MIX MASTERS

“IT WAS THE SECOND DAY of the Big Rock tournament in North Carolina two years ago, and we were fishing the first Viking 72 demo boat,” Capt. Ryan Higgins recalls. “We decided to make a long run to the east side of the Gulf Stream, and started fishing on the edge at 100 miles with a mixed spread of ballyhoo on 30s and two large lures in the short-rigger positions on 130s.

“With seconds left to fish, a monster blue came up behind one of the teasers, then faded back as we worked it for a strike. By the time it resurfaced and hit one of the lures, it was just past cut-off time. We fought it for a while, but we really didn’t want to see a potential tournament winner that wouldn’t count, so the angler pushed the drag up and broke it off.

“We took a lay day the next day and on the last day of the tournament, we made the run to the east side one more time. The edge had moved farther off, so I kept running until I saw the water temperature starting to drop,” Higgins says. “We put the same mixed spread out again. I trolled east at 8 knots until I hit the hard edge and within 10 minutes, there was a triple of blues in the spread. The smallest one hit the lure on the left rigger, then another about 500