DOUBLE SAILS BOATED SOUTH LEDGE

THE SECOND OF THE DOUBLE HOOKUP By John Burke http://savannahnow.com/stories/053099/SPTBurkecol.html Wahoos a wild ride in calm-seas catch By John Burke Savannah Morning News A flat calm can turn to a rough sea in short order when a northeaster starts to blow. Mix this with some unexpected billfish action and it makes for quite a day on the water. Savannahian David Hendrix dropped us a note this past week detailing a trip he, John Cullum, Will Belford and Chris Collins made to the Gulf Stream May 19. It would be difficult to improve on the way David described the trip, so here in part is what he wrote. We got a late start heading to the Gulf Stream at 5 a.m., but it was extremely flat (Mill Pond) and we were covering over 30 miles per hour. It had been a long time since I had seen the ocean that flat. Once we got out in 150 feet of water, I noticed a little ripple over the water due to wind. I guess we started trolling around 8:30 a.m. Within two hours that little breeze out of the northeast had built up to 10-15 knots and started bucking the northern bound Gulf Stream. Waves became big The waves became big with tight frequency and white caps. It became really sloppy. We had one knockdown by a small dolphin, which we released. Fishing was really slow. After a few hours, we had two knockdowns and once the lines were reeled in, there was nothing wrong with the baits. I told John I thought we had a bill knocking down our baits and his response was that it could have been anything. We continued to troll and tried to stay on our feet while being knocked around by the waves. We picked up a 12- to 15-pound dolphin, which we kept. At 1:30 p.m. I heard one of the reels starting to scream. When I looked back I saw a sail running across our other lines while leaping in the air. I went back to start reeling in the other lines and another reel went off, which I handed off. At first I thought we had two fishermen fighting the same fish (tangled lines), but a few minutes later we noticed that one fish was deep and the other was on the surface still jumping. The first sail Will's fish was on the surface and coming in fast. I was running the boat and John went back to bill the first fish. He was able to successfully get the fish on board and remove the hook as I fired off pictures and quickly got the fish back into the water for release. Then we turned our attention to Chris's fish, which had been staying deep. Chris said he was having a hard time gaining line and I went back to look at the drag setting and the angle of the line. He said he could not gain line and when I grabbed the line and reached over the side, I noticed the line was hung on the transducer. At one point Chris said he lost the fish. I said no way! He still is swimming below the boat! Touch and go Once clearing the line from the transducer, it hung on the trim tabs. I was also able to solve that problem, but the line then hung on the engine bracket mount. John, with a longer reach, struggled with the fouled line. All of a sudden the line was clear and the sail was on the surface behind the boat. A few minutes later John had the second sail in the boat, removing the hook as I fired off pictures. It, too, was successfully released. Both fish were in the 40- to 50-pound range. The sea was continuing to build and we eventually started trolling back in at a higher speed. One of the reels went off again and about 15 minutes later we had a 30-plus pound wahoo in the boat. We put the lines back and continued to troll home. Still another hit About 30 minutes later, the shot gun line 50SW with 80-pound line began to scream. John picked up the rod and said it was a really nice fish. I slowed down and we started reeling in the other lines. All of a sudden, John said the fish was off. When John got the lure in, we noticed that the 9/0 hook had been straightened out and I felt chaffing above the lure on the mono leader. Probably another bill fish or maybe a tuna. After that hit we decided to pick up and make the long ride home in the northeast wind. It was a pretty brutal ride home, but well worth the ride for a double hookup and release on sails. This was the fist sailfish for both Chris and Will. The following Saturday David told of another trip where the seas were flat again. It was a different boat and a different crew but the catch was worth mentioning -- 14 dolphin weighing between seven and 25 pounds, and three wahoo between 15 and 40 pounds.