Left the dock around 3:30 AM and was greeted with a flat sea once out of the shipping channel. Headed towards a waypoint in between the 226 and 380 hole. Started deep with lines in about 6:45 and had nice bull in the box 30 minutes later. Continued to pick at the dolphin while working our way back inshore. Had two doubles and landed all 4 dolphin. Then at 1 PM in 350 of water the shotgun goes off and to our surprise we see this huge bill come out of the whitewater splashing and realize we are hooked up on our 1st billfish for the boat. While fighting the blue another one with it was free jumping right beside us. (Have video) Halfway through the 1 hour and 45 minute fight, the knob on the handle of the okuma 50 breaks off and had to fight it the rest of the way with no leverage on the handle. Finally bring him boat side for a release and to swim off. A shark was seen cruising around the area after we released it. After many high fives and beers, we redeployed the spread and trolled towards home. Found a weak broken weedline on the way in and picked up 2 more slingers off of it. Got back to the dock around 6:00, where Fred aka Mr Billfisher went for a swim, even though it was his second billfish. All in all, it was a beautiful day out on the pond and ended up with 1 bonito/little tunny, 7 gaffers, 2 slingers, and 1 man in the blue suit!!! Check out the little video I put together of the trip.
Any guesses on what a blue like this might weigh?
268 Bluewater Key West
Twin 225 Yamahas
