[fathom]

Left out friday with a light load of 23 anglers to exellent seas.
The Big E,s new management Under Water Expeditions was anxious to get a trip on the board and there was no fuel surcharge.
First stop for bait was a rig 22mi. off that produced some bait (cold cloudy green water) tried another rig further out and picked up enough bait for one live well.
Next stop Sunrise platform that produced several nice A.J.s . I used a small cuberra jigged up at the bait stop and it was hammered on the 4th count, several others were also boxed.
We arrived at Nancen to a slow start that took several drifts to get the fish going. The bf jig bite took off and many commenced to chunking with fair results. The topwater bite was best on sub surface lures (swim baits, frenzy popper, shibuki) with some caught on small surface popers. A few nice yf came on jigs. First night total 32 yfs 60 to 80lb.
Saturdays bottom fishing produced bliner, a few grouper and a.j.s. The highlight was when Mark of www.bigfishbowfishingtexas.com, Texas best Bowfishing guide service. shot a mahi with bow, first time iv'e seen that!
We trolled west flower gardens but the only taker was a large A.J. that hit wahoo lure.
Night 2 was at gunnison spar with a few short flurrys of yf and a long wait for the a.m bite. persistance paid off for those who waited ... and 21 yfs where caught.

Trip total 53 yellowfins, most 60 to 80lb.
well over 100 blackfin several a.j. a few grouper, 3 mahi, 1 cobia and bliners
It was nice to fish with 2coolers Jig, 6x6, solrac and others..
I managed 3 yfs 7 bfs, 2cuda on the tackle house shibuki without loosing it......whew

 

[crazyjigr]

Where can I get the shibuki lures from?How much$?

 

[lite-liner]

Angler's Pro Shop has them.

man I would have loved to see that bow-shot!
good to see y'all got some good fish.
sounds like you covered a lot of water, too.
thanks for the report
-B

 

[jt2hunt]

interesting note about the number of anglers and fuel surcharge. sounds like they are having some trouble filling the boat.

congrats on the report! Ideal number of anglers on that boat for a longer range trip and with no fuel surcharge to boot, wow!

 

[Fishhead56]

That is kick .....
I was moments from getting on this trip when work called and sent me to Hartford Conn.
You C.C. guys need to come up and join one of these.

K2

 

[Grescobia]

I was on the trip also and had a interesting event happen that I certainly will try in more depth. Spent time learning how to throw surface iron and add another dimension to yft catching. I was casting a hollow tady jig to learn how to use them. I had a yft tuna hit the lure on the surface that litterally cause such an explosion that it was heard all the way to the back of the boat.Some fellows asked what that was all about. I did lose the fish on a heck of a first run that took about 70 yards of line. when I reel in the lure every hook on the jig was just about straight. I will change the "0" rings and hooks on the next lures I buy. Oneother event that happened was when the fish took a break I let all my line out with a really long Sea2 jig just out of curiosity .I jig a few times and thought it wasnt a really strong hit but be fore I could strike back the rod was on the rail I could not buge the rod. I knew it was a fish as the line was heading in the opposite direction. The fish finally broke my line mid way on the 3 ft. leader. I think the reel has about 300 yards of 80 braid so I was deep. Did manage to catch areally nice yft on the trip after having trouble hooking and losing several before I landed the one .Mike avanzino was the top gun on the trip with 6 nice yft

 

[tngbmt]

grescobia, is there a double yft limit on a 52 hr trip? did avanzino get to keep all 6 ? what water depth did that deep strike come from? any current? thanks for the report.

 

[Guest]

I was on the trip also and had a interesting event happen that I certainly will try in more depth. Spent time learning how to throw surface iron and add another dimension to yft catching. I was casting a hollow tady jig to learn how to use them. I had a yft tuna hit the lure on the surface that litterally cause such an explosion that it was heard all the way to the back of the boat.Some fellows asked what that was all about. I did lose the fish on a heck of a first run that took about 70 yards of line. when I reel in the lure every hook on the jig was just about straight. I will change the "0" rings and hooks on the next lures I buy. Oneother event that happened was when the fish took a break I let all my line out with a really long Sea2 jig just out of curiosity .I jig a few times and thought it wasnt a really strong hit but be fore I could strike back the rod was on the rail I could not buge the rod. I knew it was a fish as the line was heading in the opposite direction. The fish finally broke my line mid way on the 3 ft. leader. I think the reel has about 300 yards of 80 braid so I was deep. Did manage to catch areally nice yft on the trip after having trouble hooking and losing several before I landed the one .Mike avanzino was the top gun on the trip with 6 nice yft
what kind of lure was it that had the hooks straighten?

 

[Ragman]

Good report on the surface iron Gres! I know the west coast guys throw a lot of surface iron with 8, 9 even 10 foot rods!

It's kind of like working a buzz bait in fresh water. You have to reel fast with your rod up high to keep the iron skipping across the water.

There are a lot of big, but light jigs perfect for this but the hooks and rings are not the strongest. It's to keep the lure light enough to skip on the surface.

I've tried changing out to heavier hooks/rings which makes it more difficult to keep on top.

I tried another lure -but cannot remember the name, maybe Kil does- but it's plastic and shaped like a flattened out and elongated diamond. It comes in green, or white. They're big in the NE.

Steve-Great pic of that head shot on the dorado!

 

[Guest]

I have some old west coast jigs from my dad - i'll post pics tonight. in general they're very light, some look like they'd be 6-8oz, but are probably 2oz.

 

[lite-liner]

Tady 6, Salas 6x, UFO's, cisco's. I've got lots of these.
Thanks for the heads-up on the hardware, John. I will do the same
on mine. I knew that approach would work! as soon as that new 7.5' conv.
rod comes out, I'll have the perfect setup for this!

 

[Grescobia]

YFT Limits. I think you can only keep 3 yft per trip ,no matter how long the trip.Some one correct me if I am wrong. What happens if you catch more than your limit depends on you. You can release them or suplement some elses limit,thats your call. Onthe lures I was using were the tadys 45. Some have a siwash hook or treble,unfortunately I had the trebles. I will say they are exciting to use because of the tremendous strikes they produce ,but the trebles arenot worth using on yft.

 

[fathom]

Good report on the surface iron Gres! I know the west coast guys throw a lot of surface iron with 8, 9 even 10 foot rods!

It's kind of like working a buzz bait in fresh water. You have to reel fast with your rod up high to keep the iron skipping across the water.

There are a lot of big, but light jigs perfect for this but the hooks and rings are not the strongest. It's to keep the lure light enough to skip on the surface.

I've tried changing out to heavier hooks/rings which makes it more difficult to keep on top.

I tried another lure -but cannot remember the name, maybe Kil does- but it's plastic and shaped like a flattened out and elongated diamond. It comes in green, or white. They're big in the NE.

Steve-Great pic of that head shot on the dorado!


Tom,

Underwater expeditions has provided the deckhands with a digital camera and I give full credit for photos to them.
Roxanne was kind enough to forward them for posting.
As far as anyone knows that is the first bow shot dorado in Texas!

Steve

 

[drshark]

YFT limit is 3 per trip. If the boat came to shore and went back out then you could keep 3 more. There has been a exception on the Big E for the regulars. I have witnessed it. It was special treatment for certain guys. Drshark

 

[Sea Crappie]

Oneother event that happened was when the fish took a break I let all my line out with a really long Sea2 jig just out of curiosity .I jig a few times and thought it wasnt a really strong hit but be fore I could strike back the rod was on the rail I could not buge the rod. I knew it was a fish as the line was heading in the opposite direction. The fish finally broke my line mid way on the 3 ft. leader. I think the reel has about 300 yards of 80 braid so I was deep.

Grescobia,

Thanks for posting the good news about surface irons. Your story about jigging really deep has me interested. After watching Snagged get his Bigeye last year at nearly 600ft down, I decided to get in on the action. I'm building 2 outfits right now to specifically jig deeper than 400ft while tuna fishing. One for my Ocea 5000P and one for the Alutecnos gorilla. You're giving me hope!

Awesome report

 

[semipro]

HI Fathom
it was good fishing report,what reel did you have on your spinning gear?Also did you keep the cudas,they say,they are full of mercury.
I couldnt make the trip beacuse of end ofthe month,I cant live the work.
I never seen anybody jigs like you,and hooks a fish every time..Maybe some other trip I can watch you again

 

[fathom]

HI Fathom
it was good fishing report,what reel did you have on your spinning gear?Also did you keep the cudas,they say,they are full of mercury.
I couldnt make the trip beacuse of end ofthe month,I cant live the work.
I never seen anybody jigs like you,and hooks a fish every time..Maybe some other trip I can watch you again


Tufan,

I use stella 20000pg and no I never keep barracuda. I noticed someone left big A.J at dock and no one claimed it. One was caught trolling west flower garden, I know the Feds have cigatura posion warning for flower garden fish.

 

[CaptEddie]

I use surface iron over here a good bit and have had some great success doing it. They outfish poppers half the time.

 

[fathom]

CaptEddie,

do you have apreferred color? or is it the motion of lure?

 

[tngbmt]

I use surface iron over here a good bit and have had some great success doing it. They outfish poppers half the time.
yeah, and he can cast it a louisiana mile too