GULF COAST JULY 2005

Phenom O.B., AL USA

Late Report from the Spur-ish area (1 White Marlin, 7 Dolphin)

Well, made the drive again. A buddy of mine has really wanted to get into offshore fishing for a while now. He even bought a used 23 Sea Craft complete with Fighting Chair. He's never had the confidence to take his boat offshore alone before, so I agreed to go help him with the inagural run. Figuring it was a tournament day and his Sea Tow membership was up to date we decided to go for it on Friday.

Left the dock around 5am and proceded towards the Spur. Finally crossed a nice little 1.5 deg temperature break about 15 miles WSW of the Spur.

Lines in and it was on. Only ran 5 baits and two teasers. First bite came on the long tuna twitch. It was the White Marlin. Not a bad first fish of the day and first fish of my friend's trolling career. After that we picked at the Dolphin for the next couple of hours and boated 7. Most came on tuna twitches and ilanders. All Phins were around 8-15lbs. Packed it up at 2pm and made the run in.

I'm not a big fan of going offshore in single engine boats, but it definitely is a rewarding feeling when you successfully do.