Pensacola Fishing Forum / Blue Water Fishing / Blue Water Reports / Clean water at the Marlin Rig / Latest Posts

RE: Clean water at the Marlin Rig

BloodyDeckHandz — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:31:10 GMT

Just wanted to introduce myself and say "HI" as i am new to the PFF. Also, many thanks to Jeff (Macala) for hosting an awesome trip last month. i've been itchin like mad to go again ever since and now that my hand's almost back to normal :doh i'm ready to get the deck all bloody and beautiful again! :banghead :hoppingmad :banghead :hoppingmad

RE: Clean water at the Marlin Rig

tunafishsanwich — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:10:20 GMT

Kinda late in the game to reply, but I just wanted to thank Jeff and the other guys on the crew, Joe and Mike, for an epic trip that will not be forgotten. To say that we had a great time would be the understatement of the century. Like I said, it was EPIC! Can't wait to do it again. I'm really liking fishing the Gulf.

-Tim (One of the San Diego guys, in orange)

RE: Clean water at the Marlin Rig

Hammertime — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 08:33:06 GMT

Awsome report and congrats on the hog YF! What a treat for your long time friends. I was susposed to go yesteday to the Marlin but the boat was alittle crowded so I decide to go snapper fishing instead. My friend that went caught 6 YFT 60-75 lbs. Caught one of them on a jig! The rest on lite leaders and small hoos pulling way back. He said the same thing; YF lighting up the rigs right now. Hopefully it will hold on until later this week when I can set up a trip.

RE: Clean water at the Marlin Rig

daddytime — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 08:21:27 GMT

That was a great trip and report...BEFORE the 30 class whipping you put ont that monster. Congratulations and THANKS for the report.:usaflag

RE: Clean water at the Marlin Rig

4wahoo — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 03:55:58 GMT

WOW!!!! Congrats on a great trip and thanks for the post, hopfully this is a sign of good blue water and many more posts like it.

RE: Clean water at the Marlin Rig

Reel Rowdy — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 21:32:17 GMT

Thanks for sharing the pictures!

RE: Clean water at the Marlin Rig

mscontender — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 09:25:42 GMT

Wow! Wow! Wow! My had goes off you guys for making it happen! Awesome!

MSconender

RE: Clean water at the Marlin Rig

sc23 — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 03:08:00 GMT

Big YF, mate and nice pics. Sweet.

I've been stuck inland so long that water looks blue to me. I'm just wishing..

RE: Clean water at the Marlin Rig

Corpsman — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:03:17 GMT

Jeff you are the MAN! I cant wait to get out with you again. Your GB or mine!

Jody

RE: Clean water at the Marlin Rig

recess — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:36:53 GMT

Thats one fine catch there. Thanks for the report. The pictures were great, so thats what blue water looks like. Gene:bowdown

RE: Clean water at the Marlin Rig

Xanadu — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:37:38 GMT

[quote][b]seanclearly (7/18/2008)[/b][hr]Great report and congrats on the big yellowfin. That fish looks like he is 160-180. Real nice fish. Congrats!!!![/quote]

Agreed. Big ass tuna on a 30. Nice work!

RE: Clean water at the Marlin Rig

bluffman2 — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:20:59 GMT

i was gonna say 170#

great report and good job

RE: Clean water at the Marlin Rig

hebegb — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:15:44 GMT

wow...what a stud YFT!

RE: Clean water at the Marlin Rig

snakeawave — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:14:20 GMT

great report ! thanks for the pics:bowdown

RE: Clean water at the Marlin Rig

Xiphius — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:02:36 GMT

Great catch,150# class YF... thanksf or the post

RE: Clean water at the Marlin Rig

Offshore-911 — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:51:10 GMT

Great Report! Awsome Catch!

RE: Clean water at the Marlin Rig

Bow Down — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:41:29 GMT

Wow!! Great trip guys that is a stud YFT!

RE: Clean water at the Marlin Rig

$EA $ICKNE$$ — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:37:29 GMT

Great trip Jeff. Congrats on some awesome fish.

RE: Clean water at the Marlin Rig

seanclearly — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:16:06 GMT

Great report and congrats on the big yellowfin. That fish looks like he is 160-180. Real nice fish. Congrats!!!!

RE: Clean water at the Marlin Rig

Getsome — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 07:57:13 GMT

Great report and awsome fish.

RE: Clean water at the Marlin Rig

Barry Cole — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 07:11:52 GMT

Man... what a kick ass trip! Were you slow trolling hardtails, chunking, throwing poppers, or did you have a trolling spread out?

Also, how big was that last YFT?

Great job!

RE: Clean water at the Marlin Rig

tunapopper — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 06:29:02 GMT

Nice freakin' tuna!:clap:clap:clap

RE: Clean water at the Marlin Rig

Magic236 — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 06:16:03 GMT

Congrats on a great trip. Many thanks for the post. We are going out this weekend on the Annie Girl, now I have hope and will let y'all know.

RE: Clean water at the Marlin Rig

Sir Reel — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 05:53:17 GMT

Great Report!...Thanks for the information.

RE: Clean water at the Marlin Rig

The Blue Hoo — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 04:13:47 GMT

very informative report. look at that pig yellowfin-that's what i'm talking about.

RE: Clean water at the Marlin Rig

DISANTO — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:07:08 GMT

That is a great report. Thank you, and congratulations!

RE: Clean water at the Marlin Rig

Chris Couture — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:12 GMT

AWESOME! What did the big one weight?

RE: Clean water at the Marlin Rig

zoomin-newman — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:57:58 GMT

Nice catch!!!!:bowdown Thanks for the report and tuna! IOU big time

Clean water at the Marlin Rig

macala — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:41:44 GMT

It’s been a while since I have posted a report but due to poor water conditions/ fuel prices, I feel compelled to write one. Thanks to all who have posted current water conditions. I’m sure this forum has saved me hundreds of dollars on fuel. I am reporting that the water conditions have changed at the Marlin Rig.

I had two guys from San Diego fly in on Monday for a fishing trip and it had been 11 years since we all fish together. Due to the dirty water around the local oil rig, I thought of driving to Venice for a charter. I called Eddie Burger and Ed Freaky, and they both were booked up until Thursday. That was Plan A so on to Plan B. I looked on Hilton’s site, it showed Thunderhorse in very favorable water so I strapped on the fuel bladder and we left Tuesday morning with low hopes.

We spent the first hour catching bait around the pass and then it took us 3 hrs to make the first stop at the Marlin Rig. I planned on stopping at the Marin, Horn, and Nakika to get to clean water. When we arrived at the Marlin Rig, the water was still green but a clean green if that makes sense. As we were preparing a spread, I see a huge yft 5 feet out of the water.

Ten minutes later we see almost 50 yft out of the water at the same time, all over the place. I have seen yfts jumping but I have never seen 30 flying fish flying together in formation. We caught two yfts and a nice bull for the next 2 hrs.

The tunas had so much to eat that it was really hard to get a bite. There were bait ball, flying fish, and rainbow runners everywhere. As soon as the sun when down, everything shut down.

We then ran to the steps and drifted for swords. We got two bites that night with a shark cutting through the 300 lbs leader and the hook pulling off a sword. Maybe next time. The water was dirty and it’s nice to know that it does not affect the swordfish bite.

We got up 5:00 am and ran to the Marlin rig again. Sure enough the tunas were still there going nuts. Nothing that worked the day before were working that morning. We decided to down size to 40lbs test line on some 30A reels. As soon as we put the hardtails in the water, we were hooked up. After two yfts in the boat, we hooked up on a fish that shocked all of us. The fish would not stop on its first run and we were left with only half of the spectra backing. The fight lasted 3hrs 20 minutes with Joe and I had it for 3hrs before gaffing it. Hardest fighting fish I have ever witnessed. We put 15lbs of drag on 40 lbs test line and it took that long to bring up. The line was soon twisted that the line look like it would snap any minute. I can’t express the stress level of losing a fish like this one. I don’t think we even celebrated once we boated the fish due to stress. No one said a word until we got back. We ran as fast a we could home to get ice. What a trip.

I hope you Enjoyed the pictures. All pictures were taken by Mike Kim from San Diego.

If you can, go to the Marlin Rig right now. To all bill fishermen, I saw a 600+ lbs blue marlin working rainbow runner all over the place. We caught small rainbow runners on small ballyhoos. If you look at the Hilton site, you can see a clean blue finger coming in near the Marlin and Ram Powell rig. Good luck!!

Jeff Choe Macala (MAtthew, CAlvin, LAuren)