Flat calm day on the ocean. Nice to be back on the water. First bite was a sailfish that wanted to get in the boat. About 10 misses and he went away. I tried to jump from the bridge to hook him and ended up on my ass. Proceeded to miss another suicide attack from a sail. Caught the third sail. Next bite was a blackfish in the propwash. Nice to see the tunas up close. About 15lbs or so. Caught two maui wowies. Then we had a good blue marlin bite. Nice one swatted and missed the bait twice. Striker Tips got her on the third bite. She aired out and put on a show. 350lbs maybe a little bigger. Same rig as last trip. Tips manhandled her on a 30. Ended the day with two wahoo bites. One cut us off right behind the boat and the other was a nice transom release. The first was grown. Hopefully we will catch him tomorrow.
As an fyi there were boards scattered in 120’ and deeper all up and down the coast, particularly to the south. Those of you running out in the morning should keep an eye out.
Also if anyone is a furuno autopilot expert, my rudder ■■■■■■■■ completely quit working as I was backing down. Around the time we got the blue marlin to the boat I realized that the rudder was turned hard over despite the fact the AP read port4. Before that it was half-working (since we broke the rudder connecting rod in the Hilton tournament). It is still conected, but not working at all… Any ideas would be appreciated.
