Mania '06 I like it!!!

[Deep C]

Some days its good to be the Deep... Today was one onf them again. Despite a dreary if not dangerous forecast we plunged into the Mako Mania with both feet.
Somebody must have handed out my numbers from last year because my spot that I have never seen a boat within miles suddenly looked like a parking lot yesterday. I slid to emergency spot "B" and set up camp.
Out of teh gate we took a 250 class monster blue and I thought we were going to be on fire. We had a rat mako next followed by another nearing mid day. The bluefish found us and never let us go for the rest of the day. Despite my crew's whining I told them we were gonna head right back and set up on the south end of our drift spot again for the next day (today).
I got to my "C" spot and there was a boat set up on my exact numbers from where I took the winner last year. We set up inshore of there and worked the opposite wall of the same structure. As we neared the flat I circled around behind him and got on the offshore side of the structure.
Not to be out done he decided to "leap frog" and set up even further outside of me. Don't know who he was but the guy had game... I'll hand him that. Still we had the line...
The Middle whole blue got hammered and the 80 got small in a hurry as about 500-600lbs of very angry thresher took to the sky. We burnt almost two hours on that beast. It was a tough decision. Take the best for meat and some braggin rights or get back to the mako event. We sent the whipytail on its way and reset our drift.
The sun came out and the crew whined that we were almost out of time... "Boys... It ain't over til the fat chick chirps or the fat fish is eaten! "

I saw the inside light rod twitch and headed for it. Before I could get there it came tight (somebody left it in gear) and out came the cobalt missile. Man did she catch air. Clearing fifty feet horizontal with about 20 vertical, I could see she was a good fish. Lines were cleared and we did our thing. She was no push over by any means and it was the better part of a half hour before getting leader in hand.
She wanted to get squirrelly but hesitated just enough for me to lay her out and roll her. My mate drilled that third gill and ran my steel right through her spine.Done deal!
We wasted no time in decking the bad giirl and pushing the sticks for the beach. We got to the weigh in line and watched some pretty puny fish go up in front of us. Our modest fish went up and the crowd went crazy... I had to wonder what was up with that. Comittee and press decended on us like flies and I really got confused. 187 isn't a bad fish but nothing to get crazy about...
Well it is, when it was the big fish for the day and took second!

So there was Deeps day... A fat paycheck and another notch in the handle of my fly gaff.

[anthony]

You're on fire...pretty work!!!!

[Stripersniper]

Hey Deep, How big was the winner?

[Deep C]

Something like 315 or so...

[Jer]

Great work, Deep C!

CONGRATS!

[tunatamer4]

Great job DEEP. Thanks for the report. Made me feel like I was there.

[Deep C]

I'll say off the bat that I give high fives to the whole fleet that fished. Conditions were tough! Rough water and weather. Slow fishing didn't help. EVeryone that went though can be proud that they atleast gave it a try.My crew was on their game. Three great crews in as many events is a blessing. Picking spots and dialing in spreads is only part of the job. Clearing stuff, fighting really tough fish, gaffing, roping, boating, and all the rest of the fun stuff is what seperates good teams from the great ones... Thanks guys and congrats to the entire 216 boat Mako Mania fleet for a well fought game...

[MakoMike]

Congrats, nice fish!

[Deep C]

Mike
Did you get down for any of these events? It was pretty slow fishin for most... Just wondering who else did what...

[Murph]

Awesome, you are the man Deep