Fishing the Rockport Offshore Challenge 2007

Back to back weeks of blue water tournament fishing is hard on the body.  Its no wonder that a large majority of deck hands are young guys.  They not only endure the constant pounding of the waves and sun, but actually have to work through it on their feet all day.  Following up to my recent story, Hunting Blue Marlin at the “Poco Bueno”, this entry is about the Rockport Offshore Challenge 2007 and my adventures at sea.  The “Rock” as the tournament is known, is a follow up to the famous “Poco Bueno” tournament the week before.  Although only in its 5th year, the event attracted over 90 boats this year and offers a broad array of offshore fishing opportunities.  The name of the game here, like most large offshore venues, is billfish.  But unlike the Poco Bueno, it is all billfish and not just the Blue Marlin.  The ROC also has awards for other species as well.   Dolphin, Wahoo, Ling, Tuna and Red Snapper are all fair game.  But, the big money is on the big pelagic species that roam the world’s open oceans. 

Thursday afternoon, the offshore buoys were not looking very good for our official start that evening.  Even in a 50 foot Hatteras, it is no fun running headlong into 6 to 8 foot seas at night with thunderstorms in the area.  With such a great forecast, the tournament directors wisely decided to postpone the start.  So, Friday evening, we broke out of the Port Aransas jetties for the two days of fishing ahead of us.  For the rest of the weekend, we enjoyed mostly fair skies and decent seas in which to make our lure ”presentation” to our prey.  Fishing for a broader array of sport fish requires a different set-up on the boat then the week before.  Smaller reels, natural and artificial baits and various teaser lines are used to attract fish into the strike zone.  And Saturday morning at first light, it was game time.

Fishing near an offshore production rig is always a good way to get things started.  Saturday morning found us near the ever popular “Tequila” rig, an offshore platform near the continental shelf in about 600 feet of water.  A few miles away, the depths reach over 1,000 feet and various under water structures called “The Hilltops” are within trolling distance.   The first bites of the day brought us two small Dorado and Wahoo as we made our way around the sargassum weed or “grass” lines formed by wind and currents.   With the grass productive, we continuously worked the edges.   Then, a large grass-mat came into view, the Captain skillfully drug our baits in close for a pass and Wham!  Fish on!  One of our guys picked up the rod and placed it in his fish-fighting belt for the long tug-of-war.  Watching from the bridge, we could see the line start to make its way to the surface and then a large “bull dorado” broke out of our wake into the air.  We all knew in an instant that this was a good fish.  With the captain and angler working in tandem, the fish was raised and the deck hand made a successful gaff and brought him on board.  We hoped that this guy had a chance as we stretched him out in the live well.  Educated guesses had him going in the high 40lbs or maybe even 50lbs.  A fish that size could put us in the money, but we had to wait another day to find out.

The rest of the weekend brought us several Sailfish and one White Marlin all of which were released.  But it was the big “Doe-Doe” that had us all excited when we came in.  The other fish were great (I caught one myself), but not enough of them to get us in the hunt.  At weigh-in Sunday night, the big Dorado came in at about 52lbs. which was enough for us to win the 1st place prize; High-fives and bragging rights all the way around.  Winning among such an elite and experienced group of anglers is very rewarding.  Not to mention addictive.  Though the billfish season will continue on for the rest of August, I am moving on to other things.  But, next season, I will be back on the hunt for the “Blue Nasty” and his friends.