Gulf South Outdoors Blog

Big Marlin- Big Fight

2012-01-23T13:56:00.000-08:00

(Originally published in Coastal Angler Magazine’s MS Gulf Coast section, November 2011 Issue)

It had been a really good fishing trip for us in the Gulf, with two blue marlin weighing over 300 pounds already released. Standing on the flying bridge, I happened to look down and right behind the boat swam a mammoth sized marlin, speeding effortlessly along like a large submarine.

As soon as it hit the center rigger, I grabbed the rod and scrambled for the fighting chair, with line peeling off the reel at an alarming rate. As I settled in for the fight I knew two things for sure: it was a blue marlin and it was big- really big.

The marlin jumped, greyhounding away from the boat. "Back down! Back down!" Stephen Kuljis yelled to our captain Eric Gill, “It’s gonna’ spool us!” As Eric gunned the big diesels in reverse, I reeled frantically to maintain tension as we regained line.

No sooner were we backing down than the fish did an about-face and headed back toward us. “Go forward! Go forward! She’s coming back at us!” we yelled at Eric who was no doubt wishing we’d all make up our minds. He jammed the throttles forward and Vixen leapt ahead before slack in the line could cause us to lose the fish.

After a few rounds of this, the fish began to settle down into a serious fight. I worked hard to maintain pressure on the fish. Despite the bucket harness, which hooks to the reel to help take the load off your arms, my back ached from the constant 16 pounds of tension on the rod. Then things went from bad to worse as the marlin headed straight down.

Unable to stop her from sounding without risk of breaking the 50 pound line, there was little I could do except hold the rod as she steadily took line. This continued for a while then suddenly—it stopped! My sigh of relief was short-lived when I realized the marlin remained motionless. It quickly became clear that she had not been sounding but rather had died.

While there is no way to know for sure why she died, we surmised she had probably become tail wrapped during one of her jumps. Getting a fish that weighs some 650-700 pounds off the bottom with 80 or even 130 pound test without breaking it off is difficult. Doing it with 50 pound test is nearly impossible.

We had just about exhausted our bag of tricks when in a last ditch effort, I placed my thumbs on the spool and held it as hard as I could, with the drag set to maximum. Eric maneuvered the boat, searching desperately for the right angle. On what seemed like our hundredth try, as the boat eased forward, I yelled to Eric,” Hey, we gained a couple feet.” That was the good news. The bad news was we had 698 feet left to go before she finally popped to the surface.

What an awesome sight! She measured nearly ten feet long from her lower jaw to the fork of her tail (13 feet overall in length) and nearly seven feet in girth! As I rose from the fighting chair on trembling legs for the first time in over 3 hours, I was filled with a mixture of emotions.

Bone tired and aching all over, I was still thrilled to have caught the fish. I was also struck with awe at the outstanding team effort of all involved. But the glow of the moment was also tinged with sadness at the sight of the huge dead fish. Our intention had been to release her alive but, alas, that was not to be.

Frank Wilem is executive producer of the television show :GulfSouth Outdoors,” which airs at 10 a.m. and 10:30 p.m. Sundays on WXXV TV channel 25.

Tuna Cobia Vixen Trip

2011-11-11T11:45:00.001-08:00

Sometimes you get good weather. Sometimes you get great fishing. Once in a while you get both. Well, we did—sort of, on our last Vixen bluewater overnight trip.

When we headed out early in the morning, the forecast called for 5-10 knots, 1-2 foot seas, with only a 30% chance of rain—perfect weather. Our game plan was to catch some live bait for tuna fishing later along the way to hit the cobia. Capt. Eric Gill had heard good reports and, as usual, was spot on. We caught ten!!

At one point, we had three cobia on at once. After throwing seven in the fishbox, we worried about not having enough room for tuna (and because we like to be good stewards of the fisheries), we released the next three, two of which were nice sized fish and only one small one. It was the small one that caused me grief.

I opened the transom door to slide the fish in to avoid damaging it while removing the large lead-headed jig. Unfortunately, the fish was barely hooked and as I slid it into the boat, the jig popped free. That, in and of itself, would not have been a problem except for the fact that it landed point first in my jaw where it remained lodged. My first thought was, “Am I hooked past the hook’s barb?”

That happened to me with a Sabiki rig, which are loaded with small hooks for catching baitfish, a few years ago. After untangling one of the hooks from my daughter’s hair I decided to remove the rod from the rod holder on the tower leg and hand it up to Eric on the flying bridge get it out of the way. As I reached for it, the wind caught one of the hooks propelling it forward and into the side of my hand—well past the barb.

I had heard, but thankfully never had occasion to try, the best way to remove a hook in this circumstance was to pass it all the way through then cut off the barb at which time, the shank could be easily removed. As I pressed the hook forward, I discovered much to my chagrin, that the hook was not long enough for the point to penetrate the skin. The result was that I had to simply rip it out with pliers.

As I reached for the large jig embedded in my jaw, I uttered a silent prayer, which was answered when it slid free easily. It was not in past the barb and other than a lot of bleeding, was not a big deal.

After loading up on cobia, we ran out to the deep rigs to begin trolling for tuna, wahoo, dolphin, and billfish while we waited for the evening tuna bite. During this time, Eric checked our weather radar and found and enormous green “blob” forming between us and shore. A short time later, the winds picked up and it became rough.

Since the worst of it was north, between us and shore, we elected to wait it out hoping the storm would dissipate as they often do. However, this one had no intentions of doing so. Though we considered heading for home, it would mean running through the worst of it, at night, in an area filled with oil rigs. So we decided to tough it out and wait for the morning tuna bite hoping it would lay back down. It was a loooooong night.

Eric, myself, and Clarence Seymour of SYL Charters spent the entire night running the boat into the seas which were running 4-6 feet. (Although it was hard to tell at night, some of the waves felt a LOT larger). A nearby crewboat reported wind gusts of 55 knots!

The next morning, it did lay down and the tuna bite was on. Live baiting, we caught four 80 pounders in short order plus a decent wahoo! Nearly 1/3 ton of fish! We had room for one more tuna when they shut down and we decided to call it a day and headed for shore.

Gulf South Outdoors

2011-03-29T09:01:00.001-07:00

About to enter its eleventh season, the “Gulf South Outdoors” TV show is considered to be among the best produced show in its class. While employing a documentary style, the show strives to create better overall movement and add interest to a wider viewing segment. Unlike many such outdoor shows, Gulf South Outdoors features multiple storylines rather than having a singular focus on simply watching the host hunt or fish. This broadens the show’s interest beyond viewers whose primary interest is participating in the sport.

With the addition of producer/host Frank Wilem to the team, the show has broadened the scope of its fishing and outdoors activities to include off-shore blue water fishing, fishing from other parts of the world as well as scuba diving and boating. Likewise, the addition of episodes with stars such as Todd Harrell, of 3 Doors Down, broadens the show’s appeal for viewers who otherwise might never watch an outdoors show.

The show has experienced phenomenal growth in sponsorship interest since changing networks to WXXV-Fox 25 resulting in the addition of a second show on Fox 25 Sunday Evenings. Gulf South Outdoors also now airs in Mobile as one of three shows from throughout the Northern Gulf selected for their Saturday Morning outdoor line-up. While the show’s primary audience consists of male viewers in the approximate age range of 20 to 60 with an interest in fishing and hunting, the show has experienced a surprising recent growth among women.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, numerous Government, Civic and business leaders came to view Gulf South Outdoors as a vehicle for illustrating the Mississippi Gulf Coast’s comeback. By showcasing the area’s key amenities such as fishing, boating and the outdoors the show depicts the area not only as a great place to visit but also to live and work in as well.

Barry Foster, the producer, is not just an experienced and respected outdoorsman. Barry has over 30 years experience in television and film ranging from his work as a cameraman to producer/director. His work has received numerous awards including over 50 Broadcast Addy Awards, a Silver Telly Award, as well as recognition for excellence in editing and directing. Most recently he was recognized for directing the 2010 “Best of Show” Addy Award winner "Feed My Sheep". As host of “Gulf South Outdoors”, he produces what is considered to be the best shows of its kind.