Fishing in the 2009 King Harbor Marlin Tournament

The Ramblin’ fished in the KHMT. Also a fellow MDRA boat, Big Momma, did their best to find and boat fish in the event. I have been going to fish this event for years. This is the second time I’ve been in it on my own boat.

It was a good event for us this weekend. Ramblin' had a knock down and zip (run for 20 to 30 seconds) just 4 or 5 miles off of the East End. Then the fish jumped after coming off the jig and thumbed it's nose at us. It was a really big and That set the hearts of the team racing and made us redouble our efforts. Dennis Bly was very impressed byt the jumping fish and his excitement was contagious. Gary and I were primed for the next one to come our way.

A little later near the 277 we had a knock down on the same starboard outrigger with the dark head mean joe green lure and we were on for a good 20 minute fight that resulted in a successful release. And again we saw more fish. Tossing live baits to tailers added to the action. When trolling up closer to home port we witnessed a fantastic display of jumpers just shy of the Avalon Bank. It was an exciting day one.

Ramblin' did a lot of driving south on day two when most of the fish were home in the back yard. First fishing from the Island (lures in at 6:30 am just 4 miles off the slide) heading southeast to the 277 and then even heading further south towards the 209. While underway we heard a few extra fish reports form other captains on the 209 who said it was dead. We diverted back up. We headed northwest and found the fish right next to the island. Eventually running over one tailer just 3 ½ miles off of Church Rock on the East End. We slowed the boat and put out 2 live baits. The baiting worked. The one from the bow (or one of his pals) popped up in the lure pattern. It was very exciting to feed live bait back to a fish right behind the boat in the lure spread. It was again a Hook up but the rough seas and big strong fish made this a different fight.

This time the angler was Gary Downie. Since the marlin took the bait presented on the 20# dacron line rood/reel setup it was sure to be a longer battle. The rough seas made it hard on the angler and the boat. At times we had white water over the head of the angler and leaderman in the cockpit. It was salty work. After a few times of showing itself and even getting within 20-30 feet of the boat it got really hard to budge. In the end it won the battle when the line parted after 1 hour and 30 min of our best efforts to bring it to leader.

Shortly we returned to calmer waters just south east of the island and continued our search. Even past the 4 pm Stop Fishing time for the tournament. Then back to Avalon for a swim and getting ready for the fun KHMT awards banquet where the team was equally lucky in the Raffles. Very cool.

Big Momma on the other hand held back on using up its luck until Sunday morning when they found and hooked and caught a nice marlin. Then feeling triumphant made the return voyage home. We crossed paths with them at the San Pedro fuel docks.

Other MDRA boats were participants in the Catalina Yacht Club Marlin Tournament. One friend, Richard, on Wavelength was hooked up multiple times but as it happens when fishing marlin they came unbuttoned before the leader reached the hands of the leaderman. Tough luck on that, but still fun and plenty of excitement.

I am still really eager to go to Cat Harbor and run out beyond there for a bit of trolling between Ribbon Rock and the East End... It’s the best odds of a hook up in years.

Tight Lines.

Keith L.
Captain of the Motor Vessel Ramblin’