Sat. was the finale of the Western Outdoor News Saltwater Series in Ensenada. Only 8 points behind first place & 27 ahead of 3rd, if we weigh a fish in each category - Tuna, Yellowtail & Bass there is only 1 team that can beat us.

Capt. Ron Atwood & I headed down tues. afternoon to attempt to get a bead on the fish, taking our licks in some horrible weather wed. proved unfruitful except for this blind strike:

http://momentoffame.com/photopost/data/576/Jumper.jpg

I had the pleasure of the first Billfish ever landed on Ron's boat. The release:

http://momentoffame.com/photopost/data/576/Marlin.jpg

Good Fun but not what we came for. After a long rough day Karl was there to meet us as we refueled the thirsty craft. Beat up Ron decided to nap everywhere possible on thurs. leaving Karl & I to check out waters to the south west. We found the little yellows but still no tuna. Learning from our horrible performance in June, we took it easy on fri. fishing the local bass for an outstanding bite. The 3 of us landed over 60 quality bass in around 2 hrs. Mostly on the 5.5"-7" Big Hammers:

http://momentoffame.com/photopost/data/521/Ron-Calico.jpg

but Ron couldn't resist putting on the one & only FishChick Hurley Bait mounted to a custom painted head by Norm courtesy of the SWBA raffle. THANKS GUYS!! 2nd cast & he's on solid:

http://momentoffame.com/photopost/data/521/FishChick.jpg

This pic doesn't do the fish justice, it was over 6 lbs. I'm not sure what happened but the pics of my nice calico weren't on the digital this morning?

Under 60 teams, the smallest field I've seen at one of these events gathered for the festivities. We had a game plan stuck to it, quickly putting a 4 lb. calico on as well as finding the little yellows, just couldn't put on a tuna despite going 70 mi & trolling porpoise for as long as possible. Unlike the event in June, I feel like we did everything possible but it just wasn't in the cards. Our previous poor performance would come back to haunt us, coming in 2nd by 3 points is painful. Tom Rogers (Saltwater Specialties) had another great day, I believe the only team to weigh all 3 species & 1 of the 4 or 5 tuna weighed in. Giving him & his Bloody Decks crew the title we were defending and a trip to Panama.

Congratulations to their team of outstanding, hardcore anglers that very much deserve it!

Another highlight was my first ever sighting of a leatherback that was in the process of eating a HUGE jellyfish that must have been 25'+ :

http://momentoffame.com/photopost/data/531/LeatherBack_Eating.jpg

The shell on this guy had to be 6' long, the size of it's head was amazing:

http://momentoffame.com/photopost/data/531/LeatherBack-Head.jpg

Must See Chiropractor!

Josh