This is why I fish!!!!

[Binnacle]

This weekend we fished in the OC Tuna Tournament. As always it was a great time. Just like anyone else I would have loved to go home with some of the half million dollar pot. Unfortunately, that was not in the cards. But, I went away with something worth much more.
The crew for the tournament was me, my dad, and my good friend Randy Stinchcomb. We caught some nice tuna on the first day; they were better suited for the grill than the scales. Little did we know what would happen on our second day.
For the last 66 years my father has been try to catch a white marlin, with no luck. Well that was about to change. We got to our spot about 0630 and had to wait until 0700 before lines could go in the water. Once we got things set about 0720 something exploded on our spreader bar running off the short rigger. I was a blue marlin between 300 – 400 pounds and was very pissed off. After crushing our spreader bar she shot across the spreader and smacked another bait on the other side and disappeared. About two seconds later she came out of nowhere and exploded on the flat line about ten feet of the back of the boat. She took that bait for a ride, but luckily we were able to pull it away. We didn’t want to spend prime tuna time fighting a blue the whole morning. Once our heart rates returned to normal and we got things set again something exploded on the spreader bar again. This time a small white grabbed the hooked bait and got an unpleasant surprise; looks like my dad was going to get his white. After a short fight, dad’s white #1 comes to the boat for a clean easy release.
We spent the next few hours poking around looking for some tuna with no luck. We decided to go back to where we started. After getting the lines set and giving it about an hour I noticed another white slowly slide in behind the same flat line that was crushed by the big blue. I was able to feed the bait back to him, he took it, ran with it, hook set and off to the races. Dad got white #2!!
Although, we didn’t get any of the prize money, I went away with something worth much more. My dad got to fulfill a life long dream (twice), with me, on my boat, with a lure I made. It doesn’t get any better than that!!....This is why I fish.

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[SharkJP]

What a reat story!! There are so many things I wish I was able to share with my father offshore, but it makes me count my blessing with the ones I was able to. Ok, I have to stop typing before I get too sentimental...

[Greeneyed Pickle]

Absolutely awesome!! I look forward to watching my dad catch his first billfish!!

Thanks for the story!!

Tim

[PurpleCedarPlug]

Rick, you are 100% correct. Those are moments you could never put a dollar value on.

Congratulations to you and your Dad. You now have a memory that will last a life time. I envy you. My Dad was never able to make the big trip offshore with us, but I keep a picture of him on the boat so in my mind he's really there with us all the time.

Thanks for sharing...

[HOLWACHAGOT]

That squid witch is almost as pretty as your pop's white. Thanks for the report.
Holwachagot

[Agitated88]

Awesome report and amazing pictures. Had the opportunity to take my dad out a couple years ago, his first trip "off" shore with KEYLIME PIE...memories to last a lifetime. Congrats to you and your dad!!!

[scattered_grass]

"but luckily we were able to pull it away".......I think that's the first time I've ever heard that regarding a Blue Marlin, but you've got point. Without some aggressive boat maneuvering you would have eaten up a good chunk of time on that fish. Congrats on the Whites, very nice pictures of them as well!!

[Capt Josh]

Awesome pics and congrats to pops!!!

[jaws]

Congrats to you and your Dad, those pics are unreal, thanks for sharing.

[Breakin Loose]

Great pics and great story to boot.
We were out there with you and got our first White on my new boat with just me and my old man! It was a fire drill to say the least but after the release we both were sweating and laughing so hard because we both forgot to get a picture in the excitement/ chaos....

It will be a great memory!