but you know how fishing is..... one person or several people can be standing near you catching all the good stuff while you yourself ain't getting a d@m* thing. but we all know that just the way it is when it comes to fishing no matter where you go.
it could be great one day for you but bad for someone else, then another day the complete opposite.
anyway, to make it somewhat short(probably wont be cuz i detail things a lot
), this is how the trip went. on Monday, the boat was suppose to leave the dock around noon time. but we ended up leaving at 1 because
someone just had to show up late even though the person said he was only 20 minutes away an hour ago. go figure.
eventually he arrived and we started our journey to some spot in about a 100ft of water. while dropping baits there.....
some people where catching a few scamp, gag & red grouper but they were small yet keep able. after the bite shut off, the captain
pulled up anchor and sailed to another spot in about 160ft of water.
BTW..... the bait of choice was threadfin, manhaden, squid, boston mackerel, and of course any live bait that was
caught such as vermilion snapper and porgies.
after a few hours of riding, the boat made the stop and it was lines in.
this spot was actually great cuz i caught most of the favorable species there. using mainly boston mackerel strips
i caught a 12lb red grouper and a 19lb gag; however i did lose another grouper to the rocks though. after using the strips i caught a
vermilion and sent it down for another grouper. minutes later i got a strong powerful hit but didn't feel like a grouper this time.
when t came to the surface it was an amberjack which weighted 31lb. its amazing how they look bigger than that.
other catches were two small legal kings, gags, reds(grouper), and the usual pests like vermilion's and porgies.
next stop wasn't far from the last(its still Monday night going on to Tuesday am). now this is when i get bad right here.
my stomach and lack of sleep started to killed me. felt like sleeping but wanted to catch some fish. after anchoring, i got up out of the bunk and headed towards the stern. i then put on a squid and sent it to the depth. it got nailed this time. when i got it up to the surface,
it was another AJ. after that intense battle i went to the bunk. during the early am bite on Tuesday,
there were several other AJ's caught as well as some mangroves, scamps, the other pests, and i heard a large yellowtail & triggerfish was
caught too. this information came from a person who told me when i got up from resting.
Tuesday, i was still bad off while skipping meals and not drinking. no i wasn't the only person bad off though.
a 10 year old(that's right 10) was sick also and a mate had the flu(this is not good). the mate stayed ill throught the whole
trip just to let you all know. i tried fishing(only caught a nice kitty mitchell grouper) but was just punished in my stomach so i laid down. the bite throught that day wasn't that great anyway. of course 5 people out of 14 anglers i believe did better than the rest while catching
more scamps, few red grouper, a mutton and a surprisingly hog snapper i guess around 6lbs. BTW..... the average depth on Tuesday was in the 200 to 280' range. oh yeah i forgot to mention that is was extremely cold and chilly out there and before we left the dock,
catfish, trout, and ladyfish were swimming in circles.
okay its still Tuesday but after dusk. the captain really wanted to reach that deep water but the winds were too strong for a drift.
really the plan for the trip was to fish beyond 300ft and catch deep water grouper and snapper.
BTW fishnfool73..... no electric reels where brought this trip so you know it was a ***** to crank up out there.
and you wanna know something else..... the captain also wanted to target swordfish over 1500ft of water.
would that of been bad or what. all of us standing around waiting for a sword to pick up.
and ****, there are only 6 maybe 7 heavy duty rods and like 14 anglers on board.
but because of the winds, we didn't fish for them(im okay with that).
on Friday around 6am..... the weather was beautiful and i was feeling great(no sickness in my stomach). the kid was also feeling great to but the mate negative. now that the winds died down we started drifting over 400ft of water on top of under water hills/sea mounds.
to tell you the truth though..... them D@m* porgies and vermilion's were still everywhere down there.
it was such a shame to be fishing that deep and still catching those B@$$.....
was that ever a bad feeling dropping a bait over 400ft down, tap tap, and either a fish was on or not but yet one
would have to reel up anyway just to check to see if the bait was stolen.
man that was a lot of cranking too. soon as the bait reached the bottom the small fish would be all over it and then it was time
to reel it back it. imagine what that was like to do it over a 100 times lol.
so as the day went on and we made spot to spot while drifting with 10 to 12 oz sinkers, some people including myself were catching red snapper.
yes we could not keep them but im glad they were reds and not the ...........these fish were about 11 - 14lbs. there were some small scamps, one snowy, few gags(20 - 30lbs), one tile(small though)
an AJ(upper 30lb), and several scalloped hammerhead sharks around 4ft long.
i wish we would do short drifts over structure and not long drifts.
its almost no point because the decent fish live over mounds and reefs, not the sand where the unwanted fish live.
but you know how it is...... someone will always complain by saying we need to stick to one area.
as the sun went down we sailed in to one more spot. wasn't that great though for me and most of the others but the few that did catch something ended up with two blackfin tuna(14lb range) and a lot of bonita. i did everything to catch one but after loosing two
fish, could get a bite even though the kid and his dad where catching them. oh yeah few more mangrove snapper where caught also
and some red small red grouper which i go too.
over all, trip wasn't that bad but some killed the fish more than others making there experience greater.
i end up bringing home 1 gag(19lb), 1 red grouper(12lb), two AJ's with one being 31lbs and the other just under.
two mangroves, a few vermilion's, a porgy, and the kitty mitchell grouper.
well..... that's the report for the 3 day trip in the gulf.
another thing too..... we were suppose to stay on the water for only 60hrs butthe word was that the captain wanted to give it a longer shot since we actually reached the deep water about 115 miles out.
D@m* i thought. people had flights and **** and friends picking up friends but i guess he talked to everyone and they said its alright.
im glad though we stayed longer cuz i was feeling great and i at least caught a few more things and i didnt want to come
back at 12 midnight on Thursday anyway. we ended up getting back in the morning time around 8am or so.
this is about as detailed as i can get yet i still am probably leaving something out.
