Well after postponing the trip on saturday we decided to run out there on sunday and give it a shot. Plan was to catch a few dolphin then look for a billfish.
Ran out to the southern in some pretty nasty conditions. Ocean was beautiful all day but visibility was poor as the sky was plagued with fog and steady rain. Ended up having to run further east than expected in order to find the break we wanted but once we got there it was instant gratification. Second line out gets bit as I'm letting it out and shortly later a small gaffer in the box. Right after this we put a few bailers in the boat before the grass had completely broken up on us.
Changed the gameplan at this point and put out the big stuff at around 9:30. Trolled around for about 30 minutes heading back north when all hell broke loose....Out of the corner of my eye I see a torpedo-like wake from the left with crosshairs on the teaser. It hit the teaser and snapped it off without thinking twice. Didn't take any drag, just popped the teaser and the glass eye on the outrigger right off! Now he's pissed and barrels into the flat line, missing the bait, but the bait didn't miss him and the 12/0 hook sank into his forehead- GAME ON.
Got all the rods cleared quickly and began the fight as the fish had already taken a considerable amount of line in the first acrobatic show. This thing jumped all over the place before finally going deep on us. 45 minutes later we can see the snap swivel but there is something attached to it.....our teaser! The 2 ft piece of mono still attached to the teaser had managed to wrap itself around our mainline (im guessing it was still in the fishes mouth) so we got that squared away and I grabbed the leader for the release. Took one wrap when she got pissed and made another hard run. Got leader again for a second before another run deep. Then things settled down and it took a lot of winching inch by inch to get the fish back up. 30-35 minutes later we could see the fish under the boat wallowing upside down. Luckily it didn't get tangled in the running gear thanks to good boat maneuvering and got the fish boatside....she died on us so we decided to bring her onboard and get the weight and some marlin meat to smoke for later. It was a little challenging to get onboard considering we don't even carry a flying gaff or poon but we managed. Decided to call it a day after that and made it back to the dock at about 1:30.
Weight ended up being 647.5, with a length of 126 and girth of just over 64 inches.
4 of my dad's friends had never been offshore before and had an absolute blast. I tried to tell them how much they had just been spoiled but it didn't matter, they were sold. All in all a good day. Hate that the marlin didn't make it but that's part of the game and she won't go to waste!
Someone else on the boat has a bunch of pictures and I think about 30 minutes of video from the fight which I'll post as soon as I get them. The only pictures from my camera are after the battle.
Official weight
Notice the tear in forehead. That's where the hook lodged....Someone else has a picture where it's still embedded that I'll post when I get it- interesting placement for sure.
"Will the boom clear the rigger when it swings?"
648# died during fight today...
Linear Mode
