Barry Cole

We decided to fish this tournament on Tuesday and made the decision to fish on Lunasea because it had a cabin and cold AC. Well as luck would have it she had a bad water pump on the port engine and we were still in Pensacola at 6:30 pm Friday night with a loaded boat of gear, food, and enough beer to last a month!



We needed to make a call as to whether to cancel the trip or get someone over to Orange Beach and register and get us in the calcutta. The crew voted and we made the decision to call Daybreak at 7:15 pm and get Family Jewels in the water. The problem here was she was not even rigged or anywhere close to ready to go 100 miles offshore in a few hours. So we sent Gary (the owner of Lunasea) and Scott over to OB to get us signed up and Ti Mcconnell and myself went to get the Jewels and put her on the trailer. I went to the house, got the outriggers, epirb, and a laundry list of other stuff for the boat. Oh yea, I also had to get my HMS permit :banghead!!! We got her on the trailer, got a mile down the road, and "POW" blew one of the six tires into pieces. Fortunately we had a spare mounted and we made quick work of changing it out. Off to the gas pump, where 220 gallons later we were off to OB to offload the boat.



We finally rolled out of Perdido pass just before midnight and headed to the Petronis to make bait and check things out. The hardtails were thick as ever and we quickly loaded the livewell and jigged for an hour or so with little to show for it. Just before daylight we arrived at the Ram Powell and at first light we set the live bait spread and went to work. The water there was bad, but there was bait, but we had no luck. We then went to the Marlin, only to find it dead and green as well. Then to the Beer Can where we caught a freakin' mongo shark and some bonita and no tuna. We left and trolled lures to the Petronis where we found the most life we had seen all day with bait, decent water, and YFT busting a good ways off the rig. We trolled and thought we had them corralled, only to hook up more bonita. We made the call to troll towards the Steps and the further we got away from the Petronis, the nastier the water was. So I told the crew that we had seen the most life at the Petronis, and we had the most money bet on tuna, so we made the decision to head back with a couple of hours of fishing time left. Back at the rig we saw the YFT busting again and set up to chunk, and within 20 minutes the YFT were busting behind the boat and then the Tiagra 50 started screaming and Gary grabbed the rob and finally we were hooked up.















After 25 minutes or so we had the fish to the boat and we all high fived and went back to chunking, but at the point they had gone. It was getting late so we ran to the ledges and trolled for about an hour in crappy water for wahoo and with two hours and 45 minuted left we headed north. The sky darkened and the seas built and we were in for 2 hours of hell... We had 50 miles to run in 2 hours and at 18 knots we were not gonna make it so I said hang on boys and we ran 25 to 40 knots it the nastiest crap I ever saw. Props were barkin' and hatches kept flying open and eventually we had everyhting bungy cored and were balls to the wall to Perdido Pass. We saw land with 30 minutes to spare and the last 5 miles or so the seas laid down and we hauled ass and went under the bridge and hailed the MBGFC with 5 minutes to spare.



We got to the weigh station and looked at the leader board and my heart sank as I saw under the Tuna category a 116 and 91.6. Well guys much to my surprise and I am blind, those were BFT's weighing 11.6 and 9.16 pounds and our YFT was 52.6 lbs. We took 1st in the Tuna, Top Boat, Top Male Angler and 1st in the 100, 300, and 500 Calcuttas.



I guess the moral of the story is never give up. Even when you just think it's not your day, keep at it, and something good may come of it! To all of the boats that didn't make the scales in time, I was almost right there with ya!



And after this crazy day you would have thought the story ended there, but nooooooo..... When we put the boat back on the trailer the strap blew apart and 2 hours later we had her loaded up and headed back to P'cola. To the Family Jewels crew, you guys were awesome! Dang what a day...



By the way, the folks at MBGFC are first class. Their hospitality was amazing and their prizes are awsome!:clap

Jadedlady

Barry, Congrats. I was worried about all ya'll, that was some nasty stuff for sure.

JoeZ

Good job B,

Salvage a great score out of a terrible start.

DISANTO

Excellent job Barry and crew. Congrats!

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401 Cay

Sounds like it was a well deserved win! Congrats.. glad it all came together for you guys!

Heller High Water Mate

That's a sweet YFT...Sushi?

Clay Peacher

Nice job Barry and crew. Perseverance pays-off.

off route II

way to go barry and crew. i dropped offthe jewelry that i talked to you about last week sat pm with ashleigh for appraisal.

outcast

Congrats on the first place finish. Always weigh your fish that is my motto.

NoKaOi

Great job. Nice fish.



Boy that Regulator 'takes a licking and keeps on ticking':bowdown



:usaflag



NoKaOi

26FS Regulator