Foggy and rough

[capt hoop]

Captain Gary of Red Eye Charters asked me to go with him on an overnighter. 2 captains are needed on an extended trip. I jumped on board at 6:00. It was still dark when we left the dock and the fog was thick. Some of us like to get shots to show how foggy it is but this one shocked even me. The fog was so thick that each particle reflected back on the camera. Some of the lights at the marina can be seen if you look closely.



With all this very thick fog we expected the seas to be calm. NOT!
Although we never got rained on all day there were storms all around us and the winds were churning up the seas. We had 3 to 5 seas and at times some were much higher. We hit one wave that came over the bridge of the 36 topaz. The pliers that are on the cleaning board were in the hole through the board but were thrown up and out with the waves.



We knew our idea of going to Who Dat was not going to happen. By the time we got to the seven mile rigs the water had turned blue and was near 70 degrees. We trolled the first rig and marked fish. We soon had our first fish in the boat. A very nice blackfin.



This fish fell prey to the old stand by color red and white Russelure. We did not know at the time but it would be our top bait of the day giving us 90% of our fish for the day. As you can see this lure has been well used.



It was too windy to chunk because our drift was 2.5 mph so we kept on trolling. We fished that area hard only getting one fish on each rig. Although we went back and forth in the area and marked well we were only able to get 2 fish. The rest were not hungry. We turned our nose and headed towards Cognac. The seas were so rough in that direction we trolled most of the way. Once we hit a bunch of scattered grass we pulled the lines in and pounded our way to the rig. There we also marked some good fish and we soon hook up on a good wahoo. While we are fighting this hog we start pulling in the other lines. One of them gets hit and we are blessed with a double. Unfortunately the big boy comes unbuttoned but we were able to land this Wehoo on a purple Russelure.



We also doubled up on blackfin while there.



By this time we had used up a good part of the day. We headed towards the north west hitting other rigs but our travel direction was much more comfortable. The water stayed the same but we were not marking much in the way of fish. A little after 2 Gary decides to move out a bit. This will put us back to the dock after they are closed but we only had a few fish in the box. We had action at most of the rigs we trolled around but the bite was slow. We had 1 wahoo and 5 or 6 blackfin in the box. Once out to our last stop we found the water a bit greener and only 65 degrees. Did we come way out here for nothing? I had mentioned to the customer as we approached the fish would be on that side. We trolled around the rig marking nothing until we got to the side I mentioned. The screen lit up with fish and the lines started singing. As the day dragged on we were mostly getting hit on the red headed lure so I put 2 of them out. We quickly put some more blackfin in the boat. The waves hit the side of the boat and he got soaked landing this beauty. his pants and shoes were drenched.



We put them in on every pass. The move to this rig was the ticket.



Too bad we did not go this way in the morning.



We knew we would have to run in the fog going back in and we would make it in just about dark so we had to leave them biting. We ended up with 14 blacks and 1 wehoo. I know we lost at least 2 good wahoo and we also lost some blackfin. We did catch one bonito which will be used for bait on the next trip. The thick fog did not let us down It was waiting for us as we approached the pass and stayed with us to just about the marina.



A long challenging day that we were able to pull out of the hat. I believe we were the only that that went out yesterday. If anybody canceled yesterday you did the right thing.

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

CAPT HOOP -- OUR FREEDOM