The forecast for both Friday and Saturday were pretty marginal. The winds were forecast to be 20 to 30 knots from the southwest with seas of 4 to 6 feet. However, we were in the Beach Haven White Marlin Invitational Tournament, had caught a money Wahoo on the first day, and had to make a decision about when to fish the second day, either Friday or Saturday.

I looked at the forecast before going to bed Thursday night and the forecast for both days was exactly the same. I made the decision to leave at 2:30 on Friday, run out to the Wilmington, and see what we could do. If the weather was untenable, we could always come back to Beach Haven and turn in our "No Fish Today" card to Tournament headquarters by 9:30 a.m. Friday morning and then fish on Saturday.

The ride out was not as smooth as we had on Thuresday but it wasn't too bad. The mates slept in their bunks the whole way out. The actual conditions were far less than those forecast.

At each decision point, the charter party decided to press on since Saturday was not likely to have better weather.

We arrived at the Wilmington Canyon Tip at exactly start fishing time at 8 a.m. We didn't have all of the lines out when the first White Marlin showed up. It was sunning itself in 4 to 6 foot seas. It smacked a bait or two and disappeared without giving us an honest shot.

While the seas were 4 to 6, there was a substantial swell as well. Every once in a while, the waves and swell would coincide into a pretty big wall of water. June Bug handled everything very well but the party began to feel the effects.

We caught a nice Mahi next to a lobster pot and then another White Marlin attacked. It went from bait to bait and finally grabbed a bait and pulled off a lot of line. The angler had the drag in Strike, not the best idea but you only get experience from repetitions, and the White eventually let go of the bait without swallowing it.

We had several other knockdowns that were likely Tuna.

Around 9:30, the party announced that they had enough and we pulled in the lines and went back to Beach Haven. One party member was a brittle diabetic and was getting dehydrated from his mal de mer. In his best interests, they made a good call but the fish were definitely there. We certainly did not want this man to develop any complications.

Matt's crew was very congenial and wanted to learn how to fish offshore. Hopefully they picked up some good tips. We enjoyed having them on board.

Capt. Lindsay Fuller
Cell 609-685-2839