Left HI around 6am 7/11. Only had a slim crew of myself, Troy, Troy's son Taylor, and his old buddy Earl. Was supposed to fish friday and return today, but crew problems had us fed up, so decided to run it home Friday instead...
Stopped by the Diamond Shoals tower breifly, but with a hard current, and semi-sloppy seas, decided to head on north. Ran to around the 660 line and found the fleet in about 200 fath. so out goes the spread. Had an immediate knockdown on a rainbow mini bar, but was a little skippy that was thinking he was bigger than he really was.. 30 min later get another knockdown and this one is pulling line fast. Earl has the rod while I am trying to get Taylor harnassed up, and he sets the drag to FULL strike, which he thought would slow the tuna down.....ugh. Ripped the lips off that one.....By the way, these were bigeyes in this area. Heard of a few boated in the 100lb class, but after some trolling and no knockdowns again, north we went. Trolling around the 770 line came in more shallow and finally get another knockdown in around 60 fath., which Taylor was ready for this time..15 min later had my hands on a nice little white marlin, perfect size for Taylor who is only 12. Will post some pictures later on. Continued trolling to around the 000's and at 4pm decided we better get to Hampton, so picked up and ran on in. I think it was around 7pm when we pulled into Bluewater Marina, pretty long day, but nice to be out there, and glad to have a flag flying. Seas were calm once we got north of 000's, almost flat.
Until next time.....
JOE