Blackfin tuna and more

[capt hoop]

I had an offshore trip with 4 guys that brought all their own rods and reels. Once out at the shrimp boats we got into bonito immediately. I wanted to keep some for bait and my customers wanted to keep some for the box. Although no yellowfin were in the area we were in we did find a few blackfin.



We were having trouble keeping the bait out of the bonito's mouth. Every now and then a blackfin would come aboard.



Through out the day we also had to battle several sharks not only keeping the bait away from them but keeping our catch from getting eaten by them.



The talk on the radio was only a few blacks being caught and only 1 or 2 yellowfin with no great size. Before it got too late in the day I gave then the option of looking for some other fish of staying out there for another 2 hours.



With a few blackfin and a good amount of bonito we headed in for some mangrove action. I tied up to a rig I knew has a lot of mangrove on it and started chumming them out. We had a bunch of small ones just barely legal and good size ones also. The one surprise was a beautiful lane snapper.



Another fish of interest was a very large Spanish mackerel. They also wanted to keep blue runners so when all was said and done I came in with a good box of fish and they went home with 2 coolers full of fish.

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

CAPT HOOP -- OUR FREEDOM