[Mangochas]

We had a boat over here on the west coast of FL back around 1993 thru 95 that was called the Ranger 5 and i was told it came from TX. Not sure if anyone heard of it or not. It was a big V hull with V16's.

 

[Capt.matt]

We had a boat over here on the west coast of FL back around 1993 thru 95 that was called the Ranger 5 and i was told it came from TX. Not sure if anyone heard of it or not. It was a big V hull with V16's.

It ran out of Galveston for a while... before my time but indeed from Texas.

 

[scubaarchery]

hopefully Matt will do the same this year!

 

[Mangochas]

It ran out of Galveston for a while... before my time but indeed from Texas.

It was a big boat and we ran two 34 hour trips a week on it. Started out with a bang and had a great Capt that ran it. Would do 17 knts easy. It was a roller and would swing around on spots. But was much better than the Florida Fisherman 2. Owner sold it late 95 and it went to the islands.

 

[day0ne]

It ran out of Galveston for a while... before my time but indeed from Texas.

It docked at the Yacht Basin for a while. It was originally from back east somewhere. It had heated handrails for winter fishing and aircraft type seats with seatbelts for rough water.

 

[Ethan Schaffer]

Come fish Long Range out of San Diego if you want comfort. They are just unreal. After fishing out of Hubbards in FL its like stepping into a whole new world. I have yet to fish with Capt. Matt and hear some excellent things. Hopefully sometime soon.
Independence Sportfishing, Excel, Intrepid, American Angler, Royal Polaris. Book a year out as they all sell out.

 

[Mangochas]

It docked at the Yacht Basin for a while. It was originally from back east somewhere. It had heated handrails for winter fishing and aircraft type seats with seatbelts for rough water.

Matt ran it when it first started here in FL. This is not the same Matt in this thread. The owner was nuts and had a great biss going as he cut the price to $60 a trip for a 34 hr trip on the mid week and $75 on the weekends. That sure made the Florida fisherman mad. They had to cut prices to match. Owner got cheap and stopped the free coffee and free steak dinner drawings. He ran off a lot of people and Matt got fed up and left. Got a new Capt and BOOM one of the engines blew before they got out of the pass. I sure made good money fishing on that boat. Galley was up front and it sure ran thru the cooks. Must have had 30 cooks on that boat. I cooked on it for about a year.

 

[Mangochas]

Come fish Long Range out of San Diego if you want comfort. They are just unreal. After fishing out of Hubbards in FL its like stepping into a whole new world. I have yet to fish with Capt. Matt and hear some excellent things. Hopefully sometime soon.
Independence Sportfishing, Excel, Intrepid, American Angler, Royal Polaris. Book a year out as they all sell out.

I would like to fish with Matt for kicks if i was ever in TX. Nice to be a on boat that is not scared to run fast.

 

[dojoson41]

The biggest problem I see is mixing the jiggers with the chunkers, if fact, mixing the jiggers with anybody else.

maybe keep to chunking in daylight hours and jigging at night when possible? half boat boat chunkers(stern) jiggers (bow)?

 

[dojoson41]

I know my days of party boat fishing are done. This has become a rich mans sport. I am from the old school of keeping everything i get and selling it. Now with limits and closed seasons and cost to go out i pretty much gave it up. No way i would get on any boat with 80 peeps let alone fish with them in 500ft+. I still do work once in a while on the boat i used to work on years ago and we just trade my pay for trips. But for me paying $500 for a 34 hour trip, them days are over for me. Crazy to think a 34 hour trip cost $65 back in the late 80's and sometime you could sell $400 worth of fish. The key to good fishing on any boat is the Capt. Some don't have that extra touch while some just have what it takes to put fish on the decks.

I fished for a living on these boats at times up to two years at a time and it all comes down to the Capt to make money. I know the days of making money are over. I spent over 38 years on all kinds of party boats and seen it all just about. Our boats in my area all run slow now to save fule. I miss the speed days when party boats would fight each other to be the fastest.

the good old days are gone, what a shame

 

[dojoson41]

What happens when people use spinning reels to bottom fish?

.

the easiest way to put it is for me I use spinning gear only if I need distance and casting top water lures,(lines go out and away so less control if you dont pay attention and drifts away quicker then you might think. I see this new wave of jiggers now casting all over the place even right next to people fighting Tuna and just getting in the way) and conventional only for deep water fishing(keep the line strait up and down). Yes you can cast with a bait caster/conventional reel but most people now days cant and not very far so the spinner comes into play.

 

[Mangochas]

the good old days are gone, what a shame

Whole diff type of people now vs the 1980's. Our regs all sold fish back in the days. They started all these rules and fish limits in the 90's and none of the boats would enforce them. Then they cracked down on the boats and started giving out heavy fines around the year 2000. They then started to target the places buying fish. Not sure what all went on with the boats out of TX and if people sold fish back in the day. I don't know anything about the bottom or fishing over there. Seems the boats over there fish deeper water. We never fished past 240ft most of the time. One time on the Ranger we tried to fish two wrecks in 270ft and did not have enough scope for the anchor line and would drag everytime we tried to get over them.

 

[Palomarknot]

Whole diff type of people now vs the 1980's. Our regs all sold fish back in the days. They started all these rules and fish limits in the 90's and none of the boats would enforce them. Then they cracked down on the boats and started giving out heavy fines around the year 2000. They then started to target the places buying fish. Not sure what all went on with the boats out of TX and if people sold fish back in the day. I don't know anything about the bottom or fishing over there. Seems the boats over there fish deeper water. We never fished past 240ft most of the time. One time on the Ranger we tried to fish two wrecks in 270ft and did not have enough scope for the anchor line and would drag everytime we tried to get over them.

My first Yellowfin came off a private charter out of Venice in June of 98, it was a whopper at that. The Capt. said on the way in that he had a restaurant owner friend out of New Orleans that was going to meet us at the dock and offer to buy our Yellowfins. Sure enough he was there waiting as we pulled in, he offer good money for them too. Myself personally kept my Yellowfins, although my buddies sold their yellowfins. My wife was pist I wouldn't sell our fish, I was to proud to give it up right away at the dock and wanted to bring it all home.

 

[Howardgo3]

The good all days are gone because you raped and pillaged. Go fishing to have fun and get a feed, not to pay for the trip and make money! Now your paying more to go deeper and still not catch as much. As we say here in Western Australia Fish for the Future, think of your kids and theirs, it’s a sport/recreation, not a money making exercise. Leave the catching for money to the professionals who have to make a living and not to the “shamateurs”.

 

[Mangochas]

Everyone did their damage over the years. I was told how great the fishing was in the mid 60's 30 miles offshore off of Clearwater FL in 100ft. 25 lb red snaps and 25lb red grouper. By the mid 80's the fishing was getting pretty bad for the 11 hour trips 60 to 100 miles offshore.

 

[dojoson41]

My first Yellowfin came off a private charter out of Venice in June of 98, it was a whopper at that. The Capt. said on the way in that he had a restaurant owner friend out of New Orleans that was going to meet us at the dock and offer to buy our Yellowfins. Sure enough he was there waiting as we pulled in, he offer good money for them too. Myself personally kept my Yellowfins, although my buddies sold their yellowfins. My wife was pist I wouldn't sell our fish, I was to proud to give it up right away at the dock and wanted to bring it all home.

Good for you-unless your a commercial fisherman if YOU dont eat it you dont kill it is my motto be it fishing or hunting.

 

[dojoson41]

The good all days are gone because you raped and pillaged. Go fishing to have fun and get a feed, not to pay for the trip and make money! Now your paying more to go deeper and still not catch as much. As we say here in Western Australia Fish for the Future, think of your kids and theirs, it’s a sport/recreation, not a money making exercise. Leave the catching for money to the professionals who have to make a living and not to the “shamateurs”.

Yes there is over fishing in USA but most of that is by foreigners fishing in our waters taking our fish like South America, Mexico and even Asia. Even now you have these foreigners(Asians and Europeans) moving here ignoring laws like no undersized crabs/eels and not enough law men out there stopping it and when they do they let offenders off with a slap on the wrist so it will never stop(I say hit them hard with heavy fines plus jail time and take their equipment). when I go fishing it is part for the fish and part for just being out on the water- I dont ever catch for others nor sell and only take home what I will eat like 2 tuna under 40# and one tuna over 40 # is plenty and NO sharks kills. I have seen on youtube, 40+ fish of any kind for 3 guys is way to much. 1 blue fin tuna per boat here(we have to share the fish with all those who want some) while many for a boat in CA.

 

[Howardgo3]

I agree with dojoson41, if you don’t eat don’t kill it and hit the guys who are flouting the laws. In Western Australia they can now confiscate your car and boat and, if you are selling shitloads, even your house. All have happened. There are still some, usually old farts like me, who think that if they have a license (which most don’t agree with) they should be able to keep anything and everything they catch. Fortunately most, like me, will be dead soon. The younger generations see the need for quotas and size limits fortunately. The guys who are making a business of will, unfortunately, always be with us, so when caught hammer them. I grew up in England where, for freshwater, you had to have a license. My grandad bought me a rod, reel and tackle when I was four, took me to our local tackle store and bought me a license (even though I didn’t need one at that age. He then explained the size and bag limits and took me fishing on a local stream. I caught a 10inch brown trout, I was hooked on fishing, I wanted to kill it and take it home to show off, it was over the 8inch limit. Grandad told me to put it back, it was too small and not to ever keep them under at least 12inch so at least you got a feed and they might produce babies. That day is forever etched in my mind! It’s also what my kids and grandkids learn, there is nothing better than seeing them release fish and when a good size keep one that they have killed quickly. Unfortunately one of my daughters has always outfished me!

 

[Mangochas]

Sure had some unreal trips over the years. I started about what was the tail end of the good fishing in 1982. It had to be crazy in the middle grounds on them tall peaks back in the 1940's and 50's if anyone even fished that far offshore. You really only needed to go 20 miles offshore back in them days. But it only took us about 30 years to wipe it all out.

 

[Meltony]

moving the iron out didn't help...