Stone Harbor Invitational Report

[OffTheHookB&T]

Well I finally got out of the shop and back to the bluewater. Spent the last 2 days fishing on the Intuition in the Stone Harbor Invitational.
Friday we left the dock with Tom K sr, Tom K jr, guest captain Blaine Champlin, and Jen K for her first offshore trip in years! It was a miserable day the seas were big and confused with not much of a bite for the fleet. Most boats spent the first 1/2 hour just looking for good water. We started in the Carteret and ended up in the Lindenkohl. We had a small Blue smack our teaser about mid day but he left as quick as he came. Near the end of the day Captain Blaine decided to leave the fleet and move south towards home to see if we could locate the southern edge of the warm water. We found the edge and water cooled and got green and with one minute left to go 3:29pm We had a White crash the spread and grab a bait and we were back in the game Jen K grabbed the rod and FOUGHT HER FIRST WHITE TO RELEASE What a great way to finish a crappy day, even better Jen insisted on taking her marlin plunge in the canyon, Tom, her father in law suggested the Canyon Club pool and she wanted no parts, heck we had to talk her out of taking a lap around the boat Smiles all around as he headed for home. Got back to the dock cleaned the boat and had a nice dinner catered by the Lobster House alongside the Canyon Club pool, what a nice touch to an already great tournament.

[Captain Fred Archer]

Yup, Chuck, it's really nice getting away from a shop once in a while and getting back to why you really wound up owning one in the first place - your love for fishing.

I was lucky and worked - hard - in the fishing and fishing tackle business for most of my life, finally retiring from the big leagues and winding up with a nice little shop and a business of my own. Worked my butt off at that too (you know all about that, eh?), but one of the times that I snuck down to my beloved Cabo for a fishing fix, I just never came back!

So, ya gotta be careful when you take them fishing breaks, know what I mean? (Or do ya? Depends, I suppose.)

[LadyAngler]

Congrats to my girl Jen on her first white!!!!! It's about time her hubby got it for her!!!!

Chuck, where's the report from Day 2?

[OffTheHookB&T]

Day 2 was much more promising the weather looked better and Blaine had a good idea where to find the break. A couple changes in crew Joe H and Dave K jumped on and Jen stayed on shore.
Saturday started much better, we had our first white within 10 minutes of lines in, Dave was the angler. Later in the morning, we had multiple knockdowns and ended up with 2 Yellowfin (55 and 59lbs) and 3 Mahi in the teens.
In the afternoon, I was lucky enough to standing near the long rigger when a suicidal white grabbed the bait and we go the fish to release. We did have one come unglued in the afternoon, apparently one bait wasn't enough for him and he tried to eat our whole spread before we had a chance to clear everything, so major FUBAR
All in all a much better day than Friday, they called lines in at 3:30pm and we procceded to pull the lines in, just when we said the pit was clear, what do we hear Capt Blaine say "Lookie Here" and we look up to the bridge and he has the last rod, the center rigger in hand. Smiling he says "I just hooked a white marlin!" So we finish the day with another white 5 minutes too late for the tournament, but awesome none the less, and Tom K Sr, did his damndest backing on Blaines fish to give our captain a thorough soaking

[heykellymichelle]

Sounds like two fun days Chuck, so glad you got to get out there and tear it up! Makes dealing with all us knuckleheads worth it

And congrats Jen, way to make a comeback! (I'd like swimming in the clean canyon water much more than the basin too, by the way)

[LuckyLady]

Nothing beats a day or two out of the daily work grind! Pretty work. I second the ocean swim vs canyon club

[LadyAngler]

Congrats to everyone who participated!

I've just finished going thru some of the pics and am posting them up now.

[LadyAngler]

Jen w/her husband Tom coaching her on and Capt. Blaine Champlin running the Intuition.








Jen taking her White Marlin dip out in the deep!

[LadyAngler]

Chuck was able to get some pics of the other boats out there.


Hand's Off (52 Ocean)






Pipe Dream

[LadyAngler]

The beautiful Sea Mistress, captained by Mike Adkins, took Top Boat honors, along w/Top Captain, and Top Angler and Top Female Angler by Betty Raimondo!!!