# FN PAIR-A-DICE Rides Again



## Bill Me (Oct 5, 2007)

Fished the FWB Sailfish Club tournament this weekend and had a blast. Me, Allen, Tim and Steve left Destine at 04:30 on Firday and headed to the Spur. Loaded up on live bait and flooded the in deck live well for the first time in addition to the transom well. More about that later.

Pulled in on good looking water a little south of the Spur. We had not previously trolled circle hook rigs so had fun rigging them numerous different ways on the trip out. Now to see if any of them actually work. We get the lines in and I look bak at the big marlin bait on the short flat and there is a bill sticking up trying to eat it. He swings around a couple of time coming accross the bait knocking it out of the clip, but no hook up. Shit! We get reset and keep going. Up ahead a nice slick. Looks good. Just as the baits come accross the slick the left short comes out of the clip and a bill come flying out of the water with our lure stuck on its jaw. Looks good, we are on, but then realize he is on the flat line with the marlin bait on it not the rigger rod we have out of the holder. And as fast as that he spits the hook. 0-2 in no time. Turns out the clicker was turned off on the flat line. Man, it shure would have been nice to hear that singing. Log that as lessons learned.

Baits going back in the water and bang fish wacks the long rigger as Allen is putting it in the clip. Line flys off his finger and loops on the ti[p of the rod, pow, the line pops and we are off. Wait, the shotgun goes off and there is the bill jumping on the shotgun position. Shoot, it off. Pull in the line and there is the lure that was on the outrigger tangled in the shoutgun daisy chain. Well, at least we got that killer lure back. 

Within 90 mins or 2 hours had raised three bills with nothing to show for it except the impact of the emotional highs and lows.. Some debate, but I think two whites and a blue were the culprits. We talk to the guys on Hook n Tail also fishing the tournament and they are working the same area as us. Not sure how they were doing, but the area was producing bites, just not results, and thats on us.

Baits back out. Troll for a bit and the rigger line gets slammed. Line is screaming off the 50w and Steve is working to turn the fish. All indications are Wahoo or Tuna. We get the lines cleared and settle in for a long fight. The end again is heart break as the hook pulls after about 30 hard fought minutes. We are crushed. 

We settle back in and after abit decide to leave the bite in anticipation of making Deep Water Nautalis in time for the evening Tuna bite. Ab out a hundred miles from Destin we find gorgeaous blue water and a decent weed line. Baits in and we are fishing. Surprised to see a few other boats here in the middle of nowhere including Hook & Tail. They seemed to have the same idea s us.

Not long and one of the trolled baits gets slammed by a nice bull dolphin. Steve is on it and working him. This fish is coming in the boat even if he has to jump in and wrestle him with bare hands. As the bull drags us into the weed line, I grab a spin rod and toss a pilchard in. It gets ignored for a while, but when some jacks came out to look at it apparently that got anothe rbull dolphin interested. I can imagine him saying, oh no you don't to those jacks as he charged in and slammed the bait. Now we have two bulls on! 

Steve gets his to boat side and Tim sinks the Gaff. A nice bull in the box. The skunk is off the boat. While I fight the othe bull everyone else gets live baits in the water. We get the second bull up, gaffed and in the box. 39#, good for 1st place Dolphin in the FWBSFC tournament. 

Now Steve is hooked up again on 25# spinning gear. Wahoo! Not a stud, but species number two, in the box. We catch up a few more small dolphin and decide its time to get back on track to the Dep Water Nautalis.

When we arive, I am really surprised to see about six or 8 other boats there fishing. Among them, Hook n Tail. Man thats a long ride. 

We settle in to live bait with Tuna busting all over. Not long and Allen hooks up and puts a nice one in the box in the 30#+ class. A few bites with no additional fish to the boat and we decide to move off and get some rest. That is when we discover disaster has struck. In deck livewell has overflowed and through the deck drains has pumped the fish box full of salt water. All the ice is gone. We get the problem solved and cobble togeher a box of ice from food coolers and manage to eek out a passable solution, but sword fishing would be for naught so we all sack out.

In the AM we move back under threatening skies and put the baits back in. In no time flat Tim has anoth nice Tuna in the box in the 30 to 40# class. At one point two water sputs at the same time. Yikes! 

We decide its time to head for the hill and try to salvage those fish. On the way we decide to see if we can't get a little bigger hoo and a Kingfish. We put out the lines and start working. About 30 minutes later with no action I propose we move on. Walk back to pull the lines and bam, fish on. Ugh, gone as fast as he came, but no, he crosses the spread and hits the lure on the rod Tim is working. Fish on. Tim makes quick work of a nice wahoo, but smaller than the first. 

So its off in search of a Kingfish. Has to be fast as we are painfully short of ice. Lines in, the sounder looks good and in short order Tim is hooked up again, but itsa not fighting like a king. He works it and works it (25# SPIN TACKLE) and we all (except Steve) think this has to be a shark. We all vote to break it off, but Steve says to give him the rod. He wants to KNOW what is on that hook. So he puts the wood too it and works it some more. Pretty soon we have color and it sure is not a shark. Holy cow, look at that reef donkey. What a pig! Up to get the hooks out and a quick photo and he is back to the reef to fight another day. 

Time to go home, weigh in, clean up and get some real sleep. Can't wait to do it all over again. Thanks to team FN PAIR-A-DICE for a great weekend and for 1st place Dolphin and 2nd place Tuna in the FWBSFC. What a blast. Next time those billfish are gettin' tagged!


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## polar21 (Nov 5, 2007)

Great report!


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## PELAGIC PIRATE (Oct 10, 2007)

Epic adventure :thumbsup:

hopefully i can go this weekend and make my own adventure.


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## my3nme (Oct 9, 2007)

Great read, thanks for posting


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## cobe killer (Apr 13, 2008)

love the the report!


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## DAWGONIT (Jan 16, 2009)

++ on pretty work, report, & pics.
catch 'em up.


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## Frenchy (Oct 2, 2007)

Thanks for the report and great job, sounds like a really nice trip, no clicker...must be the 30 !!!


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## hjorgan (Sep 30, 2007)

Great read, hope the weather cooperates for us small boaters.


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## Bill Me (Oct 5, 2007)

Frenchy said:


> Thanks for the report and great job, sounds like a really nice trip, no clicker...must be the 30 !!!


The 80. It clicks so loud it you could hear it in navarre if the darn this was on!


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## bigtallluke (Jul 14, 2012)

What a great report!! I love the detail and the true enthusiasm... Very good read! Great job out there! Makes me foam at the mouth to get back out there into the blue water.


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## needsaboat (Mar 9, 2008)

Great report. It's not always the ones we catch that bring us back out, sometimes it's the ones that get away.


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## Bryan_DESTIN_TRITON (Jan 11, 2009)

Nice job guys! Pleasure fishing with you in the tourney!


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## jet (Jan 17, 2011)

*Fun Read*

Nice report, those kind of days sure makes fishing a hoot. I fished the tourney also on the Bahr-acuda and found using circle hooks on the natural bait troll sure makes for a few lost fish. The FWBSFC has a overnight rig trip most Septembers and I hope the dirty water from the Mississippi does not keep us from going this year. This is also a fun club event to look forward to in the future. JET "Great Escape"


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