CaptainRickyWheeler

Today we headed back to the canyons looking for whatever wanted to bite. The marlin fishing has been fair to good and the tuna fishing very sporadic. We started the day with a tuna spread which hurt us with the white marlin bites so we switched over to our marlin spread and did release 2 white marlin. We also boxed a few mahi as well as some tilefish. We had some consistent action throughout the day but overall just a pick and the weed made it difficult to fish. Fun day on the water!

A DAY I’LL NEVER FORGET!!!

Final day of the White Marlin Open started rather slow for us. Went right back to where we were Thursday. Not much to it but we were marking bait I continued to pound on. Finally after and hour and a half I decided to move on. Not even two minutes later there was an EXPLOSION on the left teaser. I had a mouthful of my second bite of my sandwich so I could not yell Blue Marlin big pitch!!

After a 10 second delay of her return and me getting my bite of my sandwich down I was able to call out the bite properly and the crew reacted so we could switch her off to the big pitch. Everything went smoothly and we got her on and settled in with Keith on the rod.

All was well, and she was down and dirty for awhile. We changed angles on the big fish and she moved around a lot and showed herself well a couple times. Unfortunately after 4 hours and 40 minutes of a rediculously hard fight it was time to change anglers so game over on the kill. The fish showed her strength to two more anglers before we let her go but she never allowed an opportunity for a gaff shot the entire time. What an amazing fish and a hell of an experience!

Thursday we fished between the Spencer and the Lindenkohl. There were some nice rip lines and some scattered bait in the blue/green water. We had a blue marlin come in on the mullet dredge and switched it but pulled the hook as we were settling in. Immediately after we had a white marlin come in on the Fish Downsea Smoke and Mirrors dredge shads covered with Downsea Blue dredge flares and switched it off and got the release.

We had a little lull then went on to get a white marlin on the long that pulled the hook and then released another white marlin that didn’t make the mark. Slow pick for us.

A lot of time in preparations the past week getting ready for the White Marlin Open. I had just got back from a trip to Grenada to get Exile 45 and move it to Trinidad. We did Fish Grenada for 3 hours on the way out of there and went 3/5 on wahoos and a few mahi as well. Then fished for tarpon on day in Trinidad and released some of those awesome fish!

Anyway, got out offshore on Monday for Day 1 of the WMO. Ended up starting in the eddy out deep of the Poormans. There wasn’t much to it. Slow fishing and only saw 1 fish hooked all morning. We picked up and ran inside and saw whales and dolphins working an area together. We have that a half hour and nothing so continued running to the 100 line where we managed to get a white marlin bite that we lost in the turn. We could have certainly loaded up on mahi but none were tournament size so we had to pass em up. Otherwise very tough fishing. 2 days to go!

For those who do not already know, We are beginning a charter program with both the 45′ Hatteras Exile and also the 65′ Paul Mann Exile 65in the beautiful island country of Grenada. The fishing there is incredible, the people are friendly, and the island is beautiful. Check out the action here and book a trip with us down there this Winter/Spring of 2019!

The seas were a little sloppy on the ride out with winds out of the SSW at 15-20knots but we made our way to the Wilmington Canyon. We pounded it out there all day because we kept picking away at bites and marking plenty of bait. Overall we had a fair amount of tough luck pulling some hooks on nicer tunas and Billfish but still put together a solid day. There wasn’t much rhyme or reason as to what the fish wanted as we seemed to get bites on everything in the spread.

The final tally was 3/6 on yellowfin tuna, 5/9 on mahi, 0/4 on white marlin, and 0/1 on blue marlin. Luck wasn’t on our side but still meat in the box and better quality tunas made for some great fights!

I have been fortunate enough to have a job that I love that gives me the opportunity to travel to some amazing locations and catch lot of fish. In my travels and mostly the fishing part of it, I have captured some awesome photos that are sentimental to me, but they also are pretty incredible. I get asked a fair amount for the photos to use as wall hangings so I started a shop on Etsy that offers some of these photos as Canvas Wall hangings that turn out beautifully. I just added a page to my website here called FISH ART (CLICK HERE TO VIEW) that has all of the information if you are interested in getting a canvas print.