# Nipple 8/11: White Marlin and Dolphin Double Double



## LRAD (Aug 13, 2009)

I have never posted here before but I have been following this forum closely since I discovered it earlier this year. I have learned a ton about saltwater fishing from reading the tips and tricks posted here, and checking out the bluewater reports has become part of my daily routine. Living in Birmingham, my chances to get offshore are few and far between, but that doesn?t keep me from daydreaming about fish on a regular basis.

Happily, however, a good friend of mine acquired a 28 foot Pursuit last year, the No Problem out of Sportsman?s, and we have spent four or five weekends a summer trying to get out of Perdido and find the pelagics ever since. More often than not, we get rained out, or the seas are 6-8, or something else comes up to screw up our trip. We did manage a pretty decent wahoo last year, and an interesting night time YFT out at the rigs earlier this summer, but no billfish action at all and precious little action of any kind most days other than burning fuel and drinking beer ? not that there is anything wrong with that, of course. Bottom fish in the box make for delicious consolation but we have been beside ourselves to get into some offshore action in the GOM. 

Two weeks ago we worked the Nipple, Elbow, and Spur only to find deserted, green water. Monday morning I checked the forum and saw Hyer Standards awesome report. I fired off an email linking the post to my buddy (Capt. K) and another of our B?ham crew and joked that I didn?t have anything to do on Tuesday that couldn?t be put off until Wednesday. He replied with the NOAA forecast of one foot or less and said that he could leave after work. I still thought he was joking, and then he calls to say that our other fisherman (RW) was in ? all he had to do was break a first date (he the only remaining bachelor among us). Realizing he was serious, I went home at lunch and packed a bag. Got nothing done at work the rest of the afternoon and got out of town about 6:00 p.m. Got to the coast in time to go through the lure bags and get our gear in order for early morning departure. 

After dropping the requisite wad at Sams for bait, beer, ice, and sundries we got the boat loaded and out of the pass around 6:00 a.m. The gulf was oily slick, no breeze at all, just an easy gentle swell. We ran about twenty miles offshore and saw a huge sea turtle holding some chicken dolphin, but he was boat shy and once he left the fish went with him. Headed back towards the Nipple and stopped to cast around some floating debris (the biggest thing we saw was a five gallon bucket) but nothing doing. Investigated several more sea turtles with similar results. In retrospect we should have just run offshore as fast as we could, because as soon as we got to the Nipple the water was really nice and there were more flying fish than I have ever seen ? big ones, tiny ones, and everything in between. They were all over the place, which revived our excitement level after striking out on the turtle and bucket.

We started out from the Nipple and trolled the contour lines towards the Elbow ? basically the first leg of Don?t Panic?s excellent set of waypoints. There were several other boats in the area already. Started with Islander ballyhoo combos on the riggers, a rainbow colored chugger short starboard, pink stretch 30 port flat, and a bird with mahi duster way back. Not ten minutes later a dark back and dorsal fin came slicing in right at the chugger, only to veer off and disappear. Either a white or small blue ? the sun was just coming up and in our eyes so hard to tell. Even though he didn?t bite that was more billfish action than we have had all summer, so we were encouraged. Fish were definitely there. 

Ten minutes later the starboard rigger trips, no fish. Fifteen minutes later there is a splash in the spread and the port rigger pops. Nothing. Dangit! We had been changing out one lure every twenty minutes, and had dropped an islander down behind a planer ? we were trolling slow, between four and five knots. It had been down about thirty minutes when the rod popped up ? no fish though, nor any planer. Something had snapped the 80 lb line right at the planer! We wanted to keep a deeper line so we ran down a trolling lead and an islander combo behind it. Ten minutes later something hit it, and this time the hook set. I grabbed the rod and realized it wasn?t much ? turned out to be a two foot shark with a nasty array of dental work and big appetite. Tossed him back to grow up a little. 

About an hour or so of trolling down the contour lines the water got noticeably greener, and we decided to loop back around and work up a little shallower. Turned out to be a good choice. 

*White Marlin!*

We bumped the speed up to seven or eight knots and it took us about ten minutes to get back to the pretty water, and right after we did the port rod dragging the deep line gave a little bump, then started to peel. This was a real fish. RW grabbed the rod and set the hook. Nice white marlin jumps straight up ? we got a good look and then she ran out about 100 yards of line and gave us some additional acrobatics before we got her turned and headed in slowly but surely. Got one cell phone pic of RW pumping her towards the boat.










After about twenty minutes I had the trolling lead in hand and started to leader her in. Never got her alongside - a quick shake of the head and she was gone. We were pumped about our first billfish hook-up on the No Problem but a little deflated that we didn?t get a chance for a boatside photo. I hope one of you guys can get one and post it for everyone!

*Dolphin Double I*

By this time it was about 9:30 or so, and we continued back up our line, changing our spread every twenty minutes. We had a blue and white Islander combo deep and a small rigged bird (pink) way back. At about 10:15 the deep line starts to peel ? I am thinking wahoo all the way until I see a nice bull dolphin break the surface and start thrashing. Right then the bird gets whacked and another dolphin goes beserk. Needless to say it was a bit chaotic there for a minute fighting two nice fish, clearing lines, and driving the boat. The way back was WAY BACK so even though the first fish was clearly bigger it came boatside first. It was a nice sized fish, all lit up and fighting like crazy all the way in. We finally got him alongside, and he seemed worn out enough to horse in close with a heavy drag. Big mistake: first gaff shot glanced off and he somehow found the strength to peel off all that drag like it was nothing ? right under the boat and across the motor. Gone. No time to sulk, though, and we pulled out the other gaff and got the cow into the boat and on ice. Turns out that somehow in being loaded and unloaded the gaff had a little bend at the point, blunting it. Won?t forget to check the gaffs next time. But, one nice fish in the box and billfish already made the trip a success. 

*Doldrums *

By this time it was HOT, still no breeze at all and the sun was beating down on us pretty good. We sweltered through it until lunch without any more action, and decided to do some high speed trolling in hopes of a hoo. Still lots of flyers, water was as pretty and blue as I have seen in two years, but there was only a small patch of it. We put out three high speed lures and a yozuri bonita and cranked it up to thirteen knots. At least that got a breeze going. 

*Dolphin Double II*

We ran all around the Nipple and out of the pretty water before turning around and heading back down our line towards the Elbow. At about 1:30 the port flat yozuri goes off screaming ? fish on! Wahoo for sure at thirteen knots, right? Wrong! Another bull dolphin comes up hooked and angry and letting us know all about it. I was sitting right next to the rod (and was still smarting a little from losing the first bull like that) so I grabbed it and kept the pressure on while we throttled down. Before we could get all the lines cleared one of the way back lines started peeling and we had our second dolphin double of the day. 

No messing around this time. Worked both fish in and bull and cow alike felt the gaff and went straight into the box. The bull wasn?t happy about it in the least, and managed to give me a pretty good tail smack on his way in. 

*Ride In*

Feeling somewhat vindicated ? both by our successful second double and the pure satisfaction of fishing that pretty water on a random Tuesday when we should have been at work ? we continued our high speed tactics all the way down to the Elbow. Really wanted a hoo to top off the box but it was not to be. Put out a ballyhoo spread at the Elbow and trolled long enough to smoke a cigar and reflect upon what a beautiful day on the water it had been. Wound them up and ran in ? the west wind picked up steadily on the run in and we had the first chop of the day for the last ten miles, but the Pursuit cut right through it and we hit the dock at dusk. 

*Postscript*

So, what started as a joke in response to Hyer Standard?s post turned into our best blue water day to date. I hope the pretty water sticks around out there ? there wasn?t a ton of it as best we could tell but it certainly held fish. My only suggestion is to keep something below the surface ? our three nicest fish hit the deep line. Thanks to all of you who post reports here ? it is amazing the amount of good information we have picked up since we started following the forum. This trip would have never happened without PFF.

Sorry for the lack of pictures ? camera batteries died at some point during the heat of the day. Did one snap back at the dock ? the smiles tell the story far better than the fish.


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## ajfishn (Jun 28, 2008)

Congrats on the first marlin

Jake


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## true-king (Oct 2, 2007)

Wow, that water looks GLASSY in that first pic. Thanks for the detailed report and congrats on a great trip!


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## LuckyLady (Oct 2, 2007)

Great report. Sounds like you got it all together....just "Time on Task" now!!

We are heading to the Nipple in the AM. Fishing Friday and Saturday, weather permitting. The offshore bite the past week has been the best of the summer. Later!!


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## LRAD (Aug 13, 2009)

Good luck and let us know how it goes!


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## LRAD (Aug 13, 2009)

Edited to insert pics.


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## polar21 (Nov 5, 2007)

That is a great reason to miss work! Good job on the fish and thanks for the narrative post!


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