# Overnighter on Betty B, 5/8-5/9---cool encounter



## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

Got out for our first "real" trip this season and conditions couldn't have been nicer. Got out a little later than we would have liked on Sunday but still made it to Petronius right at dark and caught some blackfin and pulled the hooks on what I suspect was a decent YFT. The fish go deep and instead of working hard to bring them up from 400ft we decide our time would be better spent swording so off we go. Our first drift proves extremely uneventful after a couple hours other than smaller squid chewing up the bigger squid we are using. Next drift we get 2 sharks. Drift until about 4AM and pull the plug. We had only moved about 1/4 mile throughout the drift and although there was bait under the boat, there was 0 action.

Get to the rig and before we get a full set of baits out, my Tiburon SST 20 gets hit. Being the first fish to be caught on that reel, I take the rod. Its a decent fish but nothing huge, until the second run. It almost dumps the reel and I slide the drag to 34lbs to hopefully slow the fish. After that I gain line very slowly with the fish not doing much other than being very heavy. 20 minutes into it the fish strips me all the way back to where I started. Philip starts circling tighter so I can gain line faster and after a few minutes she starts coming fairly easy. Soon we see the fish and I'm thinking theres no way in hell that was the same fish I've been pulling on; its about 60lbs. A little later and we see its covered in markings and bleeding but no shark bites. Alan gaffs it and I help him slide it over as Sam takes pics behind me. As it is coming over Sam and I are looking over and see the biggest Blue Marlin I have ever seen about 8-10ft down coming to and going under the boat. She is lit up and her pecs are spread out like big, glowing, blue wings. After she goes under we don't see her again and we now know that the marlin had swallowed the 60lb tuna and was playing tug of war with me over it. We catch a blackfin, bridle it up and fish it around the rig for a while but to no avail. I conservatively estimate that blue at 800-900lbs and if she went higher it wouldn't surprise me.

We catch a few more small YFT, blackfin and big skipjacks and decide to move in to the shelf to the 255 and try for some wahoo. We make a few passes but only have a bonito to show for it. We jig up some AJs for a little bit and decide to call it a trip since Philip had to get back.

Start running and Philip pulls them back after we come across a huge weedline. We see a bunch of very small dolphin but nothing reel big. We cast lures for a little while to hopefully get some bigger dolphin but instead, Alan hooks up to a nice little cobia and after a short while we get it in the boat. Not what we had in mind but appreciated all the same.

We get running again for all of 3 minutes before we spot an old, beat up zodiac not far from the line. It looked like someone lived aboard it and had spanish writing on it. There were some bigger schoolie dolphin under it though so we stopped and started casting on it. I got a couple on the fly right away and Alan gets cut off. I tie a small yo-zuri bonito on and cast it out and let it sink for a while before reeling it in as fast as I can. 3 wahoo follow it to the boat and on the 2nd cast it gets slammed by a nice little 20lber. We put it to bed and Alan follows up with another on an iron jig. The wahoo throws the hooks right next to the boat but takes too long to swim away and I sink the gaff before it figures out its free.

We get a couple more hoo bites before finally quitting and making Philip more late than he already is.

Very cool and mixed up trip and although we went swordless, we still felt great about it.


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## Head Kned (Mar 21, 2011)

Any pics? That Marlin would have been a nice addition to the trip.


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## Razzorduck (Oct 22, 2007)

Sounds like a great trip. I bet seeing that big Blue was cool.


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## sniper (Oct 3, 2007)

That sounds like an amazing sight to see


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## MSViking (Oct 11, 2007)

The blue event alone would have made my day! Glad you got out!

Robert


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## Cast-N-Call (Apr 21, 2009)

Sounds like ya'll had a good time. Are you sure what you saw was a blue marlin, or could it have been a ROV working on the rig? If it was a blue, I'll take pictures to show you when we catch her memorial day tourney since you won't fish with us.
Did ya'll pull that funcky lure I gave Philip for you to rig up?


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## skram (Dec 25, 2007)

Heres a few of the pics. You can see the damage that the marlin did to the tuna. I believe Phillip has the wahoo and cobia pics. It was all together an awesome trip with great weather, tons of action, and a LOT of variety. The water was great and all the weeds are a good sign of things to come. Can't wait to see what the rest of the year have in store for us.


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## samoajoe (Dec 28, 2010)

That's my boat!!!! 

Great action all the way around. That big girl must have been pissed, surprised she didn't come back for your bridled bait. She wanted the big yella one you pulled out of her mouth.


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## Pinksnappertrapper (Dec 7, 2007)

Did you check the boat? Coulda been full of something?


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

Pinksnappercatcher said:


> Did you check the boat? Coulda been full of something?


With my luck, it would've had about 7 dead bodies


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## MSViking (Oct 11, 2007)

I now know what to use a bait for Memorial Day!! Just don't have any 130s to use!! Always an adventure offshore!!

Robert


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## daddytime (Oct 1, 2007)

Woulda freaked seeing a Blue that big, what a site that must have been. Thanks for the report.


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## JoeyWelch (Sep 25, 2009)

Great report Chris. Sounds like a exciting trip. Glad you made it out.


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## mickeyj (May 16, 2008)

Nice report! Thx for the good read.


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## superchicken (Jan 9, 2010)

Man that is wild! Just cannot imagine seeing and feeling that fish! Have seen one on the scales at 500 #'s but to see a grander more or less is a experience few will ever realize. Nice job and great read, thanks. Next time you hook into one like that I suggest a bigger reel!!! LOL! Awesome report!


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## Matt09 (Jun 6, 2008)

Chris V said:


> With my luck, it would've had about 7 dead bodies


 Lmao Chris, that Big Blue musta been crazy lookin, how smooth is the drag on the Tiburon?


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

Matt09 said:


> Lmao Chris, that Big Blue musta been crazy lookin, how smooth is the drag on the Tiburon?


The Tiburon is the SH#T! The drag was flawless and not having to shift saved a ton of time. When it shifts gears, you barely even notice it other than the fact that you're still gaining line. I pegged it to 40lbs at the MP 255 and dropped for jacks. Philip drove off after hook up and the AJ's could hardly take any line.

I ordered them as soon as I got back to work on Tuesday. Was very impressed and may replace some of my other tackle with them.

Heres a couple more pics


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## samoajoe (Dec 28, 2010)

Slick as owl crap out there that day!


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## aboutscubasteve (May 13, 2011)

Hey Chris, nice pics. But I guess this means I won't be getting any swordfish huh? :fishslap:

Looks like fun though... see later dude.


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## sniperpeeps (Mar 5, 2011)

We went Wed night and the sharks were thick as flies on shit. Ate almost all of our good tuna we hooked up.


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## superchicken (Jan 9, 2010)

Very nice color on the wee, love those stripes! I would have had to look in the boat or whatever the hell that thing was, like Ms Yellowfin said always a adventure at sea....


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## Lil' Ti (Feb 16, 2009)

chris, just now reading this and not sure im allowed to say what just happend while I read the story. So ill just say man what a heck of a trip and keep feeding us the news brother. Great trip and im jealous.


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## devndeb (Mar 16, 2008)

I just looked up the name of the boat at a Spanish-English website...translated it means "The Heavy"


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## smooth seas (Feb 23, 2010)

on the offshore reports section someone else took a pic off the raft as well. Glad to see you catch a mess of fish.


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## Matt09 (Jun 6, 2008)

*sickkk*

:thumbup:


Chris V said:


> The Tiburon is the SH#T! The drag was flawless and not having to shift saved a ton of time. When it shifts gears, you barely even notice it other than the fact that you're still gaining line. I pegged it to 40lbs at the MP 255 and dropped for jacks. Philip drove off after hook up and the AJ's could hardly take any line.
> 
> I ordered them as soon as I got back to work on Tuesday. Was very impressed and may replace some of my other tackle with them.
> 
> Heres a couple more pics


 Nice man, yeah when i played with them at the show last year it was crazy how smooth the shift was. How much and what kinda line you runnin?


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## Cast-N-Call (Apr 21, 2009)

Looking at the pictures again, it just hit me. That marlin swallowed the big tuna Chris is holding, not the one Sam is holding. I reckon I better get some bigger pipe for the tuna tubes.
Seriously, I have seen some big tuna bridled, but has anyone ever thought of bridling something that big?
Chris, you gonna let use test drive one of them fancy reels for memorial day tourney?


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## tyler0421 (Jan 10, 2008)

WE were out there Tuesday thru Thursday and also found a Dingy. Ours was a little bit smaller but had a new 4stroke 15hp mercury on the back. Also had some different language on it.


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## smooth seas (Feb 23, 2010)

if the motor was perishable i would have gotten it no need it just sitting there to waste.


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