Author Dave Ferrell (Marlin Magazine's editor)
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Well, I just got back from my first "captain's" job at the White Marlin Open up in Ocean City, Maryland, and I didn't win a dime. I did, however, have a blast fishing with the boys from StingRay Tackle, Ray Lorenzo and John Tobias, as well as mates Charles Perry and Walker Holcomb, Orazio Nastaze and Alan Seidel. We fished the brand-spanking-new 34-foot Jarrett Bay center console, and I really put her in some tough situations.
On the first day, after loading what seemed like a literal "ton" of gear onto the boat, I tried to keep up with the crew on Big Oh since they had caught five whites a couple of days before the tournament started. Once we cleared the inlet, however, we hit some pretty thick fog and I had to start navigating by the boat's radar, a first for this Florida boy. As a bonus, the seas were a confused two to three foot with virtually no period in between. But since I had to keep up with Big Oh, I had to make 25 miles per hour in that slop or risk losing them. Unfortunately, I forgot that the trim tabs had a switch on the main panel and I couldn't get them to work, so the boys in the back took a bit of a beating.
Big Oh didn't get a bite that first day and neither did we, so I decided to trust Mitch Roffer at Roffer's Ocean Fishing Forecasts and fish the next day since the weather looked like it was going to be perfect.
We headed out from the inlet at 6:30 a.m., did about 40 mph in glass-calm seas (Charles Perry said, "I can't believe this," about 50 times) and wound up on the wall of the Wilmington Canyon, 72 miles later, at 8:15. It was a pretty ride and a gorgeous day all around.
After about two hours of trolling up and down the canyon wall, I got fed up with Walker's ballyhoo and decided to rig a couple of swimmers like the ones used in Costa Rica with the X of floss on the head and a small chin weight. After rigging three or four, I started to put one out on the left flat when Charles Perry yelled down that there was a white marlin trying to eat our mackerel on the right flat. As Walker slowly teased the white in on the mackerel, I slid over and put the swimming ballyhoo in the lane and called Tobias over to take the reel. Walker pulled the mackerel out of the water, and the marlin spun around and pounced on the ballyhoo. Tobias fed the fish for about three seconds, locked up the drag and came tight. We had our first fish on! I climbed the ladder and put the boat into a slight turn as the little white started jumping all over the place in the flat-calm water. Less than five minutes later, Walker got the leader and gently eased the fish up to the surface for a quick cutoff. The guys got to see that our circle-hooked Spanish mackerel did work as teasers for the whites and that the fish would make the switch from the swimming mackerel to a swimming ballyhoo.
It sure is great when a plan comes together. (See more in an upcoming issue.)
POSTED BY MarlinEdit AT 01:11
