This Tournament season was a tough one for the fleet. Fishing was really tough with bad current and slow marlin fishing. The tuna fishing was good but the Marlin are late in coming so there was a bunch of slow round ups. It was still exciting because there were so many chances to win and the fishing being slow is all relative. it just took less fish to win. It is more fun when it takes more fish to win but the drama of holding on to a win into the final moments on the first tag of the day still made it exciting for teams that ended up in the money.
World Cup And Firecracker Open
We fished with James “Bubba Brown and wife Judy in the World Cup and the Firecracker Open. We had a few bites and tagged a spearfish but couldn’t repeat last years win for Bubba again this year. His 525 Blue last year on the Northern Lights made him the top money winning angler in the series last season. We had a great time and look forward to next year
The Skins Marlin Derby
We were so happy to be in the tournament this year. Last season coming off of our win in the Firecracker Open we were not in the Skins and sure wish we were. During the tournament we caught 3 fish over 500 pounds that could have won 2 of the 3 Skins paid out that would have been worth a bunch of money. We weren’t in so we couldn’t win. Friends Joe and Jim fished the tournament with us this year. Coming into this years event the current was inconsistent or dead. This made it bought for everyone to find the fish. It boiled down to finding the current or getting lucky. One day 2 we had a little of both. We headed down south where we had the best current. After the porpoise stole our baits at TT bout we ran to a good spot on the ledge at Milolii and started south of the mark with our baits. We live baited our way to the mark at got bit! We fought the fish conservatively knowing if we tagged the fish and got our picture we would be in the money. After a 12 minute fight the leader came up and Mat wired the fish as we took it going away. With 10 feet to go the fish spun around 180 degrees and came right at us. The fish went under the corner as we went out of gear. It came out on the right side and spun around going away again. As it came tight again it pulled off. Looking at the hook the circle was on its nose and slid off. It was heart breaking for us so close but so far. Joe did a great job in the chair but it just came off. Day 3 was a great day of fishing but all we could get bit on was tuna. Here you see James Jimmy and Mat with a tuna Joe caught. Jim caught one as well in between a bunch of smashed baits.