Cuda Slob!

Rjon and Steve were in town and decided to fish a “short” day with us. They arrived at the scheduled time and we untied The BEAST. We headed out for a Hardtail spot and caught about a ½ dozen baits there and then made the run to the patches for our Ballyhoo. Devon put out a block of chum and we had no trouble getting the worms to come up. We caught plenty for the day and then turned the bow east and made the short run out to the blue water.

We hit the blue and Devon put out a 3 up / 1 down spread. The bite was a bit on the mediocre side. We missed one bite on the down rod and then Rjon hooked up a monster Barracuda. This fish was a great match for our light tackle and Rjon fought it for about 15-20 minutes before it gave in and came to the boat. Wow! That was one of the biggest “Cuda slobs I’ve caught in a long time. We put it on the Boga Grip and it sunk the springs to the 35 pound marker.

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I made a critical error in judgment when I made another pass with fresh bait to see if there was anything else down there. Uh, Yeah! This time the line got very heavy and for over an hour I watched Steve, then Rjon and even Devon, take turns on the rod. All 3 were grunting and working up a lather of sweat. The fish would give up a yard or two of line and then take back 3. Sometimes it would let them feel like they had it beat, allowing them to take in 25 or 30 yards of line, only to have the fish make a good run that stripped all that and more. This fish was doing whatever it wanted. I tried to use the boat to walk it into shallower water and I thought it was working. The fish turned around and headed back offshore towing my 33’ World Cat along with it. Finally Devon and I conferred and told the guys that it was probably a huge shark and we were way under-gunned. We could continue this fight and burn up the clock on their short day or just break it off. After 1 hour and 15 minutes the unanimous decision was to break it off.

We reset the lines and worked away from the area. We missed a couple of downrigger bites and then finally connected with a Cero Mackerel. We kept working the area and their thoughts were stirring about heading in. They were excited but very tired from that long battle with the mystery fish. We held off their thoughts of leaving for the remaining 45 minutes. Devon dumped the bait wells and almost as if planned, a “snooter” rose from down below and took one of the baits. I think it was Steve who took the rod and by the time he got the bail flipped, line tight, and the rod flexing. The Sailfish jumped high in the air and the hook went flying. Dang it!

The guys had a dinner meeting that night so they called it a ‘wrap” and we packed up the BEAST. I fed some gas to the ponies and we made a smooth run back to the barn. To me this was nothing special to write about. If you had heard Rjon and Steve talking about that big Cuda and the epic 1¼ fight by the unseen critter from hell, you would know to the contrary that they were extremely happy.

Capt. Jim
The BEAST
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