It’s been a while since I have posted a report but due to poor water conditions/ fuel prices, I feel compelled to write one. Thanks to all who have posted current water conditions. I’m sure this forum has saved me hundreds of dollars on fuel. I am reporting that the water conditions have changed at the Marlin Rig.
I had two guys from San Diego fly in on Monday for a fishing trip and it had been 11 years since we all fish together. Due to the dirty water around the local oil rig, I thought of driving to Venice for a charter. I called Eddie Burger and Ed Freaky, and they both were booked up until Thursday. That was Plan A so on to Plan B. I looked on Hilton’s site, it showed Thunderhorse in very favorable water so I strapped on the fuel bladder and we left Tuesday morning with low hopes.
We spent the first hour catching bait around the pass and then it took us 3 hrs to make the first stop at the Marlin Rig. I planned on stopping at the Marin, Horn, and Nakika to get to clean water. When we arrived at the Marlin Rig, the water was still green but a clean green if that makes sense. As we were preparing a spread, I see a huge yft 5 feet out of the water.
Ten minutes later we see almost 50 yft out of the water at the same time, all over the place. I have seen yfts jumping but I have never seen 30 flying fish flying together in formation. We caught two yfts and a nice bull for the next 2 hrs.
The tunas had so much to eat that it was really hard to get a bite. There were bait ball, flying fish, and rainbow runners everywhere. As soon as the sun when down, everything shut down.
We then ran to the steps and drifted for swords. We got two bites that night with a shark cutting through the 300 lbs leader and the hook pulling off a sword. Maybe next time. The water was dirty and it’s nice to know that it does not affect the swordfish bite.
We got up 5:00 am and ran to the Marlin rig again. Sure enough the tunas were still there going nuts. Nothing that worked the day before were working that morning. We decided to down size to 40lbs test line on some 30A reels. As soon as we put the hardtails in the water, we were hooked up. After two yfts in the boat, we hooked up on a fish that shocked all of us. The fish would not stop on its first run and we were left with only half of the spectra backing. The fight lasted 3hrs 20 minutes with Joe and I had it for 3hrs before gaffing it. Hardest fighting fish I have ever witnessed. We put 15lbs of drag on 40 lbs test line and it took that long to bring up. The line was soon twisted that the line look like it would snap any minute. I can’t express the stress level of losing a fish like this one. I don’t think we even celebrated once we boated the fish due to stress. No one said a word until we got back. We ran as fast a we could home to get ice. What a trip.
I hope you Enjoyed the pictures. All pictures were taken by Mike Kim from San Diego.
If you can, go to the Marlin Rig right now. To all bill fishermen, I saw a 600+ lbs blue marlin working rainbow runner all over the place. We caught small rainbow runners on small ballyhoos. If you look at the Hilton site, you can see a clean blue finger coming in near the Marlin and Ram Powell rig. Good luck!!
Jeff Choe Macala (MAtthew, CAlvin, LAuren)