capt hoop
05-06-2012, 03:00 PM
Had Shelden Cody, His brother along with Ed and his son from the Huston Texas area in with his boat to learn the waters. Capt Eddie recommended me to run as a guide and show him a little bit of the area. The plan was to run offshore 2 days on his boat and do one day inshore with my bay boat. The boat is a 36 Baja (correct spelling) with twin 300 yamahas. It is a Scarab style boat.
A lot of guides will not go on another person's Private boat because no matter how good they say the boat is ready for offshore something will not be right.
On the way in his 2011 GMC had a sensor foul up and it only allowed them to tow the last leg of the trip at 30 MPH. The boat did not have a depth finder on it although he had a new Garmin 4210 installed with radar. When I gave a radio check I was told I was getting out loud and clear but I did not recieve anything. Could not even get a squelch sound but the beep when turned on was loud as heck and everything with the radio worked. He had all new line on all his reels. We had to get rid of several yards of line on the 30's and 50's just to make the reels functional. The smaller rods were not up to offshore standards as far as rod and line size but would still work in some cases. This was a first time learning experience for him and I am used to dealing with things like this and take it all in stride.
We started out with great sea conditions. A small swell had the boat porpusing. That is when we found out the trim tabs were low on fluid. Oh well, keep trucking. The first stop had nothing but sharks and a baracuda we nailed on an x-rap so after a quick troll around the rig we moved on. On the second rig as I also trolled around we had fish come up on the surface. This gave me the location of them without a depth finder to find them. Having no live bait we tossed poppers and started chunking. The first line in with a chunk gets hit very deep and we have a good tuna on. After a 20 minute fight it suddenly gets easier to reel in and we have another SNAFU.
http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthreads/attachments/userpics/592/CAPT.HOOP-40185-003.JPG
The sharks found us as quickly as the tuna did and after 4 quick sharks and a broken rod from a high stick, another SNAFU we move on. As we go from one place to another I notice a large weed patch. It is already 1:30 and we only have a tuna head to show for our efforts so I had no problem letting them take a few small mahi. These were about 2 feet long so we got some nice fillets out of them. They got 16 and I decided to try for some amberjack to put meat in the box. Several people down here use a spinning reel with the handle on the right side. The standard way is with the handle on the left side. I have seen this happen before (another SNAFU).
http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthreads/attachments/userpics/592/CAPT.HOOP-40203-008.JPG
Being used to reeling with the right hand the person reels with the rod and holds the handle causing the handle to break. We switched it to the other side and he continued to bring in the amberjack with the broken handle.
http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthreads/attachments/userpics/592/CAPT.HOOP-40204-007.JPG
While we are trying to get our limit of amberjack we smell something like trash burning. Being very close to the rig we think it is comming from the rig. Soon we realize it is in the boat. Open the deck hatch and we are greeted with a lot of smoke. I shut everything down and Shelden locates the problem. Some wire fixing and a little debris removal and we now have our bilge pumps back but without the automatic float switch. Just another SNAFU.
http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthreads/attachments/userpics/592/CAPT.HOOP-40205-006.JPG
We made it in and hung the fish for a picture. My camera battery was dead. Why not? I had to get some of this SNAFU action also.
The next day we go at again it as planned. Owner did some work on the boat at the dock last night. We get a little bait and head out. On the way out I see a shrimp boat in a good area with good water. Although late in the year for the boats I want to see if it may by chance hold some blackfin or maybe bonito for bait. A little out of the way but still had to see. Nobody home. Continued toward an offshore rig I had no numbers for. That and another came into sight about the same time. The detour to the shrimp boat put me in between them so I opted to go to the furthest from the pass first and work my way back.
This was a good move because the tuna were busting all over. I put out 2 live baits and had them busting on the bait. For some reason they were only rolling on them and not taking it. Same for the poppers. Only got onr bonito while yellowfin were busting almost within gaff length of the boat. Very frustrating situation. As quickly as possable I cut up the bonito and turned it into a fighting yellowfin.
http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthreads/attachments/userpics/592/CAPT.HOOP-40213-011.JPG
By the time the fight was over we were out of the area and when we went back to set up we had the company of 2 sportfishers trolling for tuna and blue marlin. This put the fish down and a few more chunk drifts produced nothing. We went to our original targeted rig and after a brief stop and a conversation with another charter captain we moved on. Planned rig #3 for amberjack. Not to be let down we started catching them. They were very deep.
http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthreads/attachments/userpics/592/CAPT.HOOP-40214-012.JPG
This rig is over 600 feet deep and holds a lot of good deep drop fish but without electric reels not my game. About 400 feet is enough for me. The son let the jig go near the bottom and came up with a beautiful surprise.
http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthreads/attachments/userpics/592/CAPT.HOOP-40215-013.JPG
I knew it was a good fish but could not find it in the fish ID book. We found some more of them and also picked up a big mingo or vermillion snspper. It was getting late and we still had 1 amberjack shy of our limit. As we were heading in I asked if they minded if I made another stop. We hit a rig and after 2 drops we pulled up and went to another close by. That was the ticket that gave us our limit and also the biggest of the day.
http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthreads/attachments/userpics/592/CAPT.HOOP-40216-015.JPG
At the dock I found out a fish I had could be a state record but we did not persue it.
http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthreads/attachments/userpics/592/CAPT.HOOP-40217-024.JPG
One heck of a nice looking fish. I heard it was even better eating.
http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthreads/attachments/userpics/592/CAPT.HOOP-40218-019.JPG
Had a colorfull rack hanging when we got in.
http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthreads/attachments/userpics/592/CAPT.HOOP-40219-017.JPG
The inshore plans for today were cancelled and they wanted to go offshore again but after serious thought they decided to try to get back to Texas towing the boat back with the crippled truck. We cleaned the boat, got rid of all the bait, and I took all my gear off. They headed back late this morning.
Next weekend he will be comming in to go on my boat instead of towing the boat from Houston.
Life is Good!
Capt Hoop
Our Freedom
A lot of guides will not go on another person's Private boat because no matter how good they say the boat is ready for offshore something will not be right.
On the way in his 2011 GMC had a sensor foul up and it only allowed them to tow the last leg of the trip at 30 MPH. The boat did not have a depth finder on it although he had a new Garmin 4210 installed with radar. When I gave a radio check I was told I was getting out loud and clear but I did not recieve anything. Could not even get a squelch sound but the beep when turned on was loud as heck and everything with the radio worked. He had all new line on all his reels. We had to get rid of several yards of line on the 30's and 50's just to make the reels functional. The smaller rods were not up to offshore standards as far as rod and line size but would still work in some cases. This was a first time learning experience for him and I am used to dealing with things like this and take it all in stride.
We started out with great sea conditions. A small swell had the boat porpusing. That is when we found out the trim tabs were low on fluid. Oh well, keep trucking. The first stop had nothing but sharks and a baracuda we nailed on an x-rap so after a quick troll around the rig we moved on. On the second rig as I also trolled around we had fish come up on the surface. This gave me the location of them without a depth finder to find them. Having no live bait we tossed poppers and started chunking. The first line in with a chunk gets hit very deep and we have a good tuna on. After a 20 minute fight it suddenly gets easier to reel in and we have another SNAFU.
http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthreads/attachments/userpics/592/CAPT.HOOP-40185-003.JPG
The sharks found us as quickly as the tuna did and after 4 quick sharks and a broken rod from a high stick, another SNAFU we move on. As we go from one place to another I notice a large weed patch. It is already 1:30 and we only have a tuna head to show for our efforts so I had no problem letting them take a few small mahi. These were about 2 feet long so we got some nice fillets out of them. They got 16 and I decided to try for some amberjack to put meat in the box. Several people down here use a spinning reel with the handle on the right side. The standard way is with the handle on the left side. I have seen this happen before (another SNAFU).
http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthreads/attachments/userpics/592/CAPT.HOOP-40203-008.JPG
Being used to reeling with the right hand the person reels with the rod and holds the handle causing the handle to break. We switched it to the other side and he continued to bring in the amberjack with the broken handle.
http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthreads/attachments/userpics/592/CAPT.HOOP-40204-007.JPG
While we are trying to get our limit of amberjack we smell something like trash burning. Being very close to the rig we think it is comming from the rig. Soon we realize it is in the boat. Open the deck hatch and we are greeted with a lot of smoke. I shut everything down and Shelden locates the problem. Some wire fixing and a little debris removal and we now have our bilge pumps back but without the automatic float switch. Just another SNAFU.
http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthreads/attachments/userpics/592/CAPT.HOOP-40205-006.JPG
We made it in and hung the fish for a picture. My camera battery was dead. Why not? I had to get some of this SNAFU action also.
The next day we go at again it as planned. Owner did some work on the boat at the dock last night. We get a little bait and head out. On the way out I see a shrimp boat in a good area with good water. Although late in the year for the boats I want to see if it may by chance hold some blackfin or maybe bonito for bait. A little out of the way but still had to see. Nobody home. Continued toward an offshore rig I had no numbers for. That and another came into sight about the same time. The detour to the shrimp boat put me in between them so I opted to go to the furthest from the pass first and work my way back.
This was a good move because the tuna were busting all over. I put out 2 live baits and had them busting on the bait. For some reason they were only rolling on them and not taking it. Same for the poppers. Only got onr bonito while yellowfin were busting almost within gaff length of the boat. Very frustrating situation. As quickly as possable I cut up the bonito and turned it into a fighting yellowfin.
http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthreads/attachments/userpics/592/CAPT.HOOP-40213-011.JPG
By the time the fight was over we were out of the area and when we went back to set up we had the company of 2 sportfishers trolling for tuna and blue marlin. This put the fish down and a few more chunk drifts produced nothing. We went to our original targeted rig and after a brief stop and a conversation with another charter captain we moved on. Planned rig #3 for amberjack. Not to be let down we started catching them. They were very deep.
http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthreads/attachments/userpics/592/CAPT.HOOP-40214-012.JPG
This rig is over 600 feet deep and holds a lot of good deep drop fish but without electric reels not my game. About 400 feet is enough for me. The son let the jig go near the bottom and came up with a beautiful surprise.
http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthreads/attachments/userpics/592/CAPT.HOOP-40215-013.JPG
I knew it was a good fish but could not find it in the fish ID book. We found some more of them and also picked up a big mingo or vermillion snspper. It was getting late and we still had 1 amberjack shy of our limit. As we were heading in I asked if they minded if I made another stop. We hit a rig and after 2 drops we pulled up and went to another close by. That was the ticket that gave us our limit and also the biggest of the day.
http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthreads/attachments/userpics/592/CAPT.HOOP-40216-015.JPG
At the dock I found out a fish I had could be a state record but we did not persue it.
http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthreads/attachments/userpics/592/CAPT.HOOP-40217-024.JPG
One heck of a nice looking fish. I heard it was even better eating.
http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthreads/attachments/userpics/592/CAPT.HOOP-40218-019.JPG
Had a colorfull rack hanging when we got in.
http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthreads/attachments/userpics/592/CAPT.HOOP-40219-017.JPG
The inshore plans for today were cancelled and they wanted to go offshore again but after serious thought they decided to try to get back to Texas towing the boat back with the crippled truck. We cleaned the boat, got rid of all the bait, and I took all my gear off. They headed back late this morning.
Next weekend he will be comming in to go on my boat instead of towing the boat from Houston.
Life is Good!
Capt Hoop
Our Freedom