REPORTS FROM THE RIP: All grins ( Lots of Pics)

Dan Wiring Steves big girl

Fishing the North drop Of St Thomas can be a very exciting thing. The North drop is an area north of the virgin Islands starting at about 20 miles where the depth drops from 200 feet to thousands of feet. From July thru September finds bigger Blue marlin gathering along this area. Anglers come from all over to test their skills on big mean Blues.
Starting out a morning fishing out of St Thomas goes something like this... As the sun rises to the east, the crews of all the boats prepare for the day. Some resetting drags, some respelling reels from the damage caused from yesterdays battle. After coffees are drank and good lucks are wished between neighboring boats, the boat begin to file out of IGY marina at Red Hook St Thomas. As the boats clear the red clay bluff at the mouth of the Vessup bay, throttles are pushed up and we turn to the north. The water is super clear as you cut across the Pillsbury Sound dividing St Thomas from St John. In 50-70 feet of water, even with the sun just clearing Tortlla BVIs to the east you can see the bottom in some places. As you round Shark island the thatch islands are just off the bow. A few miles after that the boat will cut through Tobago islands just east of Jost Van Dyke BVIs. At that point you are in open water all the way to the North drop. as you traverse the next 12 miles, the clear blue water has you believing that the water just can not get any clearer. The seas steadily increase as you get closer to the North drop. The standard 15-18 knot easterly trade winds nearly always make for a bit of a chop on the north drop but seldom is it to tall and terrible. As you arrive, the water seems to turn even deeper shades of azure blue. The out riggers go out and the lure spread is deployed. After that it is just hours and hours of boredom punctuated by brief intense moments of extreme excitement. To some of you that have made this run, you may think this is boring. But for those of you that have not fished a boat out of St thomas, there is a special kind of magic to the ride out of Red Hook on your way to the North drop.

After Having limited luck in St Martin due to rough weather, Dan and I insisted to the boss that we fish the day we returned from St Barts and St Martin to St Thomas. We were only fishing one hour when Dan came up to the bridge. He had only been up there a minute or two when I asked him " What kind of fish are we going to catch first". A split second later the pop of the outrigger clip and the singing of line playing off of the 50 wide reel answered my question. She was a big girl and put on quite an acrobatic show for a Blue Marlin close to 600 lbs. Steve had one hell of a fight on his hands and despite a little grumbling about the duration of the fight he was victorious win the end. Steve has a habit of telling guest to take the rod when a fish is on and he had been in a lull on catching blues for himself. Dan and I were so happy to see him fight such a magnificent fish.
One of the things that I love about this job is seeing what we do, enjoyed through the eyes of a guest. The day after Steve caught that nice Blue, We had two guest arrive. Neither of our guest Matt nor Josh had ever caught a blue marlin. Nor had they done a trip thru the British virgin islands. Both of these guys had about as much fun and enjoyed the trip as anyone could ever do. Our first day of fishing saw both Matt and Josh catch their first Blue marlin AND their second Blue marlin. When Matt came up to the bridge after his first fish, he was shaking like a little boy that has to go really bad, in line for the bathroom His grin on the way out to the fishing grounds was even more exaggerated after that first fish. Im telling you that boy was excited. Josh as well had Perma-grin on his face. Upon pulling into the dock that afternoon, I think it really sunk in as to what a great day we had.
It truly is a thrill for me to be a small part of making someones dream of catching a blue marlin come true.
After fishing the boys got to experience the Caribbean BBQ at Levricks bay. They sat up all night reminiscing and grinning about the days events. The following day everyone was stoked to head out and hit it again. HA...... We trolled for 8 hours and never saw a fish. Talk about going from Hero to Zero!!!!!!!!! But about half way thru the day, I looked over at Matt and he was still ear to ear with a smile. He was having the time of his life just ate up with the day before and the beautiful weather. The next day we took the boys to the Baths and the Willy T. The boys continued to be wide eyed and excited. I only wish I could show everyone the kind of trip those guys had.