August 13th, 2008
We took out Ron Singley, his son and friends looking for tuna and marlin. The temperature charts showed an eddy off the gulf running along the 30/40 fathom line. We had luck on a previous trip at the Rock Pile so we headed in the general direction but about 10 miles north. We tried the 40 fathom, no luck. We kept moving out and ended up in Poorman's canyon. All this time we marked no bait and no fish. Finally I decided to go back in to the 30 fathom line. As soon as we got there I marked bait and a fish. As soon as Justin finished putting out the baits, I started making a turn to go back to the area I had seen the bait. We got hit halfway through the turn, and boated a small yellowfin a bout 15 lb. I went back to the spot and didn't get anything. As I went out to make another turn, we got a double header. We boated two more yellowfin both about 45 pounds. Ron's group does a lot of walleye fishing up on the Mohawk River, in New York, so they definitely had a change of pace on their trip. Ron said he had never had fresh tuna, so enjoy Ron, and I hope to see you again next year.
- Capt. Ken
August 9th, 2008
The Brian Shatz party drove all night from Manheim, PA and I expected them to be dead when they arrived. I told him to call me when he got near so we could get ready. About 3:30am I got a call on my cell asking if I needed anthing from the Royal Farms. They arrived at the boat ready to go so we were out of the slip by 4:15 and on the way to a place called the Rock Pile. We made a short stop at a pot I had found several weeks ago to put a few dolphin in the boat. Unfortunately someone had finally discovered it and we were only able to pick out a small one. When we got to our destination we worked the pots for about and hour before we started trolling. The water was gorgeous clear blue, with a few weeds. Lots of life, some bait hanging up off the bottom, flying fish and a few birds looking, but not diving. We had some knockdowns, but no real hits. We lost our favorite lure, a blue and white Ilander on one of the pots. Finally at about 11:30 we had a knockdown real close to one of the pots. It was on one of the 80's and it peeled line real good. I thought it was a yellowfin because it ran to port and then dove. A few minutes later it came up and it was a white marlin, glowing like a neon sign. It was a total surprise, because we didn't get the traditional marlin show, with the jumping and tailwalking. Still, It was a beautiful fish. It was about 70 inches long. We will have video. It was Daniel Baker's first marlin so he got dunked when we got him back to the dock, actually he was glad to jump in. He did a very respectable cannonball. We brought back a bunch of dolphin and got to fly the Marlin release flag. The Marlin are here and we expect to catch a bunch this season. We have seen a few, but not caught a big blue marlin yet. We are definitly in the hunt.
- Capt. Ken
August 7th, 2008
We have another odd story to tell. It happened last thursday on August 7th, when Capt. Chuck and Greg took The Malsch's (Big Jim and Scrawny Dave), Skinny Boy Rothdeutsch, and Steve Wenig on a full day to try to find a big bluefin. They trolled the Hot Dog, the Bumps, The Hambone, the Chickenbone and the nethers until they finally had a hit. Luckily it hit on one of the penn 80's which has 130lb line, because it would have spooled one if the 50lb class rods we have on board. This fish would let them get line on the reel and take off. They fought it for 2 1/2 hours before they got it to the boat and it was a big ray. Capt Chuck said it had a wingspan greater than the width of the boat. Our boat is 14 1/2 feet wide, so It probably weighed 950 lb plus. They released it safely and it went on it's way.
- Capt. Ken