Cat Island Fishing Report: Dolphin, Tuna, Sailfish, Blue Mar

[Over Under]

Just a quick report from our last trip over at Cat Island. We fished 2 full days, and 2 half days in spectacular conditions. Light SE winds prevailed, with plenty of sunshine and warm weather. The dolphin bite continued to be strong with 5-10 coming to the boat, all but the last day, which was a bit slower and we were primarily targeting blue marlin. The fish mostly went 20-25 pounds, with a couple larger fish mixed in. The tuna were around pretty thick, but so were the sharks. We managed to get a few to the boat, but found it so frustrating, that we really didn't fish for them that much.

On the billfish front, We saw 1-2 fish each day, releasing a sailfish and a 200# blue marlin. We raised a blue on a cedar plug the first day, but couldnt' hold onto him. Similarly we raised a second sail on the last day, but pulled the hook after about 8 spectacular leaps (some of which are caught on film). The third day, we were fast trolling to the barn, when the center rigger snapped and we were practically dumped on our Penn 70 VSW, that is backed with 800 yards of power pro. We found ourselves scrambling to get line back on the reel and quickly were straight up and down with a Big Blue Marlin hooked up.

After maybe 10 minutes we pulled the hook on this fish also, which had sounded and was laying on the bottom. Seconds after we pulled the hook on our fish, a boat trolling beside us, hooked up. Their fish put on a fabulous show greyhounding behind our boats and eventually spooled them. A couple other boats fishing in the area reported seeing a free jumping blue marlin after this whole episode that was estimated at 600#. The Blue we released the previous day was caught on a Blue Water, "Rick's Fancy".

Here's a few pictures from the trip, courtesy of our guest professional photographer Scott Gaeckle: