Written by Barry Cole:
Well I may have forgotten more than I remember, but I wanted to post Blue Marlana's MBGFC report while it was still fresh on my mind. I was fortunate to be asked to fish again by Dave and Marlana on their awesome 35' Cabo Express "Blue Marlana". The crew consisted of Dave Disanto, Marlana Disanto, Dave Woodley, Steve Seeker, Marlana's bother from Boston Damien, and myself. Josh Hiller, a tried and true member of the team could not fish this weekend because of the death of his grandfather. We missed you Josh! Let me to tell you, the Blue Marlana raises some fish. I've heard stories of the legendary status of the 35 Cabo with her Cats being a proven fishing platform. Heck, there must be a reason there is a fleet of the 35's in Los Suenos Costa Rica. This amazing boat, coupled with the anal retentive nature of Captain Dave and the wealth of knowledge of Woodley would give anyone fortunate enough to fish with them the confidence they are going to catch fish! I made a statement to Dave and Woodley that many fisherman are excited and maybe even surprised when they catch a billfish, but Dave fully expects to catch fish every time he leaves the dock. From the extensive pre- tournament preparation, to the system of checks and balances throughout the tournament, you can't help but like your chances when you fish on Blue Marlana! We all arrived Friday afternoon at Orange Beach Marina for the awesome dinner, drinks and camaraderie that precedes most tournaments. Dave had brought the boat over earlier in the day and had a covered slip at the Marina for three days. We left the dock around 9:45 pm and headed out at a steady crawl towards the area Dave was hoping we would find good water. Upon arriving Saturday morning there were no rips to be found. Lines were in before we could even see the spread. The seas were slick as glass and the sunrise was spectacular! Damien was first in the chair, as a result of his lucky guess at Woodley's numbers game. The first couple of knockdowns included a nice blue that Damien hooked up on the center rigger but she didn't stay hooked up long. The only picture I got of the fish was about five hundred yards behind the boat, so the picture is not that clear but we did see she was a blue with subsequent jumps! Then a white came up and same thing. Damien finished his chair time with a small YFT that we released. Next up was Marlana, and let me tell you this chick can fish! At 1:30 pm Captain Dave found a small wooden crate floating in the middle of nowhere and the first pass the starboard long rigger went off and at 1:44 pm Marlana had our first Blue Marlin on 80lb tackle to the transom, with Woodley on the wire and Seeker taggin' her! She was green as a hornet and beat the hell out of Woodley and his arm. Ask him to show you his damage!!! The blue was about 175 lbs and was released to fight another day. I was up next and Dave had seen what he thought was a nice Mahi on the crate so we put a a ballyhoo on a circle hook and Penn 9500 and on the second pass I put the bait in front of the cow and the fight was on. Unfortunately she was smaller than expected and went in the box. Next up was Steve Seeker and he was chompin' to get in the chair! Around 4:30 pm the mid rigger fired again and he had a blue hooked up for about ten seconds. She danced and spit the hooks and Steve settled back in for another shot. At 6:15 the port long went ballistic on guess what lure, " a blue and white Islander with horse hoo". This fish was sounding deep and Steve worked her quickly to the transom when she went crazy and started to peel line off the 50lb Penn like nobody's biz. I was screamin' she's gonna spool us and Woodley calmed me down and said we are gonna be fine. I was about to break out the hose and spray down the smoking reel, but Seeker looked like he needed the water more, so we sprayed him down! At 6:39, Steve had the Blue to the transom and Woodley wired, Marlana tagged, and we measured her at 102 inches. Too short for this tournament but we did have the gaff on stand-by. She swam off, high fives were abundant, and we had finished an awesome day. Five shots at billfish, four Blue's and one white. Two tagged and two more should have been! That night we settled in and decided to do some sword fishing. Woodley rigged the first squid and within ten minutes the drag started screamin'. Damien was up, so he settled into the harness and a fight that this Bostonian would never forget. He didn't realize that even on fifty pound tackle, these swords can kick some ass! After much groaning and coaching by the crew, he did an admiral job of putting his first sword on the deck. She was around 60 inches and 80 to 90 pounds. After spraying the blood off the deck, Captain Dave decided one sword was enough and we were hungry and needed some rack time. After day one, we thought day two would shape up to be a barn burner as well, but were we dead wrong. For us it was a slow day with one nice blue in the spread, but no hook up and only mystery knockdowns the rest of the day. We didn't know how we had done until Monday morning, but were ecstatic to find out that Blue Marlana took first place in the $500 Calcutta in Tag and Release and fourth over all in the T&R division. Great weekend, awesome friends and I almost forgot! I passed the polygraph!!! Edited by Barry Cole 9/5/2007 8:26 AM
Well I may have forgotten more than I remember, but I wanted to post Blue Marlana's MBGFC report while it was still fresh on my mind. I was fortunate to be asked to fish again by Dave and Marlana on their awesome 35' Cabo Express "Blue Marlana". The crew consisted of Dave Disanto, Marlana Disanto, Dave Woodley, Steve Seeker, Marlana's bother from Boston Damien, and myself. Josh Hiller, a tried and true member of the team could not fish this weekend because of the death of his grandfather. We missed you Josh! Let me to tell you, the Blue Marlana raises some fish. I've heard stories of the legendary status of the 35 Cabo with her Cats being a proven fishing platform. Heck, there must be a reason there is a fleet of the 35's in Los Suenos Costa Rica. This amazing boat, coupled with the anal retentive nature of Captain Dave and the wealth of knowledge of Woodley would give anyone fortunate enough to fish with them the confidence they are going to catch fish! I made a statement to Dave and Woodley that many fisherman are excited and maybe even surprised when they catch a billfish, but Dave fully expects to catch fish every time he leaves the dock. From the extensive pre- tournament preparation, to the system of checks and balances throughout the tournament, you can't help but like your chances when you fish on Blue Marlana! We all arrived Friday afternoon at Orange Beach Marina for the awesome dinner, drinks and camaraderie that precedes most tournaments. Dave had brought the boat over earlier in the day and had a covered slip at the Marina for three days. We left the dock around 9:45 pm and headed out at a steady crawl towards the area Dave was hoping we would find good water. Upon arriving Saturday morning there were no rips to be found. Lines were in before we could even see the spread. The seas were slick as glass and the sunrise was spectacular! Damien was first in the chair, as a result of his lucky guess at Woodley's numbers game. The first couple of knockdowns included a nice blue that Damien hooked up on the center rigger but she didn't stay hooked up long. The only picture I got of the fish was about five hundred yards behind the boat, so the picture is not that clear but we did see she was a blue with subsequent jumps! Then a white came up and same thing. Damien finished his chair time with a small YFT that we released. Next up was Marlana, and let me tell you this chick can fish! At 1:30 pm Captain Dave found a small wooden crate floating in the middle of nowhere and the first pass the starboard long rigger went off and at 1:44 pm Marlana had our first Blue Marlin on 80lb tackle to the transom, with Woodley on the wire and Seeker taggin' her! She was green as a hornet and beat the hell out of Woodley and his arm. Ask him to show you his damage!!! The blue was about 175 lbs and was released to fight another day. I was up next and Dave had seen what he thought was a nice Mahi on the crate so we put a a ballyhoo on a circle hook and Penn 9500 and on the second pass I put the bait in front of the cow and the fight was on. Unfortunately she was smaller than expected and went in the box. Next up was Steve Seeker and he was chompin' to get in the chair! Around 4:30 pm the mid rigger fired again and he had a blue hooked up for about ten seconds. She danced and spit the hooks and Steve settled back in for another shot. At 6:15 the port long went ballistic on guess what lure, " a blue and white Islander with horse hoo". This fish was sounding deep and Steve worked her quickly to the transom when she went crazy and started to peel line off the 50lb Penn like nobody's biz. I was screamin' she's gonna spool us and Woodley calmed me down and said we are gonna be fine. I was about to break out the hose and spray down the smoking reel, but Seeker looked like he needed the water more, so we sprayed him down! At 6:39, Steve had the Blue to the transom and Woodley wired, Marlana tagged, and we measured her at 102 inches. Too short for this tournament but we did have the gaff on stand-by. She swam off, high fives were abundant, and we had finished an awesome day. Five shots at billfish, four Blue's and one white. Two tagged and two more should have been! That night we settled in and decided to do some sword fishing. Woodley rigged the first squid and within ten minutes the drag started screamin'. Damien was up, so he settled into the harness and a fight that this Bostonian would never forget. He didn't realize that even on fifty pound tackle, these swords can kick some ass! After much groaning and coaching by the crew, he did an admiral job of putting his first sword on the deck. She was around 60 inches and 80 to 90 pounds. After spraying the blood off the deck, Captain Dave decided one sword was enough and we were hungry and needed some rack time. After day one, we thought day two would shape up to be a barn burner as well, but were we dead wrong. For us it was a slow day with one nice blue in the spread, but no hook up and only mystery knockdowns the rest of the day. We didn't know how we had done until Monday morning, but were ecstatic to find out that Blue Marlana took first place in the $500 Calcutta in Tag and Release and fourth over all in the T&R division. Great weekend, awesome friends and I almost forgot! I passed the polygraph!!! Edited by Barry Cole 9/5/2007 8:26 AM
