This was the first trip of our 2011 summer schedule. Our first scheduled trip had to be cancelled due to rough seas. This week the waves were forecasted to be a little high, but the winds were supposed to be light, so we were hoping to see mostly swells. As luck would have it, thats what we got, along with a good start to the fishing season.
The crew this week consisted of Rick Gaido, Larry Fincher, Scott Smith, and a rookie, Larry Dungan. Also a rookie was the new Possession Limit Deckhand, Jacob Billings. Yes, he’s related to one of my former deckhands, John Billings… like father, like son.
We headed out thursday afternoon and enjoyed pork tenderloin dinners (courtesy of RG) as the sun set behind the starboard transom.
At daybreak friday we hit our anointed spot for the first drop of the 2011 season, about 145Nm out. Apparently the memo from NMFS about the shortage of snapper had not hit the inbox at this particular bank. Nearly every drop resulted in double, triple, and quad hookups of the caliber shown. In just a few drops we had our limits of quality snapper, along with a few nice scamp grouper.
As usual, there was a lot of grunting and unusual sound effects every time LF got a good bow in his rod. After one particularly annoying sound session, the fish came up under the boat and hung up on the rudder. Every now and then the boat would swing just right and the tail of the largest grouper of the trip would poke out past the trim tab. LF couldn’t take losing this fish, so he resorted to a freshwater technique known as noodling.
Thats right… Larry took off his shirt, put on flippers and mask, and went over the side in pursuit of his trophy grouper. Fortunately, Scott had brought along a fish cam and we were able to capture the entire episode on video for your viewing pleasure. Just click on the picture and you can view the entire underwater grouper grope.
Larry got the fish, but all for naught. It was about a 25lb Gag grouper. Thanks to our buds at NMFS, Gags are out of season until September 16th.
We did manage a few more fish in the box before heading offshore, including a Kitty Mitchell Grouper (AKA Speckled Hind).
We made our way all the way to Redhawk without anything more than a few small blackfins and bonitos to show for our effort. We ran into an unusual problem while trying to troll around the Redhawk platform… a large school of porpoises moved in behind the boat and swam along side our billfish lures the entire time we were there. They must have really enjoyed playing with their new plastic buddies, but we were not amused. Finally we gave up and headed to Magnolia for the evening tuna feeding.
There were two other sportfisherman there when we arrived, but everyone picked a favorite corner and stuck with it. In no time we had enough blackfins to begin chunking, and at 9:25pm the chumline was started. By 9:30 we had our first buzz. By 10:05 the Frigid Rigid had its quota of 4 YFT, including one big boy of 85 lbs or so. We caught and released a few more, but by 10:30 the crew was whipped and ready to call it a day.
The next morning we tested out a few new spots further east. The snapper were too thick for us to catch any grouper. Therefore we had to change the strategy to deep dropping. We headed over to one of my secret spots where the bottom is 600 feet down, and covered with small rocks. We immediately started picking up porgies, along with snowy and yellowedge grouper. After just a few drops, and a 22lb yellowedge, the crew informed me that there was no more room in the coolers.
We ended up trolling the rest of the day, but other than a lot of sargasso weed, nothing seemed to like our lures.
We had great steaks on the grill Saturday evening, and ice cold margaritas on the dock Sunday morning. All in all a pretty nice start to the 2011 summer fishing season.
Till next trip… Capt. Stout