calm day out front running to the bait patch in the heidi baby

we caught ballyhoo fast that morning

we anchored on a patch and made a few quick throws with the ten foot net

me and jose

our wells were round live wells with good flow great for quick drawing pitch baits for sails

zilla "jimmy pull the anchor"

i broke the anchor loose and zilla quartered the boat back and pulled it up on the surface

i cleated it off and coiled the rope quick and made my way to the bridge

zilla "jimmy we got all the rods"

jimmy "yeah everything's rigged"

it was a short ride to conch

and the birds were working

jose "look frigate bird"

zilla "i see um"

sara "hey kiddo"

jimmy "yeah look at those birds"

jose "i'm going up in the tower"

jimmy "here's a rod sara"

zilla "2 oclock"

jose "i got um"

zilla "going down on the deck"

jose "o yeah they're diving now"

zilla "jimmy you got a rod with a livie?"

jimmy "yeah here ya go"

zilla "jose how far?"

jose "50 yards"

zilla "run us up on um"

jose brought the birds up to starboard and we made casts

the bird kept dipping and flew over us

i ran a bait up the left rigger

zilla set out the right rigger and sara let out a flat

i went for another bait and let out a flat line

jose "jimmy there he is"

zilla "let um have it james"

jose "ok now hit um"

he came right out of the water on the first run and i handed the rod to sara

jose "z there's goes the right rigger"

zilla knocked it out of the pin and hooked up

we had two on

i cleared the rods and we backed up on the fish

sara's fish ran straight back and kept jumping

zilla's fish was to port and went deep at first

jose kept backing down and we got sara's leader first

by now zilla's fish had made its way to the surface shaking its head out of the water

jose "ok jimmy leader him up now"

jimmy "almost got um almost got um there he is i got um"

jose "nice job man"

sara and me got the hook out and made a nice release

we dragged the fish quick and let um go and then went after z's sail

we got the leader and eased back and he popped his bill out of the water and i got him

we gathered our rods and chilled for a little bit

and we all went up on the bridge

the action was good that morning and we saw birds working again

this one we hooked right away

i made a long cast to the frigate birds and the sail came right up on it

jose "there he is jimmy"

jimmy "i got um"

i bowed up on the fish and fought this one

a great fish

he came to the surface on the hookup and then ran deep at first

we got him back on the surface and got his head out of the water

zilla got the leader and jose backed up on him

and zilla billed this one

zilla "nice fish jimmy"

the fish were 40 to 50 lbs this morning

jose invited me up on the bridge to smoke

and sara and zilla rinsed the deck

jose "nice fish eh jimmy"

jimmy "yeah awesome"

there were a few other boats nearby hooking up too

and on the next set of birds we saw we raced to and got our baits out first

the bite was on

and sara hooked one

and the birds were still dipping and we made another cast and had two on

zilla "nice work"

sara's fish was tailwalking

we landed zilla's fish first

i billed him and we revived him and let him go

and then went after sara's fish

the gunwhales are nice on the heidi baby for lying flat and billing fish

and jose backed me up and we got the fish

zilla "nice work james"

sara "yeah way to go"

we realeased #5 and headed for the dock

flying our release flags

(blog in memory of "zilla" capt kerry price)