We had a restaurant-cooked meal that night after a long hot shower and slept in a motel bed. The next day began with a sense of guarded anticipation. We had gone three days without catching a fish and had experienced but one marlin strike. Once the boat was re-provisioned we ran back out to the reef. It was a slower trip this time due to a heavy chop driven by a modest southeast wind.
Fresh scad are much easier to make swim than the frozen ones.
After only an hour we had a strike on the scad but the fish was not there when we came tight. Just two hours later when we had reached the ridge a big fish struck the swimming bait knocking it out of the clip. When I wound tight he was briefly there and pulled off a small amount of line but was suddenly gone. Then the other rod went off. I ran to the other side of the boat, grabbed the rod, set the hook, and jumped into the chair.