A few days

[capt hoop]

It was about noon and I was on the water testing the new Voodoo shrimp bait. My phone rings and Tracy from Cumming Georgia asks me if I could take him and his grand son fishing now because they are in the motel and there in nothing for the 9 year old to do. Weather is border line with heavy spot storms all around so I go back to Empire and he drives up from Venice to meet me. The tide is almost high so we have to fish through the turn. For those of you up north that have 4 tides a day the turn is fast but down here when on some days we only have one tide that could be over an hour and even longer depending on several factors. We meet and I go directly to the Empire jetties.



This was the first of over 40 fish we caught in the hour we had a chance to fish. There were several shorts but it made for an active time and sealed Matt into fishing for life.



We also got a tagged redfish about 10 inches but I kept the tag in and released it. Unfortunately I had no way of recording the information on the tag. The picture I took did not come out as clear as I had hoped so I can not report it. The storms drove us in and we went back to my place for a fish cleaning party. 9 sheepshead, 2 trout, 2 redfish, and 1 flounder. Good 1 1/2 hour trip with almost slack tide and lightning threatening. Don't know how I got this double picture. Old School I guess.



The next day my offshore trip was canceled due to high seas and small craft warnings. So was Scott's trip for Paradise Outfitters. His customers insisted on fishing for something. Scott asked me if I wanted to run with him as a deckhand and I went for it. With a strong east wind we went into West Delta and hugged the coast line fishing for mangrove snapper. Even with the protection of the land we still had a rough time of it. Tied up behind a rig we were still taking an occasional wave over the bow on the 36 Twin Vee. In the early afternoon we had to head back due to increasing winds but we managed to salvage the day with a nice mess of mangroves and 1 cobia. We lost another cobia but that is the luck of the draw.



I was running the boat well so Captain Scott in his off time free gaffed the angel fish which my cats enjoyed for supper.

The next day I had Matt and his grandpa Tracy along with Tracy's friend and his friends son that came in for some tuna. We had 3-5 foot seas but the guy that came in admitted to always getting sea sick before he ever got on the boat. Not a good move !*%$! As soon as we hit the gulf the guy's kid gets sick. He is down for the day. I was so concerned with the guys kid I never realized the father was also going down. With all the boats struggling to get bait I get lucky and pick up 10 of them and head out to the tuna grounds. Once there I set out baits but they keep getting tangled and nothing will hit them that way. If one does hit the bait it is a sure break off. We get one on a popper that we loose just before getting into gaff range. Tracy is already asking me to head in because the 2 others are Sooooooo sick. I kind of attempt to stay a little longer but have to eventually give in to his request. After all it is his trip. Hated to leave the fish. As I am starting to leave I get a good mark about a hundred feet down and tell Brian my deckhand to drop a jig. He gets a strike but misses. I tell him to drop it right back in the fishes face. A few feet more down and a quick jig and FISH ON! Tracy is the only one capable of fishing so he is the designated fighter. 9 year old Matt was the observer.



In the above picture just over his left shoulder you can see a busting tuna with a friggit bird flying over it. That is what I had to run away from due to very sick people. As soon as we land this fish I get a shock. Tracy is ready to puke also but never does. He gets very weak also. He tells me the doctor may be right. He thinks he should get a few more stints. The only one alive besides my deckhand and I is 9 year old Matt. After a brief rest and some liquid Tracy got back to normal but we were heading in anyway.



Yesterday I had another cancelation due to storms and Captain Jay was going scouting with his daughters. He invited me to come along so I jumped on board. We went to an area that produced some nice reds and soon we were putting them in the box.



It was nice to get out and just fish. Things are always different when you have customers on board.



We went looking into areas that neither of us had ever gone. There were no fish found but the water is deep enough and clean so it has a lot of potential.




We found a few gators throughout our scouting venture. Once again the afternoon storms drove us in but it was a very successful scouting trip.




Thanks again Jay for inviting me.

Life is Good!
Fishing is not a matter of life or death. It's more important than that.

CAPT HOOP -- OUR FREEDOM

[mriguy]

As always Capt. Fantastic report

[Slidellkid]

Good job.

[gatortrax35]

What a GREAT report! Enjoyed it.