Meat,But No Marlin (8/15/09)

Yesterday we (me, Wayne, Eric, Freeman, and Bobby Cresap) left the dock in the Hammerhead at 0500 and successfully negotiated the Pass in the darkwithout a spotlight, because it was not operating. We returned to the Nipple in the hopes of reprising last week's billfish success. The weather initially was gorgeous, but got a little snotty around noon, although not too bad. Everyone had received the memo - there 16 boats on or around the Nipple. We trolled to the Elbow and back. We caught wo dolphin and two tuna, including a nice 35-40 pound yellowfin, but no billfish. There was a lot of radio chattter about whites and the occasional blue, but it was mostly about misses, not catches. This is Boat Week, so the muscle boats are here in strength for the Poker Run today. When you buy one of those boats, they give you a box of bling, a blond with big fun bags, and a Louisiana drivers license; they take your money and your brains. Drunkeness is rampant, and there is already a boat on the beach on the other side of the jetty, a casualty of last night's preliminaries. Party on!