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"Inspiration" out of Pensacola, Florida takes 10 awards in the Pensacola Big Game Fishing Club for the year 2001!

Top Boat Men's Division, Top Boat Ladies Division, 1st place Tag & Release Angler (Page Jones), 1st Place Tag & Release Boat Men's Division, Heaviest Meatfish (Tuna), 2nd Place Dolphin, 3rd Place Dolphin, 3rd Place Wahoo, 3rd Place Tuna.  Also Top Tag & Release Boat in the Oyster Bar Blue Marlin Classic.  What A Year!

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Lot's of Excitement! HOT!

Got back last Wednesday from Venezuela. In a nutshell, it was a blast. I anyone is considering going, I highly recommend arranging through Tami Wise at BigFinAdventures.com. Due to the mud slides and an already third world area, I think you can get some bad advice, accommodations, boats, etc., but our trip was an \"oasis\" that was perfect in our opinion, including food, transport, boat, accommodations, etc. Even the seas were calmer than usual. Highly recommend it.  They considered fishing kind of slow by their standards this time of year while we were there. However, it was fast enough for me as we caught 8-9 whites, 1 blue, 1 sail, 1 sword (estimated at 180-200#), and 1 Wahoo. We fished 3 days. We had several novices on board and hooking the billfish (especially whites) took a lot of practice. So I would estimate we had at least 30 bites with another 20+ spotted in the spread or tailing around us. Use teasers and naked ballyhoo or ballyhoo with small skirts. Trolled around 5 knots. Reel in freespool (held in release clip with floss on line) with about 5 count dropback after they pick it 
up. Any pressure other than a light touch on the side of the spool would 
spook them. Even the clicker would sometimes be too much. I\'m going to 
try a little more of that style of fishing. When you hook them, they rarely 
come lose this way.  We had only one blue that we hooked that pulled the 
hooks. Fished with Shimano TLD 30s, so had plenty of fight. We decided to 
give sword fishing a brief try (planned on 2 drops at two rods per drop) 
for no more than 2 hours total. Fished for these with 80W tackle. I had 
heard they pull and boy do they. Plus you need the capacity just to get to 
the bottom. Sent it all the way down to 1760\' on a ledge off the bank 
weighted with large rocks that we broke away once on bottom. Anyway, first line on bottom and soaking about 10 minutes and boom, the balloon goes under and pops. Took about 30 minutes to get him to surface. First 1200\' was easy, other than the fact that it was hot and 1200 feet. Then it got tough. Plus after surfacing once, he spit the hook and got foul hooked 
and had to be fought basically sideways. Took around an hour or little 
more, with some heavy boat maneuvering. Given that they just closed Desoto to long lining due to accidental juvenile sword catches; and given my new knowledge of how to do this; and finally given that a boat out of P\'Cola 
recently caught two on a trip out there, I am definitely going to try soaking 
some squids under lights and balloons out there next year. At some points when the bite was really on, you could  see the whites and sails bailing bait everywhere. And 95% of our bites were under frigate birds. We have probably all paid attention to those birds in the past, but I am going to start paying a lot more attention. If one is hovering and looking down, I think it is somewhere around 100% chance that it is over a fish, at least in Venezuela. That was basically the whole deal...look for the frigates and find fish.

We fished with Bubba Carter on the Tijuerata. He fishes St. Thomas,
Venezuela, Costa Rica/Panama. It is a 53\' Monterrey. Highly recommend
him. Dave Noling (who you may have heard of) also docks at the same
Marina/B&B and is actually Tami Wise\'s husband. There are several other
good boats/captains down there (including others that Tami books for), but
at least this Fall not docked at this B&B (Mango Marina) where we also
stayed, which was convenient. The blues are starting to show up and they
expect a big spring in terms of blues. By the way we also saw George
Strait\'s (spelling?) new 78\' Garlington. Nice.  Guess that\'s enough. Hope to get down to AL/LA in the next month or so to go for a tuna. Hope you all are doing well.

Scott Hartley

Capt. Peace Marvel Venice, LA USA

The story that I am about to impart may seem unbelievable. True anglers know, however, that "unbelievable " occurrences are relatively commonplace on the water and that skeptics are just
those who have not fished enough to understand. They are simply lacking the experience to have yet obtained an open-ended sense of possibility. We left the dock yesterday to go Wahoo fishing.  There have been some monster hooters hanging around in relatively shallow water. Our goal was a
few Wahoo and cobia and maybe some AJ. We headed due east out of southeast pass and trolled several rigs. No luck. The hard tails have been so thick you could walk on them so we
decided to drop a diamond jig and catch a few for bait. First drop produced a broken line and a lost jig. Second drop was more productive-a 10lb almaco jack. We dropped several more times and landed six more monster almaco and two AJ. It was only nine in the morning and we had a box of fish. After deliberating for several minutes we decided to head south and try to pick up the rip line. Twenty six miles south we found some grass and blue water so we dropped the baits and started to troll. Ten minutes later we landed a small bull dolphin. Shortly after that the grass got so scattered that we had a hard time trolling so we decided to hop the patches and sight cast to bull
dolphin. We found the patch they were making camp on and caught a few nice fish. As we were catching them we saw a few tuna busting about a hundred yards off the grass so when we ran out of bait we decided to troll again. First pass nothing. Second pass nothing. As I came around for a third pass on the grass the pink Mirrolure went south at about 50mph?. MARLIN ON!!!!!!!  Unfortunately it was a short-lived fight. Although the Mirrolure is my favorite bait it is no equipped to handle a billfish. We reeled it in and straightened the leader and put the baits back out. Five seconds later the same pink Mirrolure went screaming south aginn..MARLIN #2 ON!!!!!!!!!!  Again the hooks pulled. At this point we decided to put out some big baits. We didn't have much in the way of marlin lures on board. All of our surface baits were rigged with 200lb fluorocarbon leader for yellowfin but we put them out anyway. Before we had the third bait out?.MARLIN #3 ON!!!! Again the hooks pulled and we lost him. We were in disbelief. In a matter of 30 minutes we had three billfish on. Brett was pretty disgruntled. He said we may as well go back to fishing the bull dolphin because there was no way we'd have another shot at a bill fish. Luckily he was
wrong. ot five minutes after putting the baits out about a 500lb blue came up and devoured the short line-an Islander with a ballyhoo. MARLIN #4 ON!!!!!! After a short fight the 200lb
fluorocarbon parted and it was over. We were all heart broken. Four shots at a marlin in a matter of 45 minutes. Unbelievable! Everyone was very quiet as we put the baits back out. Not five
minutes later the silence was broken when another blue began billing the short line. He took his time checking it out. We all watched him as Brett reeled in line and then let it back out in an
attempt to tease him into eating. Finally he'd had enough and CHOMP. The Islander disappeared into his mouth and the drag began to scream. MARLIN #5 ON!!!!!!!! He was hooked and
hooked well. For the first ten minutes he stayed deep and then he put on one of the finest shows I have ever seen. He jumped and gray hounded for ten minutes trying to shake the hook. It was amazing! About 40 minutes after he hit Brett had his bill and was reviving him. He was about 300lbs After a bunch of high fives and congratulations we put the baits back out and headed for the rip again. Not thirty seconds after we got there the port long line went a screamin'. MARLIN #6 ON!!!!! Brett said, "What happened did we run all the way to Costa Rica or something." This one was a White about 80lbs. After that we had 3 others in the baits that wouldn't eat and caught a few more bull dolphin but no more bill fish hookups. The Marlin fishing has been better this year than I have ever seen it but yesterday will be hard to match. Anyone wanting to go take a shot at one give me a call. I don't think you'll find a better time than now. God Bless, good fish! Capt.
Peace REEL PEACE CHARTERS 504-534-2278

May 27, 2000

It was Friday May 26, 2000. I was getting the boat ready for the Mobile Big Game Memorial Day Tournament. I had all new people on this trip and they were all working, so they would not be there until later that day. My wife was busy fixing food while I loaded the boat. About six that evening we went to the Captain’s meeting at Orange Beach Marina. When I left the meeting there were 98 boats entered in the tournament. Looked like it would be a good tournament. We got off from the dock about 10:00pm. The wind was blowing pretty good but I did not think it would be bad offshore. We got to the pass and boy what a mess. It was rough all night. I had to change my plans on my destination. It was just too rough to go the direction I wanted to go. I had been studying the images for a week and a half, so I had two areas that I liked most. I chose the one that I thought we could make in these seas.

Ok, it was Saturday morning about 5:15 am and the sun was just peeking out. I had to transfer some fuel. I had to turn the boat back North for a following sea while transferring. Wouldn’t you know transfer pump did not work. We worked on it for a while but could not get it to work. I got a manual pump out and the guys pumped one barrel in. It was still pretty rough so we decided to wait until night to pump the other barrel. Cleaned up the deck, got things in place and started fishing at 6:15 am.

I was still 11 miles from where I wanted to fish but there was no running in these seas, so we just trolled on down. It was a pretty dull morning. No bites, just everyone complaining about the rough seas and getting no sleep coming out. About 11:00 I had the mate put out a ballyhoo on one of the flat lines. At 12:00 we had our first bite.

It was one of those moments that every Marlin fisherman waits for. I was looking right at the baits when the mate yelled "Marlin the bait". "He’s on the ballyhoo!" I had a virgin angler up and he was charging for the rod. "Don’t touch it yet!" The Marlin charged it again for the second time. "He’s got it," yelled the mate. "Ah man, he dropped it." "Leave it alone, he’s coming back!" I yelled. This time the Marlin came up about 6 feet behind the bait and opened wide and grabbed the bait as if he was furious at it. Oh, How I Love That Site! Big splash as he jumped right behind the boat and off he went. My virgin angler has the rod by now and was sitting in the chair. The deck is being cleared and I am listening to the prettiest sound I know. That is the sound of a 50 wide peeling off line with a Marlin on it. He put on a good show and after 1 hour and 15 minutes we had him to the boat. The mate was lining the Marlin in and got him almost within tagging range when the Marlin looked over and spit the hook. He was about a 175-200 pound fish.

Ok guys, it happens. You did everything right, it just wasn’t stuck good enough. Get the lines out and let’s get another one. And that is what we did! We put out another ballyhoo on the outrigger. About 3:00 the line started peeling off. "Fish On!" It was my wife’s turn. She yelled, "It’s not big. It didn’t even break loose the clip." She popped it loose and began to fight the fish. "It’s off" and she started to put the rod back in the holder when it tightened up again. I yelled, "It’s still on." Boy was it on. It made a pretty good run. It did not act like a Marlin. Everyone was guessing Tuna, Wahoo, Shark. After about 40 minutes, we got it close to the boat. I could see a dark shadow off the starboard side. It looked brown and I said, "I think it may be a Shark" My wife yelled, "You’re not bringing that thing on here." I spun the boat around some to get lined up and away the fish went. He was now taking line now like a Marlin. I yelled, "I think we have a fish here". Seconds later he decided to show us what we had. He came out of the water thrashing and jumping. Back down for a short run and up to greyhound across the water several times. What a fish. What a sight. The fight went on for an hour before we got enough line in to get within reach. Got the wire in hand and he came out of the water 10 feet from the boat. He was mad. Thrashing the water and jumping. "Can’t hold him." Off he went. Back to the boat again and this time he got close enough for wiring and the mate got him close enough for the gaff. "Gaff him! Gaff him!" Gaff was in the fish, but the fish was off and running. He hit the end of the rope on the gaff and jumped behind the boat. I was amazed at the strength of this fish. This Marlin then decided to charge the boat and ran under the boat. Somehow he cut the gaff rope on the prop. "We’ve lost him." I said. My wife was yelling, "I’ve still got him." I am thinking she must be rapped in the prop because the fish just cut off the gaff rope. One of the guys on the deck yells "There is the Marlin" "He’s still hooked up" Now the Marlin has line under the boat and swimming faster than me. I manage to spin the boat around to keep the line from the props. He is off and running again. What a fish. Page, my wife fights the fish another 45 minutes before bringing him to the back of the boat again. 2 hours and 23 minutes later, it looks like we will get one more shot at this fish. I see the double line, the mate has the leader, we have another gaff ready and the fish starts jumping. I think we have him. PING! I knew that sound too good. When the fish jumped the mate was in the process of letting the Marlin run some more. He was still too green to bring on board. The double line some kind of way slid across the mates watchband and cut it. He was gone. I watched him swim away thinking (I could jump in and get him). It was like watching a slow motion movie. We had a winning fish to the back of the boat 5 times and three with leader in hand and had lost it. Well, I won’t say I was happy. Of course a few minutes later I am saying, "You can’t catch them all." That’s what it is all about. You also learn from your mistakes, like "no jewelry on anglers or mates. There are plenty of fish out there and we will get another one. I can’t believe that fish had so much strength after all that. Hope you enjoyed the story. I will have pictures and video on the site shortly. Please check them out at http://www.charterguideservice.com . Once at the home page, go to "Top Stories"

Capt Steve

First Marlin of 2000!!

click on the picture above for larger view

Caught at Ram Powell rig, and here is the story:

Thursday the 2nd of March. Got up at 3am ,load boat at 4.It was supposed to be light to variable wind. Well it wasn't, it was a little bit bumpy for the 95 mile ride from the Pensacola pass to the Ram-Powell rig. Once we arrived we immediately saw tuna busting the top of the water. First spread was all artificial. Trolled for almost an hour, nothing. Switch to naturals, still no knockdowns. Tuna busting all around the boat in the 40 to 60lb range. This went on for awhile until we got frustrated. Spinning reels with diamond jigs was the ticket. We would see a school on top and get as close as we could casting into the tuna. This produced two yellowfin 37lbs and 42lbs.  Jigging close to the rig produced numerous jacks and another yellowfin. Back to trolling, still no knockdowns. While changing the baits up reeled in a 30lb Wahoo. Nobody even knew it was on. Someone noticed a large splash away from the rig so we went to check it out. The closer we got we noticed there was a rip. Lines out and immediately bam ,a knockdown. We thought big tuna, but about 300yrds out we saw the water light up as the BLUE began to greyhound taking line. The Man in the Blue Suit had come to pay us a visit. The fight took about 40 minutes. Tuna -door open fish at boat first wrap everything fine, second wrap hook pulls. Fish is freeswimming behind the boat caught up in the propwash.
Reached out through the tuna-door and grabbed the bill of the fish pulling it aboard. We estimate the fish at about 275lbs. Definitely unexpected so early in the year. Hit a few more rigs on the way home and picked up a couple more jacks. Three yellowfin, one wahoo, four amberjack 30 to 35lb range, numerous lesserjacks, and don't forget the bonus of the day the Blue Suit!

Report provided by: Landon Joyner ICGS

What's Hot!

Page on the "Inspiration" 93.6 lbs.

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