We had been watching the weather for Venice and it didn’t look good. We were scheduled to fish with Reel Peace on the 19-20. The 18th looked better than the other dates so Jared checked with Devlin and we were able to move it up one day. Jared was able to find enough of the group, that could leave early, to charter two boats for the 18th.
Jared was riding with me so we plan on leaving Dfw at 5am. Well, at 5am it is snowing and sleeting with about a ½ in accumulation. We have it all loaded and leave DFW by 6am. Driving was slow at first but the farther south we got, the better it was. We rolled into Venice about 5.30 Wednesday evening and were able to meet 3 of reel peace’s captains. Real nice guys by the way. We meet up with the others as they arrive. We had
Fred(gimmedeal),Nick(safisher), Jason(Argo), and his friend, Beau in the group, The others would arrive later Thursday.
We left the dock at 6am on Wed and headed out of tiger pass. The ride out was uneventful. Stopped at a bouy to make bait, but the current was ripping, so on to the lump we went. We arrive to decent seas. 2-4s. With a 2 guys fishing and one cutting chunks, we started catching several bonitos right away. Had several cutoffs( The hoos are thick out there now) Jared put a blackfin in the box, as did I. Then Nick hooks up on a bonito chunk and it’s a nice fish. 50-60lb AJ. I pick up a small YFT to break the seal. And end up boxing 2 more approx 60lbrs. The current and winds were not in our favor as we were chunking off of the same side of the boat. So Devlin, puts one rig up forward with a 12oz trolling lead rubberbanded about 8ft up. Cut pogies were the ticket.
We hooked several quality fish that way but they spit the hook somehow. (My details are a bit sketchy as I have had little sleep) So Jared or Nick Correct me on the details)
Jared caught a 80-100lb dusky shark later in the day. And on the last chunk we hooked a good fish and Nick brought a 60ish wahoo to the boat. Nice way to end the day. The ride in was nice, until we hit the fog about 8-10 miles out of tiger pass.
By lump standards it was a slow day, but by mine it was a great day.
Now the other boat did well, but I will let Argo or Gimmedeal give y’all the details.
Day 2(Friday) Jared and I checked buoyweather and the forecast was not good,
marginal early in the day turning really bad in the afternoon. The rest of the guys had arrived and were ready for the day. Devlin decides to make a go of it. We make it out of tiger pass and were greeted to some bumpy seas and 15kts of wind out of the north. We got wet on the way out and seas were building as we arrived at the lump. Devlin sets anchor and Jared gets our chum line started. We new right away it was going to be a rough day. The seas were 4-6 and getting bigger. One of our crew was sick, two more couldn’t stand up. One of them never attempted to fish. His boots made him look like he was on ice. The other fell nearly every time he picked up a reel. I had planned on jigging and throwing poppers but was not possible with the wind and seas.. So it was mainly Jared and me working the chunk lines. Lots of bonita. One small yellowfin. WE hooked a nice hoo but the guy fell down twice while fighting the fish and lost it. Devlin made the right call to call it a day.
I think we had about an hour and a half on the hook. We at least caught one of the targeted species. The ride in was wet and cold. The air temp had dropped to around 50 with 20-25kts of north wind... The seas had built to 6-8 with the occasional 10ft square wave. But that 30 Glacier bay handled the seas very well, running 12-20 kts and never took a wave over the bow. I would have lost most of my teeth had I been out there in in a monohul, on the ride in.. I was very impressed with that boat. You could stuff at least 3 full grown adults in the fish box..
We got back to the dock, drank some coffee, settled up , loaded up, said our good byes to everyone and started the trek back home. We arrived back into dfw about 1am..
The other boat did well in the short period of time we were there but I will let them fill in the details of that one too.
I would like to thank Jared for organizing this trip. I also would like to thank the guys at Ocean Tackle for providing us your gear to try out. Unfortunately the weather conditions didn’t allow us the opportunity to jig or throw poppers effectively. I had a great time, learned some new techniques and met some great guys. I am certain I have left out some important details, so someone fill in the gaps.
Oh yeah, Thanks to Reel Peace charters. Devlin and his captains are top notch… I will fish with them again.
Jared was riding with me so we plan on leaving Dfw at 5am. Well, at 5am it is snowing and sleeting with about a ½ in accumulation. We have it all loaded and leave DFW by 6am. Driving was slow at first but the farther south we got, the better it was. We rolled into Venice about 5.30 Wednesday evening and were able to meet 3 of reel peace’s captains. Real nice guys by the way. We meet up with the others as they arrive. We had
Fred(gimmedeal),Nick(safisher), Jason(Argo), and his friend, Beau in the group, The others would arrive later Thursday.
We left the dock at 6am on Wed and headed out of tiger pass. The ride out was uneventful. Stopped at a bouy to make bait, but the current was ripping, so on to the lump we went. We arrive to decent seas. 2-4s. With a 2 guys fishing and one cutting chunks, we started catching several bonitos right away. Had several cutoffs( The hoos are thick out there now) Jared put a blackfin in the box, as did I. Then Nick hooks up on a bonito chunk and it’s a nice fish. 50-60lb AJ. I pick up a small YFT to break the seal. And end up boxing 2 more approx 60lbrs. The current and winds were not in our favor as we were chunking off of the same side of the boat. So Devlin, puts one rig up forward with a 12oz trolling lead rubberbanded about 8ft up. Cut pogies were the ticket.
We hooked several quality fish that way but they spit the hook somehow. (My details are a bit sketchy as I have had little sleep) So Jared or Nick Correct me on the details)
Jared caught a 80-100lb dusky shark later in the day. And on the last chunk we hooked a good fish and Nick brought a 60ish wahoo to the boat. Nice way to end the day. The ride in was nice, until we hit the fog about 8-10 miles out of tiger pass.
By lump standards it was a slow day, but by mine it was a great day.
Now the other boat did well, but I will let Argo or Gimmedeal give y’all the details.
Day 2(Friday) Jared and I checked buoyweather and the forecast was not good,
marginal early in the day turning really bad in the afternoon. The rest of the guys had arrived and were ready for the day. Devlin decides to make a go of it. We make it out of tiger pass and were greeted to some bumpy seas and 15kts of wind out of the north. We got wet on the way out and seas were building as we arrived at the lump. Devlin sets anchor and Jared gets our chum line started. We new right away it was going to be a rough day. The seas were 4-6 and getting bigger. One of our crew was sick, two more couldn’t stand up. One of them never attempted to fish. His boots made him look like he was on ice. The other fell nearly every time he picked up a reel. I had planned on jigging and throwing poppers but was not possible with the wind and seas.. So it was mainly Jared and me working the chunk lines. Lots of bonita. One small yellowfin. WE hooked a nice hoo but the guy fell down twice while fighting the fish and lost it. Devlin made the right call to call it a day.
I think we had about an hour and a half on the hook. We at least caught one of the targeted species. The ride in was wet and cold. The air temp had dropped to around 50 with 20-25kts of north wind... The seas had built to 6-8 with the occasional 10ft square wave. But that 30 Glacier bay handled the seas very well, running 12-20 kts and never took a wave over the bow. I would have lost most of my teeth had I been out there in in a monohul, on the ride in.. I was very impressed with that boat. You could stuff at least 3 full grown adults in the fish box..
We got back to the dock, drank some coffee, settled up , loaded up, said our good byes to everyone and started the trek back home. We arrived back into dfw about 1am..
The other boat did well in the short period of time we were there but I will let them fill in the details of that one too.
I would like to thank Jared for organizing this trip. I also would like to thank the guys at Ocean Tackle for providing us your gear to try out. Unfortunately the weather conditions didn’t allow us the opportunity to jig or throw poppers effectively. I had a great time, learned some new techniques and met some great guys. I am certain I have left out some important details, so someone fill in the gaps.
Oh yeah, Thanks to Reel Peace charters. Devlin and his captains are top notch… I will fish with them again.