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Got a call from Shawn Clemons Thursday around lunch saying that he was throwing some provisions on the boat and planning to stay off the main land for a couple of days. Our two hour notice crew consisted of me , Shawn, Mark Meade, Eddie Hall and Colby. We met up at the boat around 4 pm, and threw some stuff on and untied.

We didn't have any particular plan or agenda in mind, except to go south, hopefully find some fish, eat well, and catch some z's.

We cleared the Perdido Pass, fired up the green egg, and set course for the Ram Powell at a leisurely 9 kts. Eating seemed to be the name of the game this trip as we had a steady supply of great food. Usually I come home light, exhausted, and sleep deprived, but last night I felt well rested, lazy, and I think I may have gained 10 pounds. We put out a ten know spread and settled in for our first course which was home-made elk andoulie courtesie of Mark Meade.

We pulled up on the Ram later that night and the water was cold (64 degrees)and a little scummy. There were plenty of blackfin to be had, and we threw several in the boat for chunk bait, but we didn't mark anything compelling on sounder so South we chugged. We made a lap around Nakika, but didn't really mark anything there either so we continued south and morning found us around Blind Faith. There was a pretty good school of hardtails feeding off the Southeast corner of the rig, but unfortunately they didn't appear to feel threatened by any predators. The water at Blind Faith had warmed to a balmy 66 degrees, and with some bait on the surface we decided to give it a little while, in spite of not really marking anything other than the surface hardtails on the sounder. Over the course of the morning we were able to coax up and box three 40ish yellowfin, but the bite was anything but on fire. The water at Blind Faith was sort of a chalky blue, but it wasn't as nasty as we had feared on the way out.

We decided to chug along down to Transocean Marianas as we expected the water might be a little bit warmer down there. We got there around 2:30 and I think the crew boat feared we were pirates as they haven't seen too many rec boats out 160+ miles so far this year. We were a bit more optimistic about the TM, as the water was 68 degrees, a little cleaner, and there were gulls working over a big school of small bonitas, but once again it was clear the bonitas were the top of the food chain at the moment. To our dismay we marked nary a fish anywhere around the rig and we radioed the crew boat captain and he broke the news that he had been there for three days and not seen the first fish.

We licked our wounds, sticked the fuel, and decided to head east over to the discovery spirit drillship. Shawn had smuggled a bunch of fresh conch in from his last trip toBimini, and the fresh conch seviche made the dull bite seem insignificant. While we were gorging on our seviche appetizer, Mark was busy preparing the next meal injecting his secret blend into a plump boston butt which would be served alongside collards and green beans.

We passed a floating tree en route to the discovery spirit, which was just one piece of a bunch of lifeless floatsam we passed over the course of our trip. We really need some warmer water, as we traversed the entire GOM this weekend and it was shockingly lifeless all in all. There was a bunch of dead grass stacked up just north of the TM, and the only flying fish we saw were the size of yellow jackets.

The discovery spirit was dead, although we did enjoy surveying what an impressive piece of engineering this giant drillship is. We decided to chug back in Northeast, and headed over to the Independence Hub. We got to the Hub Friday with about an hour of daylight left, and there was another boat out there called the Reel Time from Dauphin Island. Beautiful big enclosed bridge Hat.

We finally found the fish we were looking for as some biguns took flighta few hundred yards of the east side of the rig, and the captain of the real time had reported just having a stick up in his baits. The water at the Hub was 67 degrees, and a slightly cleaner version of the chalky blue at blind faith. The big tuna's were pretty scattered as they would tend surface a quarter of a mile away from where you last saw them. Neither of us were able to get on top of them before sundown, although we did have another 40#'er sacrifice himself to long center, as if to mock us by eaiting into our last remaining minutes of daylight in pursuit of his big brothers and sisters.

We chunked and jigged and drifted and dropped livies for the first part of the night and could have sunk the boat with blackfin. We had high expectations for the morning bite, but due to an bad turn of luck, we wouldn't be able to stick around and find out. When we went to recrank the motors in the middle of the night to restart our drift, the port starter wouldn't turn over and proceeded to burn itself up. The wind had kicked up to about 18kts out of the east, and with the front blowing through Sat evening, we decided to point her north with 140 miles to cover on one engine. Eddie was eventually able to do some Mcgyvering and put the starboard starter on the port motor to get the other motor firing, and we were under full power but were well into our northward slog. Sat morning we made a stop by Horn and the Marlin on the way home, but they didn't yield anything other than some pesky blackfins on the troll.

We got back home saturday around 3:00 pm with the final tally being 4 yellowfin, and 2, 460,372 blackfin. It was a nice getaway with some good food and company, and had we been able to make the morning bite at the Hub, I think our fortune may have been a bit better.

All in all we need some warmer water. The bait must be down around Cuba for the most part, as generally this time of year you have a good shot at seeing some life on floatsam, but not right now. We covered a lot of ground and had a full spread out at 9-10 kts for 2 full days between stops for a total of "0" knockdowns.

It felt good to clean the dust off the 80's even thought they weren't necessary. Hopefully over the next few weeks things will slowly start to improve, but the temps have got a long ways to go before a real spring pattern will emerge out there.

ay

mpmorr

Man sounds like around the world in 80 days, you guys covered some serious territory. Coming home with a little sure beats nothing at all. Glad you guys were able to have an enjoyable trip with good friends and great food.:clap I could think of worse ways to spend a few days.

Jason

That sounds like a 4 course eating voyage!!!! Dern, sounds like it was a HUGE time although you didn't melt down a ton of ice....:letsdrink

Wild Injun

Awesome report I love making that loop! Sounds like a good time regardless of not crushing the fish.

fishsticker

One hell of a long trip and great detail in the report. Hopefully this cold front is the last of its kind unitl around october/november. I think we are all ready for water in the mid 70's

polar21

How many miles of water total do you guys think you covered? That sounds like an absolute adventure, other than the motor crapping out...

Heller High Water

WOW what a trip. Sounds like some outstanding eating. It wont be long before a trip like that will yield you almost every pelagic in the book. thanks for the report.

how2fish

Outstanding report! Great trip I'd love to be able to do one of those!

Sunshine17

Great report, sounds like decent fishing but a great voyage. What kinda boat were yall in?

Live4Fish

dang thats a long haul but it sounds like alot of fun,i would love to do that myself

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Blake B.