Day Three on Ribbon Reef Number Four

Day three saw another day of 4 to 6 foot seas and 25 knots of wind. After a quick dive behind the reef we got to catching bait behind the reef. Our daily usage of bait is around 4 scads and usually a couple scaly mackerel or a tuna. The bait is abundant behind the reef which is caught on Halco Laser lures (rapala like lure) on a 665 loaded with 65 lb braid on a fairly stiff rod. Why the such a big set up for smaller bait fish? We learned why on the third day with several as they call them "Long Tail Tuna" which to us is a blue fin tuna. These fish were between 20 to 50 pounds and would smoke us on a regular bait rod with 30 lb. We ended catching a few on morning three and we used them for skip baits for our big bait. The boys run two rods on the outriggers, one with the small scad that is rigged to swim down and looks like its very much alive. The other rod is rigged with a bigger bait usually a scaly mackerel of 10 to 15 pounds or a long tail tuna up to 25 pounds. The Blacks do not have a problem eating the bigger baits, even a small male will get in and give it a try.
After the bait fishing we headed straight out to the reef where we find fish right on the outside of the reef to the outside fathom curves. Laurie was fired up on the #4 ribbon reef with many stories on thousand pound fish caught here and it didn't take long before we saw a small male in the baits that ate a bait and spit it before we even got to the rod. This was the beginning of a frustrating day of bites with no fish hooked. We saw one more bite on the scad and then had a couple fish in the baits just checking things out but no action. Interesting fact with the Black marlin is they turn black when they get charged up to bite versus the neon colors the Stripe or Blue marlin turn when they are excited.
David also caught a fifty plus pound Wahoo on the laser rig down the middle we troll for tunas or other type of baits swimming in the action zone. It was a beautiful fish but they are let go normally because there are tastier fish to eat. After a full day of fishing we ended up camping behind number 4 reef and busted out the gentleman jack and bundy for a great ending to our day of fishing. We ate a great dinner and cap it off with a good cigar ready to give our best effort for the last day.
I will fill you in on that outcome tomorrow.

Ben