Last day on Calcutta

[capt hoop]

The weather was good and the seas were calm. We quickly found live bait right out of the pass and headed out to Elf. Before we got there we found a good rip line. We trolled it for a bit and soon found a mess of dolphin.



Nothing big but a very good amount of them. We had a bit of fun putting a dozen of them into the boat. After cleaning up the boat we continued for our tuna quest.



Once at Elf I mark a few tuna very deep. There is a small amount of bait on the surface so I put out some of our live bait. As I go over some places I mark schools of blackfin in higher up waters. I drop down an anteater knife jig and pick up a small blackfin. With nothing much happening on the surface with the live baits I decide to get dirty. By this time we have 4 small blackfin in the boat to be used for chunk bait as well as a box of pogies. We were still marking a few very good fish that seemed to be holding 250-300 feet deep. As I started to think of a plan B Thomas gets one on. He had so much slack in the line we should have lost this one. When he finally comes tight the tuna swims towards the boat and he stops reeling thinking he lost the tuna. By the time we get any tension on the line again I am surprised to see we still have the fish on. Just as we get the fish in sight a shark appears and goes after the yellowfin. There was also a barracuda after it so I have no idea which one had the snack.



This kept us there longer and after 3 more drifts we hook up to another. This one is a bit bigger. After a good battle the sharks show up again and there is no need for the gaff on it either. Just pick up the pieces.



With our efforts being eaten up quicker than we reel them in we decide to head back into state waters and maybe stop for some amberjack. On the way in we go back across the weed line and they decide to have some more fun there. It was not long before we had bloody decks again.



After another dozen of these or so we headed in for some amberjack or red snapper in state waters. Our goal was to put 8 red snapper in the boat and head in. Unfortunately somebody had a different plan for us. Take a guess.



We gave up after loosing so many snapper. I put the heads together and This one would have been a lot bigger than the 18 pounder we managed to get in whole.



We ended up with 5 snapper and were thankful for that. The tuna pieces and last half of our mahi were in another cooler. I only laid out one cooler then started cleaning.



I was very impressed by the Calcutta these last 4 days.

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

CAPT HOOP -- OUR FREEDOM