Battle at the Oil Rigs

A 150-pound bigeye on spinning tackle? Be careful what you wish for

- Ryan Morie

The pain in my right forearm had become unbearable. I shook it to relieve the discomfort. The spool on my reel was still missing 200 yards of line, and everyone on the boat was completely silent. At this point, I'd accepted reality: This was the toughest fight I'd ever encountered.

"We're fishing the rigs. Are you coming?"

It was a sunny Monday morning in eastern Florida.

"There are yellowfin tuna up to 100 pounds around the oil rigs off Alabama right now," said Phil, who was coordinating this adventure for Salt Water Sportsman. I packed up my rods, tackle boxes and camera gear, put my truck in drive, and started the nine-hour journey to Alabama.

As the miles wound down, I thought about the footage I'd seen of fishing and diving around these rigs. There are around 3,500 of them, giant extraction machines that have become legendary fish attractors in the Gulf. I'd never fished an oil rig myself, but I'd grown up watching video after video of others lucky enough to run that far out. From spearfishing massive cubera snapper to ridiculous drone footage of foaming tuna blitzes, the stuff they'd shown me got my imagination racing. This could be one of the most memorable trips of my life.

I was one of six YouTube personalities on this trip, a group of guys Salt Water Sportsman pulled together to cover the bite. I'd only met one of the guys before, so I took some time at a rest stop to meet everyone. Jack Moran, known as "Yakin With Jack," makes videos about fishing off kayaks around the Florida Panhandle. Phil Hollandsworth coordinates trips and shoots video for Salt Water Sportsman. Tony Faggioni creates surffishing content for his channel, "FishGum." "Big John" McClain is a former professional hockey goalie who stands at a towering 6-foot-9 (and loves catching sharks from the beach). And then there was my friend Brad Warren, better known as "Bearded Brad" on YouTube and social media.