MSSA Tournament!

[KEY-LIME-PIE]

Well hello to everyone! Had a great charter for three days this past weekend. All went well.....as could be expected. Fishing was OK to say the least. Heres how the KLP paned out...

Day 1. Headed for the Lumpy bottom..South/south-east. Taking 4-5 footers every 3-5 seconds made for a very slow painfull ride. Changed direction to the Poormans canyon. By the way turned into a very nice ride. Picked up a very nice Yellowfin. Nothing else gave us a look.

Day 2. Got word from some of the bigger boats that the Wilmington was producing a large amount of yellowfin. As always I'm a day late. We had lines in by 7am. By 7:15 had a tripple header on, which equals.... Cahos in the cockpit. Many of you have been there. 7:22 first fish gone ...snaped the line below the 1 inch above the hook. 7:45 first fish of the day in the boat..."very nice 45lb Yellowfin". Third fish still fighting & fighting hard. 08:30 disaster...hook comes free..just my luck. I regroup the guys and start fishing again. Now heres where it gets interesting. Pass by a lobester pot and pick up a 17lb dolphin. Just as I get it into the boat the port long "80STW" starts screaming. Its big whatever it is. The same guy that lost the last fish is on the rod again. The fish takes line steady for several minutes...the line is geting low. My thought is we are going to get spooled. Then the line stops. I'm screaming for the angler to reel...reel...reel. You know how it goes!!!! And then nothing The fish is gone! I hate that part. So again I regroup the guys and start fishing. Things have calmed down a bit...when one of the guys asked me what is that stick in the water sticking stright up in the air? I know exactly what it is.....I ask where is it? He points to it... Its a Marlin sunning himself...Yeah Baby. I troll right past it by 4 feet....I'm not kidding 4 feet. As I pass him the water around him lights up as the Marlin went on the attack. I got to see him attack 5 of 9 baits. He did this in about 10 seconds...there was white water all over the place. That was exciting. Then nothing else for the day.

Day 3. The guys decide the night before not to fish because NOAA was calling for winds 20-25 with 6-9 foot seas. So everyone sleept in. @ 8am they look out on the ocean and see a dead flat calm sea and decide...Hey maby we can fish. So they get a hold of me and beg me to fish..I said be here in 45 minutes we'll go...and it was a good decision. They wanted to target bluefish. Hummmmm Ok that'll be easy I say to myself. Now I have just learned a lesson...Never assume that you are going to catch a fish even if they were in a tub. Head out to Jackspot to troll for bluefish...So I ask these guys..Why do you want to target Bluefish? They want alot of action and maby weigh in a large bluefish that is worth some money. Ok I'm good with that. Troll all over the Jackspot and nothing, I mean nothing....Time to pack it up and head to the Hambone. This is where it gets insane. Lines in and we are covered up immedately. These guys are laughing there ass's off having a great time. Now one of the bluefish vomits out a four inch red soft crab. No big deal as I get ready to chuck it over the side, when someone says, HEY! did'nt we enter the most unusal catch catagory? Yes they did and that crab was the most unusual catch..And it was worth $500.00 to the charter. So that was my week-end. Everyone is safe and happy.

Have a good day

Tom

[knot for shore]

Excellent post Tom! Sounds like a great time on the water for the weekend. Please keep the reports coming and please let us know when you do make up trips.

[Tunaman40]

Great report Capt. Ya gotta love $500.00 crabs

[Randy Stinchcomb]

Tom that had me STOKED too I think I Lit-up myself reading that