Report submitted by 'Oz'

Nyati Offshore Report Port Aransas, TX August 19-20th, 2006 Tweet

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Coming off some rather rough conditions from last week, we had to be crazy not to journey out on what was being predicted as some of the calmest seas of the year. After losing a couple solid fish the previous trip we re-rigged several lures and got down to business.

We left departed from the Port Aransas Jettiesaround 10:30pm and rocked out into the darkness of a near new moon. Joining the regulars on this beautifully calm weekend was Tyler from 'Corpus Fishing', Clark, and Moose's cousin Brian. Our arrival to a deep water floater was on time as scheduled and begun trolling instantly.

Right off the bat we start nailing small Yellowfin and Rainbow Runners with a few Blackfin and Skipjack Tuna mixed in. While landing nothing big as of yet we move away from the platform and head towards another location. Mid-morning we are greeted with a quick storm that thankfully drenches the boat with freshwater. Ashton remains the on-deck knight of the rain shower cleaning and continuing to watch the spread.

We troll for another hour or two and things clear up. Shortly after we get hooked up on the first solid fish of the trip. Ashton hops in the hot seat and goes to battle.

After a rather short fight he brings in a beautiful White Marlin while Moose and I leader the fish. White Marlin are the mini-versions of a psychotic Blue Marlin and their bite is as big as their bark and usually full of energy.

A few quick pics after the hook removal and a tag is inserted before the release.

Around noon or so we continue to troll and get another knockdown on an aerial Billfish. We get Brian into the chair and his hooked up to his first ever Marlin. While fairly unfamiliar with the offshore adventures, he fights the fish as if it wasn't his first.

Battling it like a pro Brian subdues another White marlin to the boat where we once again tag another Billfish aboard the Nyati. The fish is tagged and released back to the glassy blue. Congrats to Brian on his first bill!

We get lines back out and 2 hours later get another solid knockdown. We get wild-man Shindle into the chair and he begins his brief battle. The sun blares down with pure hotness but Shindle reigns dominant for the moment in the chair.

We know it is another bill but didn't find out it was a nice Sail until we got it next to the boat. Congrats on an awesome Sail Shindle! The fish is tagged and released and has no problem sailing off back to the deep.

We continue to troll a few more hours to sunset with a couple miss hits. Overall a great day of trolling adding 3 more Bills to the Nyati record book. We finish out the remainder of the daylight trolling and then pack it up for the night time Tuna Slaughter.

It takes an hour or two after dark before we see any real action and Scott is the first to hook up and nails a sweet Yellowfin. Shortly after Moose matches his and they both pose with a double.

Shindle soon follows suit and picks up his first of two nice Yellows.

Clark jumps into the actions and finally nails a nice Yellow after an interesting fight.

Brian gets his first Yellowfin Tuna and is all smiles. The fish gets safely released into the ice box.

After a bit of wear and tear, Tyler is finally rewarded with his efforts as he nails a nice Yellowfin.

The rest of the night was hit or miss for Yellowfin. Blackfin continue to show up the entire time and Tuna of all sorts of sizes were nailing countless flyers. The morning approaches as we near another floater platform for an early troll. The conditions resemble the closest possible thing to an offshore image of heaven. The clouds echoed in the glass calm conditions of the water and flying fish glided as if they were micro land based jets on the Bonneville Salt Flats.

Early in the morning Ashton and I maintain a good spread and jump a nice White Marlin that threw the hook in mid-air. About an hour later we encounter chaos as a rod gets slammed and airborne goes another Marlin. During the aerial display we see two other Marlin tearing through the spread. Ashton hops in the chair and battles his second bill of the weekend.

Another gorgeous White Marlin is Tagged and Released.

We cruise back the same area of the chaos and a lure in the spread gets hammered. I set the hook and the Marlin tail walks on glass for several seconds. We finally get Tyler into the chair and he is hooked ontoa rampaging Billfish.

Battling it no problem we get it into the boat and Tag our 5th Billfish of the weekend.

We continue to troll our way back home and are amazed at the incredible conditions.

Some point during mid-day while trolling across open water we come upon something quite interesting. At first glance it appears to be a large Tuna floating on the surface and not far from it is a circling shark.. a Mako.

Upon further inspection on a close pass we notice that it is not a Tuna but infact the remainder of Blue Marlin carcass. YT notices a tag in the Marlin and we back up to the carcass as the Mako cruises around the boat several times like a predatory aquatic airplane.

We wake Shindle up and finally convince him that there is indeed a Mako hanging around and get him to rig up a quick bait to pitch to it. The shark while pushing a solid 300lbs, it continues to move slowly and its thick girth evident of its marlin lunch that had been feeding on for an unknown amount of time. Shindle finally rigs up some bait we had left over and throws it out under a balloon.

Staying fairly persistent at the game, Shindle hangs in there and finally convinces the Mako to take the bait. Rigged up with a small circle and mono leader, we just wanted to get a couple good jumps hopefully before it bit through.

After letting the shark eat the bait for a few seconds, Shindle lays into the fish hoping for a jump or two. However, the fish has become more like a heavy-bodied submarine intoxicated from a full days feast of Marlin and is slowly cruising below the surface. A couple minutes later and not wanting to become airborne, the shark finally bites through the mono as planned and swims off only to show back briefly 20 minutes later. We decide to let him have the rest of his feast and we continue to troll for a couple more hours on the way in.

We pack it up and rock on in and make it to the dock right after sunset. We once again get a group picture with some of the bounty we are rewarded with and a couple new people get some nice bills on the boat. For us we have been greatful every trip and thank YT and Lea for the continuing invitation to experience just one more weekend on the open sea. For the Nyati this weekend proved to bring us our 22nd Billfish of the season, a feat never imagined before by YT himself much less any of us. Each trip provides for a new adventure with new thrills and on the most beautiful of conditions everything else is just a welcome bonus.

Thanks Capt YT and rest of the Nyati... can't wait for the next screaming reel on the open water.
- Oz and crew

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