Today I fished with Mike Jeffcoat again. We headed south and Just past the mouth about 5 miles out we had good water. Eddie burger was along side of us. We both set up and trolled the first rig but not even a mark. Eddie picked up and ran to a rig to the right. He hooked up once he got there. We gave him that rig and went picked another one. We continued trolling to a rig ahead of us. This turned out to be a good move because we get a hit on the longest line and the fight is on. These guys never expected the fight ahead of them. Not long before we have a nice hooter on board. A lot better start than the last time.
We go back and work the open water without any more action. Starting out 1 for 1 is a good feeling any day. We get to our second rig and on our second pass we get a hit that stands the rod up straight. ----------. That is the way it stayed. The wahoo hit the lure with such speed it engulfed the lure and ran up beyond the wire leader and cut the main line clean. We had just switched lures because a new one was not swimming right and to save time we kept the old leader and went with a shorter than usual wire leader. It was around 18 inches which should have been good enough but in this case NOT! 1 for 2 so far.
More trolling produced nothing and after 11:00 we head for the lump to get dirty. There were only 5 or 6 boats there all day and we got bounced around a lot. The bonito, kings, and sharks kept us very busy. We had excessive bonito for bait. I was able to keep fish under us all the time but we could not get through them to find the covetted tuna. About 1:15 we get a double and both of them are deffinately tuna. With the seas bouncing the boat around the fighting tuna were having their way with the 2 guys fighting to stand up and fight the fish at the same time. I stick the first one a 34 incher and Mike just picks up what is left of the other as a shark swims off with a happy meal.
You could see by the swirles in blood how much the boat was rocking and rolling. That was all we could find today and about 2:00 we headed to the barn. All we could do with the seas was 15 knots on the way in with the 36 foot, tripple OB, contender for over 18 miles.
The whooter although short was very thick and went 61 pounds.
News of note today. Tyler went fishing with Capt Bret today. He was one of the boats at the lump with us. They teamed up to land a #5 state record amberjack (yet to be varified) 116.2. Here is Tyler with his trophy as it hit the dock.
And it hanging on the scale.
Congrats Guys. Good Job!
Life is Good!
Fishing is not a matter of life or death. It's more important than that.
CAPT HOOP -- OUR FREEDOM