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WARNING IN ADVANCE: This post is way too long, way too few fish, and way too many pictures.
So months ago I saw that the EKFT guys were having a tournament in the Bahamas to go after pelagics and almost without thinking I bought the ticket and decided to figure out the logistics later. This was a bad idea...but, it worked out in the end. I got my girlfriend and her sister to drive me and my buddies kayaks down a few days before so that they could clear customs. The whole process was pretty painless as far as I can tell. They put them on pallets which would be loaded on the ferry we would be taking over there.
The tournament entry included first class tickets on the ferry and they were definitely appreciated! We had flat seas for the most part but if the seas were 10ft as they commonly are you would definitely need some Dramamine!
So, on to the competition! Once we were settled in our hotel rooms and the kayaks were delivered a few of us decided to try fishing off the dock behind the hotel. There were tons of snapper and some bait so things were looking good. Another guy in the competition tossed a live bait in to see what would happen and it was promptly swallowed by a 50lb tarpon. He jumped it a few times and fought it for about 5mins before it broke off. At this point I was amped so we decided to go to the captains dinner and calm ourselves down with a few beers...
...Come 5:40 my girlfriend wakesup and realizes our alarm didn't go off! Launch is at 6am so we run down to the beach and simultaneously rig our rods. We were the last kayaks to make it down to the beach but we made it just in time!
This is where our troubles began. My fish finder that I had tested numerous times at home wouldn't turn on. Also, the bait guy who drove his own boat over from Miami was already gone. We said screw it and just launched into the wild blue.
Without a fishfinder I thought I had a tough time finding the actual dropoff. The ledge was only a mile from the beach and I could easily see down about 100ft. The problem was that the ledge dropped from 300ft to 1000ft. I eyeballed it and decided we should just drop our jigs down to see what was swimming beneath us. After about 5 yo-yo's back to the kayak I finally hooked up to a 5lb strawberry grouper. Its about this time my buddy looks over at me with an intensely hungover face and says, "Dude...where....uh....I just woke up". I chuckled and then motioned for us to try to setup a drift along the ledge. About an hour later with nothing we were at a loss. We took a quick break and my buddy promptly started chumming the water with all the free beer from the night before. It must've worked a little bit because we both caught two more strawberry grouper immediately after that. The sun was coming out by now and the morning bite was pretty much dead. We were dead in the water without the fish finder and decided to troll the ledge as best we could. Every angler with live bait caught fish and those that didn't were adjusting to the learning curve, us included. Finally, at 3pm a little heartbroken and an hour before check-in we decided to head back to shore figure some things out. When we got to shore we really saw what a rich fishery the area was. We were definitely doing it wrong!
After a few beers and a regroup I found that the little 3amp fuse for my fish finder blew. I only had a 5amp battery but I guess that was enough. Finding a fuse was hard but an older competitor told us we could jump around the fuse with foil. It worked like a charm! We ordered bait for the next day, got the sabikis ready, and had a solid game plan. We again, probably not smartly, drained our sorrows in more free beer and grouper sandwiches. The next day started much better, and I think everyone had a game plan. The bait guy was out of bait so we waited for the crowd to clear and trolled gulps and sabikis over the reefs for bait. We caught a couple of 2lb blue runners and decided we better make tracks to catch the bite. Most heard that there was a good bull Mahi bite about 2mi past the ledge and went straight out. We decided to work our way a few miles west to a visible current break and slick. My buddies blue runner gets swallowed and the game is on. He was losing line fast so he tightened the drag and swung hard. The 50lb braid snapped and his disappointment was very evident! We decided to continue on and see what we could find. Now that the fish finder was working I could see what was beneath us. I found the drop-off and noticed the slick was swinging right up along its edge. I looked down into the water and noticed a school of bait fly underneath us. In 300+ feet of water I dropped the jig to see if any predators were chasing the bait. About 50ft off the bottom my jig got nailed. I reeled down and prepared for the inevitable. My drag was set to about 75% and in about 5 seconds I had less than 150 yards left. I locked the drag down hoping to slow the fish but even at a full 30lbs of drag the fish didn't even slow down. My rod was pinned to the rail of my kayak and in 5 more seconds and I only had about 50yds of line left. I tried to palm the spool and the line keeper caught my finger which immediately reminded me that it was a bad idea! Still I just tried to palm it harder before it spooled my and after about a 1 minute tug-of-war my 50lb braid finally gave in. The expletives that came out of my mouth could have been heard in Cuba! Another fisherman who saw me hooked up informed me that I had just lost a big wahoo. I immediately retied but couldn't get another good bite. About this time a sail fish surfaced about 300yds from us chasing bait. We tried to run it down but we didn't have a chance. A piece of cut bait I had in the water managed to snag a big triggerfish and we only had two hours of fishing left. I decided that I would head back to the reef and try to catch a big barracuda for the trashcan slam (trigger fish and barracuda). Me and my buddy both got setup and paddled slowly, within minutes both of us were hooked up getting towed in opposite directions. Like idiots we had only brought one gaff and it was in his boat! By the time I got my fish boatside were were a 1/2 mile from each other. I tied a noose in one of my rod leashes and hung the barracuda by the gills and paddled over to him. We had 30mins to weigh in so paddled back. Needless to say, I didn't place or even make the trashcan slam but it was a helluva a good time and I will be back next year! I highly recommend these competitions to anyone that can make it! Also....there were a few epic battles other than mine on the second day...
There were two marlin caught during the tournament; a white marlin and a blue marlin. The white marlin was over 200lbs and the blue marlin was an esitmated 500lbs and towed the guy 40 miles. He fought it for 11.5 hours!!!!! The celebration when he got back was incredible and was kicked off by the organizer tossing him into the water.
Short Marlin Video
http://www.wptv.com/sports/recreatio...in-the-bahamas
This tournament was full of a great group of a guys and even better, it was a group of guys that helped you push your limits. We paddled about 14 miles each day and as tired as we were it was the other competitors that really motivated us and kept us going even with debilitating hand cramps. I'm completely hooked on the offshore stuff now, hope to see some of you guys at their next tournament in June!
So months ago I saw that the EKFT guys were having a tournament in the Bahamas to go after pelagics and almost without thinking I bought the ticket and decided to figure out the logistics later. This was a bad idea...but, it worked out in the end. I got my girlfriend and her sister to drive me and my buddies kayaks down a few days before so that they could clear customs. The whole process was pretty painless as far as I can tell. They put them on pallets which would be loaded on the ferry we would be taking over there.
The tournament entry included first class tickets on the ferry and they were definitely appreciated! We had flat seas for the most part but if the seas were 10ft as they commonly are you would definitely need some Dramamine!
So, on to the competition! Once we were settled in our hotel rooms and the kayaks were delivered a few of us decided to try fishing off the dock behind the hotel. There were tons of snapper and some bait so things were looking good. Another guy in the competition tossed a live bait in to see what would happen and it was promptly swallowed by a 50lb tarpon. He jumped it a few times and fought it for about 5mins before it broke off. At this point I was amped so we decided to go to the captains dinner and calm ourselves down with a few beers...
...Come 5:40 my girlfriend wakesup and realizes our alarm didn't go off! Launch is at 6am so we run down to the beach and simultaneously rig our rods. We were the last kayaks to make it down to the beach but we made it just in time!
This is where our troubles began. My fish finder that I had tested numerous times at home wouldn't turn on. Also, the bait guy who drove his own boat over from Miami was already gone. We said screw it and just launched into the wild blue.
Without a fishfinder I thought I had a tough time finding the actual dropoff. The ledge was only a mile from the beach and I could easily see down about 100ft. The problem was that the ledge dropped from 300ft to 1000ft. I eyeballed it and decided we should just drop our jigs down to see what was swimming beneath us. After about 5 yo-yo's back to the kayak I finally hooked up to a 5lb strawberry grouper. Its about this time my buddy looks over at me with an intensely hungover face and says, "Dude...where....uh....I just woke up". I chuckled and then motioned for us to try to setup a drift along the ledge. About an hour later with nothing we were at a loss. We took a quick break and my buddy promptly started chumming the water with all the free beer from the night before. It must've worked a little bit because we both caught two more strawberry grouper immediately after that. The sun was coming out by now and the morning bite was pretty much dead. We were dead in the water without the fish finder and decided to troll the ledge as best we could. Every angler with live bait caught fish and those that didn't were adjusting to the learning curve, us included. Finally, at 3pm a little heartbroken and an hour before check-in we decided to head back to shore figure some things out. When we got to shore we really saw what a rich fishery the area was. We were definitely doing it wrong!
After a few beers and a regroup I found that the little 3amp fuse for my fish finder blew. I only had a 5amp battery but I guess that was enough. Finding a fuse was hard but an older competitor told us we could jump around the fuse with foil. It worked like a charm! We ordered bait for the next day, got the sabikis ready, and had a solid game plan. We again, probably not smartly, drained our sorrows in more free beer and grouper sandwiches. The next day started much better, and I think everyone had a game plan. The bait guy was out of bait so we waited for the crowd to clear and trolled gulps and sabikis over the reefs for bait. We caught a couple of 2lb blue runners and decided we better make tracks to catch the bite. Most heard that there was a good bull Mahi bite about 2mi past the ledge and went straight out. We decided to work our way a few miles west to a visible current break and slick. My buddies blue runner gets swallowed and the game is on. He was losing line fast so he tightened the drag and swung hard. The 50lb braid snapped and his disappointment was very evident! We decided to continue on and see what we could find. Now that the fish finder was working I could see what was beneath us. I found the drop-off and noticed the slick was swinging right up along its edge. I looked down into the water and noticed a school of bait fly underneath us. In 300+ feet of water I dropped the jig to see if any predators were chasing the bait. About 50ft off the bottom my jig got nailed. I reeled down and prepared for the inevitable. My drag was set to about 75% and in about 5 seconds I had less than 150 yards left. I locked the drag down hoping to slow the fish but even at a full 30lbs of drag the fish didn't even slow down. My rod was pinned to the rail of my kayak and in 5 more seconds and I only had about 50yds of line left. I tried to palm the spool and the line keeper caught my finger which immediately reminded me that it was a bad idea! Still I just tried to palm it harder before it spooled my and after about a 1 minute tug-of-war my 50lb braid finally gave in. The expletives that came out of my mouth could have been heard in Cuba! Another fisherman who saw me hooked up informed me that I had just lost a big wahoo. I immediately retied but couldn't get another good bite. About this time a sail fish surfaced about 300yds from us chasing bait. We tried to run it down but we didn't have a chance. A piece of cut bait I had in the water managed to snag a big triggerfish and we only had two hours of fishing left. I decided that I would head back to the reef and try to catch a big barracuda for the trashcan slam (trigger fish and barracuda). Me and my buddy both got setup and paddled slowly, within minutes both of us were hooked up getting towed in opposite directions. Like idiots we had only brought one gaff and it was in his boat! By the time I got my fish boatside were were a 1/2 mile from each other. I tied a noose in one of my rod leashes and hung the barracuda by the gills and paddled over to him. We had 30mins to weigh in so paddled back. Needless to say, I didn't place or even make the trashcan slam but it was a helluva a good time and I will be back next year! I highly recommend these competitions to anyone that can make it! Also....there were a few epic battles other than mine on the second day...
There were two marlin caught during the tournament; a white marlin and a blue marlin. The white marlin was over 200lbs and the blue marlin was an esitmated 500lbs and towed the guy 40 miles. He fought it for 11.5 hours!!!!! The celebration when he got back was incredible and was kicked off by the organizer tossing him into the water.
Short Marlin Video
http://www.wptv.com/sports/recreatio...in-the-bahamas
This tournament was full of a great group of a guys and even better, it was a group of guys that helped you push your limits. We paddled about 14 miles each day and as tired as we were it was the other competitors that really motivated us and kept us going even with debilitating hand cramps. I'm completely hooked on the offshore stuff now, hope to see some of you guys at their next tournament in June!
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