Left Ripley light around 4:30am heading south. Leaving the jetties ran head first in rough seas all the way out to 350 feet. We were able to run about 22 knots. stay in 250 to 350 feet most of the day. Water temp was 76 degrees and green. We could not find blue water. Around 11am pickup our first dolphin as we were boating the fish the way back line wrapped the prop. We had both motors out of the water and Andy was trying to unwrap the prop. All line were out but the outriggers baits were dangling up and down. All of a sudden two dolphin swam by Andy and heading straight to the dangling bait. Eric feed the line to the dolphin and he took the bait. He ran straight under the boat to the other side. Eric handed the rod under water to Andy who was on the back of the motor. Andy had the rod by the tip and the rest of the rod was underwater. After all this the fish was still on. He then went back to the front of the boat. So, I told Andy get back in and we need to get one motor in the water so I can control this fish. We were able to keep the fish on and finally boated the beast. It was a bull 52.2 lbs. We felt like we had a fish worthy of the scales. So we trolled in and around 2:15 we pickup and ran to the marina for check in. We had the top fish until 20 minutes before the scales closed. A 62lb dolphin beat us out of first place. We were crushed. But at least we had 2nd place.
We have a great tournament crew Jason, Alan, Eric, Andy
That fish was a beast. Was sitting in Red’s eating as you guys were on the scale. Swore y’all had it in the bag. I’m over here trying to imagine how this all took place in my head. LOL
While we didn’t get a bunch of fish, that 52 was definitely our day maker. After the cockpit chaos and Eric literally fighting the fish around and under the boat, it was a minor miracle he stayed hooked. He even gave us a couple good shots with his tail as we were trying to get box lid slammed on him. It was truly a team effort to land that fish. Always a fun group of guys to fish with and even with the disappointment of getting knocked into 2nd place, was still a great day. We’ll be telling that fish story for a while.
If read the form completely you can see a typo. Basically, I would not want be in their shoes. They give a Scales Open 3:00pm-7:00pm followed further down with Scales open from 3pm-6pm under rules. I am by no means a lawyer or have any idea what be done lol. Mess incoming
Ya it is a very rough decision they will have. You kinda have to honor both times. I was not at captain’s meeting so idk what time they gave there? Regardless, hard argue against either team as the form shows BOTH times under roles haha. Quality control in me itches to yell at whoever made the form!
