The weather gods have finally smiled on the Gulf of Mexico as the seas remained flat for two weeks in a row. This trip consisted of John Billings and his two kiddos, Lauren and Jacob, Brent Juillert, and Trevin Eckersley. We pulled away from the dock a little earlier than usual and pointed the bow about 120 degrees. While on the way out, we dragged a few jigs and ended up with a dozen or so kings and spanish.
Jacob had complained about never getting to catch an amberjack, so I took pity on him and positioned our first drop over a cut off rig about 145nm offshore. There were several hookups, but the fights lasted only a few seconds before the barnacles on the rig took their toll. Since that wasn’t productive, we headed further east to my grouper hangout in about 600’.
We had no problem loading the box with snowies and yellowedge grouper. We even picked up a couple of new state records while we were at it. Trevin E picked up a blueline tile weighing 8.625lbs on rod and reel. John B held the previous record, and also caught a blueline tile which looked bigger than Trevins, but at the dock it weighed a couple of ounces less. Lauren B caught a Two Spot Seabass which weighed 6 ounces. It may not be big but that never stops the child fish predators on the Possession Limit. By 11am we had 21 grouper on ice, and the frigid rigid was beginning to get packed, so we moved further offshore in preparation for a tuna attack.
About 5:30 the ruckus on the right corner goes off. It was Brent’s turn in the chair and before long he had a white marlin ready for the tag stick. We trolled on out to Magnolia and ended up with one small wahoo from the rig. Since we still had plenty of time before dark, we headed on out to Red Hawk, and gave that a good going over with the trolling spread. The sun went down without a single good fish to show for our efforts, but as we were reeling in the baits, a nice wahoo hit the shotgun and joined his buddy in the Frigid Rigid.
After dark we began chunking for the YFT. Unfortunately as is often the case with hot august water, the bite was off. We only hooked one YFT and one BFT. Could not even catch a BFT on a jig. About 10:30 we decided to call it a night and headed back inshore.
The next day was spent finishing off the cooler with a few more deep drop species. Two of our crew members did not yet have their names in the state record book, but it didn’t take long to solve that problem.
Jacob B ended up with a Cuban Dogfish weighing 4.31lbs on the electric reel.
Then, Brent J managed a double using a Mike Luchak knife jig on a regular rod and reel. Both were Blackbelly Rosefish, and the larger one set the first rod and reel record for this species at 2.63lbs.
Not to be outdone, Trevin E proceded to land his second state record of the trip with an even bigger Cuban Dogfish weighing 4.63lbs.
While doing our deep drop thing, Trevin E had a particularly strong hookup. Turned out to be a very nice grouper as evidenced by the pictures. Note that masterbaiter Jacob B has taken up the same bad habit as my other deckhands by pretending that he caught the biggest fish of the trip.
This trip ended with a worn out crew, full coolers, and frozen margaritas, just like trips on the Possession Limit have always done. However, this was the last trip to do so.
After 19 fishing seasons, 44 state records, 3 world records, and 46 billfish, the Possession Limit legacy has come to a conclusion. Words cannot express how much I have enjoyed fishing with each of you, and to be at the helm when many of you caught the fish of your lifetime, tagged and released your first billfish, caught a state record or world record fish, or simply ended up plumb wore out from catching fish after fish. I don’t plan to quit offshore fishing, and hope to be able to hitch a ride to blue water with some of you from time to time.
The often quoted factoid is that the two best days in a boater’s life are the day he buys a boat and the day he sells it… I assure you the latter is simply not true.
Thanks for all the extraordinary offshore memories of fishing on the Possession Limit.
Capt. Stout