unglued and just start twisting with every move I made. Still I had my fish in the light first. Not as big as it fought like but probaly 80lbs or so. I let it go and we worked Bruces to the boat. A better fish of like 120 or so that came undone when I hammered down on the leader.
It was late when we went in and tied up at Sea Crest and Bruce never got off the boat. I walked around and saw the Night watchman next door on line. I talked him into letting me try to get on sfc. We got it up but stuff was slow to load. I tried to watch my video and it would not load at all.So back to the boat. That blink again seemed to draw first light. We trolled The length of the island and had a couple nice dolphin before setting the compas on W and basically into a choppy sea. Thre hours had us clear of the inlet. Bruce and I cleared the boat and then took that painfully silly step of clearing ourselves in person at the airport. That little boat made the trip. We had a ball. Now she's getting loaded on a trailer to head to the great lakes... And I'm going to get my boat Ready for our run...

[Deep C]

Yesterday I loaded five coolers and 32 cases of soda aboard for this run. Even tackle is aboard except the "A"team of trolling stuff that gets loaded at leave time.
Busted the trim tab line for the second time so that got replaced today. Gonna take my batteries up a notch to 31 series in the morning. Will fuel and then burn some off in preparation. With the boat loaded like she is I need to burn off fuel to keep exhaust pipes clear of surface and water from back siphoning...

[Deep C]

I really had no intention of fishing today but I couldn't help it. As the Deep is all loaded and fueled I decided to use the mako for the run. It was supposed to be bluebird gorgeous and calm but the rain came had in the night and the wind and seas were sloppy at best as I cleared the inlet...
Flyers were thick and the dolphin have been around so I shot to the deep looking for the easy pickins. Well it wasn't so easy. In fact it was three hours til I had a bite. Looked back to see nothing behind the bait but jigged it and here came my first local white in a long time. All fired up on a naked swimmmer. He lit I stuck and it was game on... At least for a while. I don't know why but he just came unstuck after about ten minutes. Was tamed down. Line was tight. Just went away...
Being a short trip always puts the pressure on and today I was tense . Finally atleast we found the bonitos and they provided some action til the clock struck go home o'clock.
Current was ferocious today. Hope it settles down for the crossing...