Day 2 of the Fire Cracker started out great. A new day of fishing and all of the side action open to win. The Pacific Blue wasn’t in the sides so all of the money was there for the taking. About 1:00 we were digesting our Carnita Pork tacos with green chile sauce when we spotted a fish on the stinger. The lure was hard to see because it was a jet but the large wake the fish was pushing let us know it was there. It didn’t bite on its first try. We raised the fish in 200 fathoms and were on a in shore tack. The fish didn’t bite right away and at the second red hill it was quickly getting shallow. We hit 90 fathoms and it looked like We were going to have to turn to head off shore. As we made the move to make another pass on the fish it bit and took off. We were certain the fish would qualify the 300 pound minimum. After a 20 minute fight and 10 jumps the fish came to leader. Dingo got the leader and the fish neared the surface. It grew as it came to the surface. We noticed the fish had the hook wedged on its nose. I reached down deep with the gaff and got it in the shoulder. In the boat it measured 108 inches short measurement. It looked over 400 but was very skinny. At the scales it weighed 399 pounds and won 4th place and was the 3rd biggest fish of the tournament. It took all of the side bets for a healthy check. It was really nice to do well in one of the early events taking some of the pressure off in the events that would follow in the season.
