I met Lee at Cypress Cove Marina before sunrise. The fog was thicker than thick. Lee's Grady White Cuddy cabin catamaran has excellent Garmin electronics that are tuned in very good. This did not make our run down river any easier though. We had dense fog all the way. There were times, even as narrow as southeast pass is, we could not make out both sides of the pass at once When we hit the gulf conditions remained the same. At the in between rigs which are 10 miles out I went right through them and was only able to see the top of the nearest one. Within the next 5 miles visibility improved a bit. We ran across a current line and set up a troll We had a knockdown. Good sign. A little further and we are hooked up. We land the first mahi of the year. A small but respectable bull. Well above the chicken size. The rip started breaking up so we picked up and headed to a near by rig.

Well before I got to it I slowed down and we put the lines out. Eddie Burger was already trolling the rig and had picked up an average wahoo. As soon as we had all 3 lines in we get a hit. I speed up the motors an bit while the fish is burning drag. Once I stop we start clearing the other 2 lines and they both get hit. Now we are clearing crossed lines and the fire drill is on.




We had 3 on but one only lasted a short time before it came unbuttoned. With the limited space on the boat the 2 studs remaining attached were enough. Lee's dad lands the first beauty. Now we can concentrate on the second speedster. He soon found the point of the gaff and was hoisted onto the decks.






We took our pictures and this is when I found out we had a "situation". This "big" fish box, that goes back 5 feet, could not fit large wahoo. We managed to get the first one in on an angle forcing the tail in under the lid. It took a very big effort and quite some time to get the second one in. Our beautiful double was under ice or was it. "Situation Number 2"



They only put 2 40 pound bags of ice on the boat. 80 pounds of ice for 140 pounds of fish that are both 6 feet long in a 5 foot long fishbox. That is a serious situation. Good thing they were not hot blooded tuna. We already had a mahi and 2 trophy wahoo in the box with next to no ice and we had not even reached the tuna grounds yet. As soon as I got on the tuna grounds they noticed a Mako shark fin. I shut down but before we could get set up. the shark had moved on.

Normally when we get to these tuna grounds I like to troll to pick up a king mackerel or bonito for bait and locate the schools of tuna. I did this knowing if we landed a tuna we would have to head in. None of the other boats had any extra ice and I actually doubted if I could fit a decent tuna in the box even without closing the box. We set up our troll and soon had a good strike. This looked like another wahoo but it threw the hook after a brief fight. Lines out again. Soon we had a drag burning reel screaming run that could be nothing else but a nice big wahoo. This fish was not wanting to come to the boat. It was giving Lee much more than he was looking for. The thought of tapping out was not happening. It took a look at us and decided to make another big run. I could see the strain on Lee's face as he could only hold on and strain against the power of this massive fish. It seemed like forever before I got gaff in this hog.



As you can see by the picture this monster could have engulfed my size 10 foot without any problem. At this point I wanted to go in. We were out of fish box room and ice. After we took some pictures we spent over 10 minutes stuffing the third fish in as good as we could. We had to leave 2 tails sticking out of the lid. That was without breaking the bags of ice open. It was more efficient to keep the bags of ice closed and set on top of the fish. They begged me to try for tuna. I wanted to head I right then but stayed to see if we could find a tuna. We managed a few bonito and chunked them up for bait. The kings were taking our hooks. We even landed one that I guessed to be around 35 to 40 pounds. Around noon I convinced them to head in with what we had.



They thought the fog had lifted. Unfortunately for me they were wrong. The last six miles in going around and the pilings were socked in. As soon as I got into the pass things opened up. I breathed a sigh of relief. It was clear until I hit the head of passes. For the 10 mile run up the river to the jump I was back on the electronics. It was a stressful day running and a great day fishing

Life is Good!