We were pretty excited about this tournament as it was the first aboard the new "Blue Marlana." The team consisted of the usual crew of Dave Woodley, Josh Hiller, and Marlana. In addition, we had a special guest aboard as a second angler. Heather Collier from George's Marine Electronics graced us with her company, and proved to be quite the lady angler. The Cats were fired up around 11pm friday night and we headed about 90 miles to the southeast. When we arrived, we found scattered grass, a moderate amount of bait, and beautiful blue water. We decided to head deeper into the canyon, hoping to find the rip we expected to be there. Unfortunately, we were met with only scattered grass, but the team had no problem keeping the baits clean. Around 1030 we had a nice blue marlin crash the spread. Heather made a nice drop on the fish after it missed the baits, but it never resurfaced. As it turns out, that would be the only billfish behind our boat all weekend. After a couple of mystery fish and a few dolphin in the 20lb range, Woodley spotted a floating piece of plywood. As we passed by, I saw a nice dolphin heading for our baits. Heather was up, and set the hook on what we thought was a goodin'. As she was bringing in her fish, another dolphin (the one we wanted) crashed the long rigger. Marlana grabbed the rod and made a nice hook set. She held on tight until Heather boated her fish, and then swapped places in the chair. We knew this was a good fish as it ripped drag from the 50 wide. Well, Hiller sunk the gaff and there were high fives all around for what we estimated to be a 40lb fish. We trolled the rest of Saturday with no other notable catches. We did manage a few double hook-ups with dolphin all in the 20-25lb range. That was fun! The day ended tied up to the stern of "OFF ROUTE" who was kind enough to let us benefit from their sea anchor. (thanks guys!) We decided to rig some sword baits when we saw an intruder aboard. As I went for the Glock, I realized it was just a big drunk bald guy named Wade. He entertained us for a bit, and just about fell in the drink trying to get back to his boat. (but I'll let him tell that story.) Saturday night Hiller and Woodley caught their first sword fish. Damn those things can fight. (just ask Woodley how his back feels!) Sunday morning we caught several more dolphin and a small hoo. We started heading north in open water when another stud dolphin hit. Marlana was up, and just about got yanked over board with that fella rippin drag on an 80W. Hiller did an excellent job driving, and I sunk the gaff (boy does that feel good!) after Woodley wired the fish. This fish seemed to be a carbon copy of the one on saturday. We decided to head north to find a wahoo or two, but had no luck. Off to the scales to see how we did. The first fish weighed in at 43.4 and the second at 43.0lbs. They were good for second and third place in the tournament. (first place fish was a monster @ 59lbs!) All in all, a great start to the tournament season. I am proud of my wife and our team. Look forward to chattin w/ y'all in the international. Congrats to all who fished, and to Rebecca and Team "Off Route" on their Blue Marlin. Way to go!!!!!!!!!
