We got very lucky, when we started to throttle up to run the 80 miles to get to San Diego, the Jewel Lure was coming in from the Pesky. They had just won the tourney and were very nice to share some good info and all their live bait with us. I knew right then we were going to have a great trip down and tourney. Thanks Guys!!!
The first day of the tourney saw 20 boat running due west and straight into 20 knot winds and solid seas. Nightmare for my little 31 Bertram. We headed toward the 43 spot. At best I could run 13 knots. We were getting beat. Not the kind of weather we were hoping for.
At about 2 pm and 20 minutes before the tide we got a jig strike. The fish came off, but the drop back bait was bit instantly. Tennyson got another bait back and we had a fish lit up in jigs. He was bit too. Great news for us, but we only had three of us on the boat and the seas were very rough and I still had to clear lines and try to settle in. We called in the double and soon after Tennysons fish came undone. We were bummed but we still had Geoff"s fish going. We got Geoff's fish to leader and brought it on the swimstep. We taped the fish at 84.5 inches and elected to take the fish.
The fish weight at the San Diego Marlin Club was 145lbs, good for second place after day one. Only two fish were caught that day and we felt good about our efforts.
Day 2 was much nicer weather. We went back to our #s and found that the water was slightly cooler and off color. There were a number of fish hooked, released, lost and seen the second day. Fishing was much better, I think that 6 fish were released and only one taken the second day.
With 8 minutes to go before lines out Mike Stotesbury found a tailer in the gyros and we would get one more chance. Mike drove down early Tuesday to join us and that really made the team complete. We put three baits in on the tailer and the fish sunk out under the boat. But instanly he slammed the short corner as I was clearing lines. We were wired. I picked up the rod and finally got to fight a fish on my boat. We got the fish to the boat in 15 minuts and had the whole fleet in suspence. Too bad the fish was under the 82 inch minimum. We released the fish and had high fives around the boat as the tourney had ended.
We finished in 3rd place. Congrats to Sharks Parlour, and Reel Nice and Easy.
After the horrible season we have had here in socal so far, it felt good to get a couple fish in the tourney. Lets hope our season still has a few fish in it.
Peter B
End of the Line
31 Bertram SFC
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