# Reelentless gets "Speared"



## Caspr21 (Oct 4, 2007)

Myself, Chuck Godwin, and Len Bryant headed out mid day friday. After Gladiator went blue the day before, we got all fired up and decided to take a short fun fishing trip. Left perdido pass at 2 oclock ish, started fishing a little north of the nipple around 4. Water was a clean green/ blue green at times. We found a small pocket of blueish water and not sooner did we get to it, I looked behind the port rigger and see a fish going nuts over the blue and white islander. Rigger clip pops.................and nothing. I am making my way out of the tower when the short center starts going off, then nothing. So I put the long rigger in free spool, picked it out of the chair, and about 10 seconds I feel the line really taking off, definately fish on. Jacked him a couple of times and got Len in the chair. The fish never jumped or did anything other than make a couple of runs. We got the gaff ready thinking it may have be a big wahoo, I grabbed leader and got it close and it was a spear fish. Pretty neat. It was the first one I/we had ever seen or come into contact with. We got some good pics, put the tag in and he swam off pretty quickly. As we worked south, the seas were getting a little bumpy. We founda shrimper near the spur and worked him until dark with no other knock downs. Long night of sitting in the side sea, Len got a little sick on his first billfishing trip. Daylight came, fired up the engines, and put them out. Went back to the shrimper and picked up a quick tuna fish. Started working back to the elbow and managed a nice wahoo and dolphin. Bout 330, we decided it was time to take it to the house. Picked them up and ran in. It was great to have Len out on his first billfishing trip, I think other than getting sick he had a blast. It was a lot of fun fishing with chuck, as he is always a good time. I will post the pictures when i get them. I know their was some fish caught this weekend and look forward to other reports.

Wes


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## daddytime (Oct 1, 2007)

Congrats on the spearfish. You got a bill and meat to boot. Can't wait for the pics.


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## David Ridenour (Sep 28, 2007)

Congrats on the spear! Good report, thanks for posting.


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## DISANTO (Oct 1, 2007)

Way to go!!! Now that you got the spearfish out of the way....get the rest of the slam for the year!

Congrats Wes and crew!


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## Sir Reel (Jun 14, 2008)

Can't wait to see the pictures...I'm getting worked up for a blue water trip real soon.


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## Team Triple X (Oct 9, 2007)

Nice report Wes. We nabbed a couple more after I talked to ya on the radio. I haven't heard anything out of Chuck in a long time, I thought he might have quit fishin. glad to see relentless back in action. I think we are all waiting on those pics, so put the drill down and post them already.


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## lobsterman (Sep 30, 2007)

Nice, sounds like a blast out there.


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## Caspr21 (Oct 4, 2007)

just waiting on chuck to email them to me


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## Caspr21 (Oct 4, 2007)

alright boys and girls................pics are added!


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## daddytime (Oct 1, 2007)

Sweet-looks like another moldcraft score.


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## Caspr21 (Oct 4, 2007)

> *daddytime (6/11/2009)*Sweet-looks like another moldcraft score.


yeah, that is the 4 eyed small.............i have tipped it with a ballyhoo and caught the crap out of fish!


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## TCAT (Oct 9, 2007)

Wes,

From the pics it doesn't look like a spearfish. The large rounded pectoral fins seem to be the giveaway. From my basic understanding of the anatomy of a spearfish they have small pointed pectoral fins similiar to a blue that do not extend beyond the curve of the lateral line. This fish pec fins extend way beyond.This could be a white that suffered some sort of trauma to the bill during its youth which is not uncommon. In any case its a billfish and that's what matters. Congrats to angler and crew. 

Keith


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## Caspr21 (Oct 4, 2007)

It did resemble a white a lot. The bill was just so short, and had no visual signs of damage. But like you said, it could have been done while the fish was growing.


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

Great catch but I agree with Keith. I would say with certainty thats a white marlin and not a spearfish. Some characteristics are not clearly shown in your photos but the dorsal and pectoral fins are pretty good indicators for the species. 

Not trying to burst the bubble but the pics are good enough for the proper I.D.


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## Caspr21 (Oct 4, 2007)

no not taking it as a bubble burster at all...........heck its a billfish, and thats all I care about. Heck we didnt have a spear flag to fly, so we put a white marlin flag up anyway! ha


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## Caspr21 (Oct 4, 2007)

I just added one more pic hopefully it will help identify this fish.


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## daddytime (Oct 1, 2007)

No matter what it was, congrats and good job.


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

That long rounded pectoral fin is a pretty good giveaway: White Marlin


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## countryjwh (Nov 20, 2007)

i, by no means, have the authority to say what kind of fish that is just for the shear factthat i have never seen more than one bill fish period. so my question is this, maybe the reason they are calling it a spearfish is for the simple reasone that the bill looks almost nonexisting. i know spearfish barely have what i sould call a bill. so here is my question, after looking at pics on theinternet of the different billfish i would have to say it was a white also but is there soemthing that could have happened to the bill of a white marlin to make it fall off or just not grow? sorry for the derail i am curious. oh, great fish anyways.


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## Caspr21 (Oct 4, 2007)

I am leaning more towards a white as well. It was pretty bizzare to see him with no bill, and when I was trying to wire the fish, keep him in the water, take a pic, tag him etc, I really didnt pay much attention to anything else. Still a cool trip and awesome that Len got his first bill on his first trip and on the first fish on!


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

If you search online you'll probably find a lot of pictures with billfish having deformities not only with the bills but also body proportion. I've seen pictures where the bill had been damaged sometime when the fish was young and it grew back in splinters where it looked more like 4 bills on the fish. There are also cases where the fish grow abnormally as far as length compared to girth and a sailfish looks more like a tuna cause of the extreme girth and body depth.


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## eddy2419 (Oct 28, 2007)

Looks really big for a spear fish also. Also pretty close in for a spear. Agree on the pecs also.

But in any case, congrats! One more bill fish than I have caught this year.


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