Loaded up at 6:00 with a full load of vacationers and ran to the Southern area. John is in Costa Rica for the week so Marvin Horner, the alternate capt. ran the trip. He used to be the Capt. on the Kingfisher but left in late 90's to work in South Padre. Came back when the Bridge collapsed down there and worked on the Scat Cat. He just got a spot at DSH this summer. Good Capt. and will do a good job at DSH.
We anchore over structure at 9:15 and started snapper fishing. I knew it would be good because a tourist dropped a snapper rig down while we were anchoring and trolled 2 keepers when we moved forward. Using a River to Sea knife jig I caught 2 20" snapper on the first 2 drops. I caught 2 more keepers and we had a boat limit and left at 9:45. It was so hot that I could only fish about 10 minutes before I went inside to cool off.
The next stop was a beeliner and AJ spot. For me it was drop the knife, catch an undersize AJ and go cool off. Did that for a long time and decide I better get some beeliners. 2 drops, 1 beeliner, 1 bait loss and time to move. The beeliners were good size, wish I had fished more for them but I thought I'd catch a keeper AJ.
2 shrimp boats on the horizon so we ran to the one anchored. Everyone on one side drifting sardines. There were a lot of bonita and an occasional blackfin in the chum. No one knew how to follow their fish so it was a real circle ----! I picked up a couple of boneheads and then moved to the pulpet where i could cast forward and drift my bait away from the mass of lines. Decky had put a shark line out and left it right next to me. It went off and I thought not me. He came back and hooked up just as I hooked a blackfin. We danced around a while avoiding a tangle and gaffed mine. 4 guys pulled on the shark using my butt plate and they finally landed an 8' Silky. Everyone watched the fight so we lost the tuna. Went back to the shrimper but no luck. We ran inshore to the one dragging and set up over the net to start our drift. I snuck a bait out and caught another blackfin. We fished another 10 minutes and it was time to head home. I used a small ringed circle with about 6' of 50# flouro and one of the boat rods. I didn't want to risk my spectra in that mess.
It was a lot of fun except for the heat. Watching the kids and women fight their fish is a blast. I didn't fish very hard but just finished eatinf fresh sushimi and mama is happy. We finished with 8 blackfin, 3 small AJ, 2 chicken dolphin, 1 3' dolphin, snapper limits, and almost limits of beeliners. Great trip but too hot for a guy who went on Medicare today!
We anchore over structure at 9:15 and started snapper fishing. I knew it would be good because a tourist dropped a snapper rig down while we were anchoring and trolled 2 keepers when we moved forward. Using a River to Sea knife jig I caught 2 20" snapper on the first 2 drops. I caught 2 more keepers and we had a boat limit and left at 9:45. It was so hot that I could only fish about 10 minutes before I went inside to cool off.
The next stop was a beeliner and AJ spot. For me it was drop the knife, catch an undersize AJ and go cool off. Did that for a long time and decide I better get some beeliners. 2 drops, 1 beeliner, 1 bait loss and time to move. The beeliners were good size, wish I had fished more for them but I thought I'd catch a keeper AJ.
2 shrimp boats on the horizon so we ran to the one anchored. Everyone on one side drifting sardines. There were a lot of bonita and an occasional blackfin in the chum. No one knew how to follow their fish so it was a real circle ----! I picked up a couple of boneheads and then moved to the pulpet where i could cast forward and drift my bait away from the mass of lines. Decky had put a shark line out and left it right next to me. It went off and I thought not me. He came back and hooked up just as I hooked a blackfin. We danced around a while avoiding a tangle and gaffed mine. 4 guys pulled on the shark using my butt plate and they finally landed an 8' Silky. Everyone watched the fight so we lost the tuna. Went back to the shrimper but no luck. We ran inshore to the one dragging and set up over the net to start our drift. I snuck a bait out and caught another blackfin. We fished another 10 minutes and it was time to head home. I used a small ringed circle with about 6' of 50# flouro and one of the boat rods. I didn't want to risk my spectra in that mess.
It was a lot of fun except for the heat. Watching the kids and women fight their fish is a blast. I didn't fish very hard but just finished eatinf fresh sushimi and mama is happy. We finished with 8 blackfin, 3 small AJ, 2 chicken dolphin, 1 3' dolphin, snapper limits, and almost limits of beeliners. Great trip but too hot for a guy who went on Medicare today!
