Channel Islands Marlin

We had 2 consecutive days of offshore fishing this weekend that proved we can run for just over 2 hours put the jigs in and have a chance of catching yellowfin tuna, mako sharks, Marlin and calico bass in the same day.

We were participating in the Channel Islands Billfish Tournament.

Wind was in the forcast for the weekend, heading W to the offshore banks was not in the cards. As tempting as it is, we opted for the SE direction. Just a little over 2 hours I pulled back the throttles on an area of feeding stripey's pushing baits off the water, Terns, and gulls picking sauries, sardines and mackerel.

We had a tank of beautiful mackerel and sardines to fish today and Hunter ran up to the bow and threw on feeding marlin, but no takers. 4 jigs went into the water 2 long and 2 short.

All day we had action. Constant fish trying to eat the jigs. Drop backs were deployed. Over all a great day on the water.

Most of the bait balls had small to large makos. Small schools of yellowfin were boiling around, but these next two days were dedicated to catching marlin.

The mission was to get Hunter his first Southern Ca marlin.

Just upon the slack tide were were heading to the high spot and a single marlin attacks the left short petrelo, two wacks and runs across to the right short black and purple, Jones drops back a perfect mackerel. The fish disappears. A slow idle waiting for a pick up and just out of the blue this fish appears on the left long and eats the mean joe green. Black smoke, boat moving fwd, hunter grabs the rod throws the Accurate B-230 exxtreme to strike and sets the hook and "fish on". Waiting for a double no other fish wanted to play and the lines were cleared. After 30 min of fighting the fish on 50 pound the fish was boarded and we headed for weigh in.

The next day brought steady action on billfish, mako sharks and jumping yellowfin that didn't want to eat our baits. Maybe a tank of chovie may work.

Just want to make it clear. My boat chooses to release billfish 100% of the time but, if a angler wishes to take a billfish and eat it I have no problem taking one. This fish was weighed, fillet and taken home to enjoy for the rest of the season.

We were only able to fish the tournament for a few days. There is a couple days left. Anglers on 11 other boats were catching and releasing fish for all the days we were out there. Good time by all. If your interested in catching a marlin or tuna you can contact us. We plan to fish the offshore scene till the end of October.