First offshore of 2015

[capt hoop]

This was not the day to go offshore but my customers wanted to take advantage of the open amberjack season. We met at 6:00 and loaded up. It was a bit foggy but we still had 2 miles or so which was not a problem. I cut across the back marshes in lieu of running the river which gets thick fog first. Once out in the open we were greeted with a good chop. Although conditions were rough my Glacier bay eased through the chop well. I knew the ride back would be snotty to say the least. As we got closer to our targeted rig it kept disappearing. The fog off shore was some of the worse I have ever seen. Vee wanted to jig up an amberjack on light tackle. He was using 65 braid and after loosing 2 jigs and good fish he switched to my 100 pound spinning rods just for a chance of landing one. With 4 trying to jig it was not long before one got in the lines got into the prop. I caught it quickly and we had that snafu fixed quickly. This is one of our Amberjack and you can see how foggy and rough it was.



We caught a lot of small 16 to 24 inch amberjack and broke off 3 good ones. I use 300 pound test for them but these guys insisted on using the lighter tackle. I bait with heavy equipment and they wanted to jig. Eventually the conditions got the better of us and we called it. It was time to take the rough chop head on and get into some sheltered waters.



I had to tact a bit in order to get a bit more comfortable ride so I stopped at a rig in 220 feet of water. I had them drop down for another shot at an amberjack but I soon found what I was marking and we continued into calmer waters.




The ride back was very slow until I got behind some protecting land. We set up in the shallows and got into some very heavy fishing action. I was not able to get too many pictures because the 4 of them had my deckhand and I jumping. It was not long before we were putting some meat in the box.



In between releasing a bunch of red snappers we were able to find some silver sea trout. Our first was over 2 pounds. After 3 of these we found our first lane snapper. This was our targeted fish. We managed one mangrove but it was undersized. This was our nicest fish of the day



We landed one rock hind but we released it because the customer said it was too small. I did not have my book with me and was not sure of any size limits on it. Nobody else was on the water so no sense trying to ask over the radio. We also got a couple of dozen trigger fish but only 2 were the 14 inch fork length and they just made the mark.

Because we lost the entire morning going for amberjack and fighting the rough seas before we were able to bottom dunk I extended the day till just after 4:00. We did not set up doing this kind of fishing till almost 1:00 I was unsure of the fog closing in on me so that was a factor back in my mind as I headed in. The fog and darkness is not fun. As it was I just about beat dark in. We had to plug in the lights to clean the fish. They took the smaller fish as is and I only had to clean the larger fish.



I got the high seas, thick fog, sun rise to sun set, bone chilling cold, trip out of the way so this old man is ready for 2015. Bring it on!

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

CAPT HOOP -- OUR FREEDOM