I received a very generous invite to fish this year's Pesky's tournament/derby with Ali and Don onboard Tyee. After hearing all the stories about how fun and entertaining this tourney is, I was really looking forward to it. Ali and I met up earlier in the week and Ali gave me a quick tutorial in rigging marlin jigs. We rigged up a bunch in all sorts of colors and headed out Thursday morning. The plan was to pre-fish our way to Avalon so we headed down to the 14 then back up across the east end finishing the day over the Avalon Bank. We saw lots of bait and a couple makos jumping but that was about it. Also saw one prematurely deployed fake tailer, luckily Ali was suspicious of it right away so we didn't emabarass ourselves by trying to bait it
. We had a nice dinner in Avalon before getting back to the boat early to get ready for day one of the Pesky.
We started out Friday out in front of Avalon and saw a lot of life just a couple miles out in front. Trolled all through this area, across the bank, above it and below it for nothing. The Pescaholic was the first boat on with a fish at 8am. Ali had printed off the SST and saw a nice temp break down off the 152 so she decided to point us in that direction. Once we got there Ali found the temp break and tact us back and forth until we finally found something that wanted to bite. Late in the afternoon around 3 we were getting ready to mix up some cocktails
when the clicker goes off. This was on a green/white jig in close to the boat (not an EAL). Off behind the boat is a nice size marlin jumping like crazy. Since I had never caught a marlin before Ali was very nice to let me get this one. I grabbed the rod while Captain Ali took over the controls and Don started clearing lines. Ali called in the fish and then proceeded to get me "dressed". Don acted as "cabin boy" while Ali ran the boat. The fish pulled a lot of line (because our drag was a tad too light) and we had color 3 or 4 times but it would take off again. We kept waiting to get hit with water balloon attacks and I think that Fish Box got close but then they decided to leave us alone. After a long hour plus fight we finally got the fish to color, Don grabbed the leader and we got the fish to the boat. We had the bagel with the circle hook (extra points) and got the pictures we wanted and pulled the fish behind the boat for a couple minutes. When Don let go, the fish swam off with the bagel still on. It's hard to explain that feeling of excitement that you get after accomplishing something that you've wanted for so long. And we worked great as a team so it was a great victory to share together. It was a beautiful sight to watch that fish swim away, knowing that it will be out there for someone else to catch. There were lots of high fives, smiles and laughs and we were definitely ready for our drinks.
We headed straight into Avalon after that, proudly flying our marlin flags. We had a great dinner at Steve's (thanks for dinner Ali) that night and finished off with a drink. We met Drew and Pete(Fish Box) in there and shared stories from the day. We decided to save our energy for the big party on Saturday night and headed back to the boat around 9:30.
Saturday morning we decided not to set the alarm and didn't head out until about 7am. Fished out front again just for a little while before heading back down to the east end area. Around 11am we had a jig strike on the Black and purple EAL. This fish jumped a lot at first then settled down which we thought was a good thing. It was cruising very slowly across the surface, all lit up and showing it's tail and dorsal fin. Then it decided it was too close to the boat and started jumping again. I'm still not able to talk about what happened next
but if Ali wants to tell the story I'll let her. We did lose the fish and it was a big bummer. Needless to say it was pretty quiet on the boat for a while after that. Being the troopers that we are we shrugged it off and went in search of another chance at a fish.
A couple hours later we were trolling along, Ali was up top and I was watching the jigs down in the cockpit. Ali and I both saw the feeder at the same time. She ran down, we threw a bait on it and she was bit. It took a lot of line at first then as we started backing down on it Ali got some line back. We thought we were good until a couple sea lions went into a full on attack mode on the marlin and the fish took off without stopping. By now it was too late to get to the bow and we could only back down so fast which wasn't fast enough. It was a terrible feeling watching that spool of line get smaller and smaller. Ali did all she could but with just a couple more wraps of line left the line snapped and the fish was gone.
Ali getting used to the feel of Mark's rod and watching the line evaporate.
What really sucked was that we had borrowed this baitcaster from Mark at Pacific Edge and now I have to return it with no line on it
Sorry Mark. We all felt so defeated after losing two fish that surely would have put us in first place as top boat. Oh well, we still had the one fish from Friday so we licked our wounds and headed in for the day with cocktails to help numb the pain.
Just before getting into Avalon we had a full on attack from the Haul n Arc. We launched a few ballons and one went straight through the Bimini window, getting Greg in the process. Then they got us back by a direct hit soaking Don, nice shot guys
We tried getting the Pescaholic a few times but everytime we got close they turned away. I think they were a little scared of us :goodnevil
Back in Avalon, (did I mention how well Ali drives the boat?) she got major cudos from the boats around us for bringing the Tyee in perfectly to the mooring. Ali and I went for a swim and then visited the guys on Pescaholic for a few minutes. It was time for the big dinner and awards party so with our rum and cokes in hand Ali and Don and myself headed to shore. There was an incredible spread of food including grilled swordfish, salad, rice, potatoes, vegetables. The awards followed soon after dinner and unbeknownst to us we had garnered enough points for 2nd place!!!
That was a great surprise and I wasn't sure what to pick off the table. As the seconds ticked down (yes they actually count down) I grabbed the Shimano Trinidad 30 and Marlin Caster from Angler's Center. I watched Rob W. raffle tickets and he won some nice swag (I think it was a Harness and a bunch of other good stuff). Ali scored a Torium 16 which was a nice bonus to cap off the dinner.
After the raffle, the crowd quickly dispersed into the direction of Armstrong's. I had heard all about the "Watermelon Shooters" and they were being handed out as you walked thru the door. Somehow they managed to cram a hundred or so people into a very small area and the golden bagel was handed down to Marilyn Stephens for her top angler award followed by the National Anthem. Once the watermelon shooters were gone most of the group wandered over towards the Marlin Club where there was even more fun and excitement. We met a lot of very friendly and happy people and everyone seemed to be having a great time. And that's all I have to say about that
Again, I'll let Ali fill in the details (at least what she can remember). No cameras that night so no pics of our "adventures" :cross: .
It was an unforgettable weekend, one that I hope to participate in again next year. Thank you Ali for inviting me along and for helping me to get my first marlin. I will never forget it and I'm aware that I now owe you BIG TIME!!!
Jenny
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