Had it big offshore fun trip all planned out for Tuesday night this after much anticipation and fanfare; myself and a elect few of Paradise Faithful were all looking forward to a nice calm night under the moon waiting on the swordbite.. this after finding my daughter a world record wahoo..as of mid day Tuesday, everything was going to plan..forecast looked good and I got everyone assembled the days before and at the dock on time; fuel and ice in the boat all the gear loaded by 330pm we are about to pull off but still waiting for Andy Reynolds and Capt. Ken Roig..who just drove in all night from Crystal River to make our 4pm departure; Ed and Beth Hodgens from Dallas/Slidell who ran errands all day and lastly my 10 year old daughter who took off from school to try and catch a world record wahoo for her age group..the phone rings..Capt Scott Leger on the other end asks if I had seen the latest radar? no? apparently a strong line of storms just rolled through Beaumont with a band stretching 60 miles into the Gulf and moving fast to the east..It was forecast to hit Lake Charles and Lafeyette just before dark so he was concerned knowing we were geared up ready to walk into a firestorm..I pulled up the satelite on my laptop computer and set it in motion..it looked terrible.. I showed Capt Bill Delabar also excited about the trip; who was equally in disbelief and we both agreed it was a no brainer..cancel.. judging alone by it's speed at 4pm it looked to be upon us south of Venice, LA by 9pm..so not wanting to be all dressed up and no where to go we made a quick run into on Bill Delabar's cat to go look for a cobia..it was calm and cool..perfect..from the looks of it no sign of impending danger..about half way down Tiger Pass we thought about running back to get the swordgear off my boat in case the system stalled..We watched it all evening on the XM overlay...Bill had planned to come help me on the deck and we were both certain we would get at least one of more shots at a sword..and not running back to get the sword gear looked to be a big mistake the further we got away fromit..oh well..better to err on the side of caution especially with precious cargo.. On to the cobia..or no cobia as it would turn out..hit 5 stops before dark finding nothing..a few short snappers and bluefish and mackerals..Bill jumped in at every stop only to find one good school of cobia. He hadnt planned to shoot but when 60 pound ling came calling he struck instinctively..perfect shot he said..thought he had stoned and motioning for us to pick him up but by the time we got there he was awful quiet..dont ask..back at the dock for dark..the disturbance stalls short of Lafayette..Disgusted Bill heads home...Andy and Ken decide redfish is a better option for them on Wednesday..so I told Ed and Beth we would try our luck at wahoo after the rain passed the next morning....off to bed..
...woke up Wednesday morning at 5am and poked my head out the window..light breeze and no sign of rain..it was still muggy and pretty obvious the line of thunderstorms that cancelled last night's sword trip never made it through..I bit my tongue and went back in to look at the satelite picture - the current satelite and back 8 hours..curiosity wouldn't let it rest..turned out that squall line broke up (about the time we arrived home last night) leaving a few remnant cells no closer than 80 miles and nothing too ominous for the day..checked the past and current wind conditons on NMDBC and found that winds went from 10kts or less from 3am to 15-19 kts since 4am..WX service now calling for 3-4ft and 15knts from the west now upped from last nights 2-3 and 10-15kts..figured we were going to need a quick start and end early.honestly, if Ed hadnt paid to fuel and ice up the boat last night I might have cancelled on the spot..in fact everything was telling me not to go..but I couldnt get burnt twice in a row without at least trying..
I never lock my car and usualy leave the key in the ignition and anyone who knows my truck nows a thief would be doing me a favor..but somehow this morning the keys are locked inside..no sweat..I got a flashlight and handed it to Noelle - she shines through the opposite window while I work a snapper rod through a crack in the sidevent.window..lt took about 10 minutes off tight manuevering before I managed to push the electric lock button to unlock the car..the key was right in the ignition where I left it..and we were off..this pretty much sets the tone for the day..so I include it. Noelle and I got a good laugh over it..
Now a little background info..We have been trying to get Noelle my only daughter and oldest child a world record for 10 and under since releasing the world record lady fish back when she was 6..and now with time running out (she'll be 11 in 2 months) we were going for a wahoo since we know it is well within her abilty andI had been seeing some bigger fish lately..what clinched it was when I was discussing it with my wife over the weekend.. I told her next window is this Tuesday./Wednesday and I think we should try..she really has a shot..her reply was I will get her schoolwork together!
This is a fish we have had our sights on since this summer when I had another girl just miss beating the current 48 pound wahoo by 3 pounds..that and her mom touched the rod while she was harnessing up so we know the rules no help..Noelle is no stranger to offshore fishing having landed a small backfin tuna a month before her 3rd birthday as her first offshore fish..redfish trout never really interested her when she was real little and I never pushed her to come with me..she and her brother always begged me to take them even if it was walking along a canal..the boy's records are a little more difficult although we are going tohave to look through the books to see what is a possibilty..(I bought him a .243 so we'll have some father son alone time later this fall) anyway back to the girl..since her first rip offshore she has several bull dolphin and two 50 pound wahoos to her name..she has jumped off two whites as well and plenty of other fish we have forgotten about..but most of these fish from the chair..this would be the first real test on standup tackle..we spend most of the ride down to Venice talking technique..
On the way out seas steadily picked up... we started at 22 knots and were down to about 17 knots within the first 15 miles..headsea on the nose will do that to your speed and the winds not calm as expected but not something that would be an obvious cancel..we just adjusted our speed to make the ride comfortable..so it seemed like we were 1:15 minutes away from stop one for most of the morning..once we got to within 8 miles I almost turned around when the first wave broke over the bow..I looked at Ed and almost shook my head..no one ever said anything until we were back at the dock disgussing the trip but we had really gone too far to turn around without trying at that point.. before we got into the high probabilty areas I went to the cockpit and set out her pole..I then showed her how to take the rod out of the holder simulating the strike..I stressed control...I showed her how to pull back against the pressue inthe rod holder and lift up on the grip with her top hand high while leaving her free hand on the but ready to grab the reel handle in the same motion as getting the butt into the gimbal..the smartest thing we did was allow her three practice shots on her own..
We were using a light 30 pound standop rod with a lightweight TLD 20 with 50 pound line. The plan was to troll just this rod by itself with a smaller "dolphin colored" braid marauder bait she had picked out at Professional Sportshop the day before..We would make most of our passes with the sea so we wouldnt have to turn downsea and risk dumping her in the cockpit on a beam roll..
We got to the area on the shelf where we had been finding the 50-70 pound wahoo and made several passes at each of the structures in the lease block
...round and round and round and nothing..
Our star angler waited patiently in the cockpit..but when we would go into the wind she couldnt get any breeze and when we went down sea there wasnt enough to keep her cool..this coupled with her sweatshirt and lifejacket she started to overheat and worse, feel woozy..she wanted to come in the tower with me.. I could tell her spirits were down but she was still up for fishing.. I was really ready to call it at this point..in fact I had Ed pull in the TLD and set out three of our regular 50 class standup rods; I told our guests for the day that it wasnt looking good for any record and that they should take the next fish regardless..we then started to head off toward a new area..not 5 minutes into open water the longline went off..Noelle raced down the tower and Ed cleared lines..so much for thier fish!..Beth helped Noelle get her belt on as I turned downsea..Noelle grabbed the rod and after a little fumbling got herself ready for the fight..I had to tell Beth twice to leave her alone but stay close enough in case the drag locked up..Noelle and I had gone over how she was to do everything under control and up to this point she was doing great..I encouraged and coached her during the fight she quickly figured out that she could use the rod to fight the fish and she later remarked how well it worked..we had tied a 8 knot in the fighting belt so it would fit snugly on her hips and low enough so it wouldnt slide past her thighs..it looked funny , but form followed function..
I had to back down a little but for the most part she worked the rod and reel perfectly..this in sloppy 2-4 ft seas..we were prety sure we had a decent wahoo when it made 2 other small runs..she had to make up about 150 yards from the get-go..and with about 50 yards to go, I actually thought we had a blackfin tuna..as it made a series of short tail beats..but with 10 feet we could see it was a decent hoo..I couldnt really gauge it though from my vantage point..she later admitted she was ready to give up at the last minute but "somehow Mr. Ed gaffed the fish" in fact it hung about 5 feet under the surface just out of range for what seemed like 10 seconds and Ed missed twice before connecting..it was surreal..when he hauled it aboard we could see it was better than 50..in fact I guessed 68 pounds on the spot..In case you all were wondering what that loud noise was at 10:30 am Wednesday morning was..it came from our COCKPIT 30 miles out in the Gulf.. fight time was a about 10 minutes maybe 15..like I said it was sureal could havebeen a half hour..
I told Noelle that I was sure she had it and she was jumping up and down and still holding onto the rod..it was a clean fight and she did it all herself eveything but gaffing and driving the boat..she has been taking gymnastics for the last year and recently made the local team..its obvious that it has strengthened her arms and upperbody..99% of the time we have to help the adults on our charters..it almost seemed cruel not to offer any assitance to a her..but that is the rules..and I have to say how proud I am of her for doing it by the book..I was kidding around with her before we even dropped a line that "she would have to earn it" ..She did and I dont think she'll ever forget this lesson..she deserves the award and recognition..it really hasnt sunk in yet..probably for either of us..but she has been a pretty happy kid ever since..but hey gang..THATS MY GIRL!!!!!
After some pictures I was able to get in touch with a tugboat nearby who called the local IGFA rep Susan Gros via satphone to let her know we were coming in with a potential record fish..she and I had been corresponding about this for some time..I'll bet she was excited as we were.. With seas building we plotted a course for home with the biats in the water and we would get three more strikes landing a 20 pound wahoo after a short fight..the one we landed was Ed's first..Beth his wife and fishing partner was on the rod when we lost what we think was a decent tuna after 20 minutes and for sure a wahoo..hook pulled 200 ft down onthe suspected tuna..it had built to 3-5 by afternoon but the weather was funny. the wind would die for about an hour and make us thinkit would slick out then pick up at the first sign of grey skies..still we took our time getting home but cleared Tiger Pass Jetty about 2:15..
Back at the dock the fish taped out at 64.5"TL 62.5"FLand 26" Girth 60.1 pounds.. We have the application filled out and we'll send it in at first light ..
I highly recommend this experience to any dad with small kids who love to fish..
