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Sorry it took so long to post. Tuff week at work and after school activities with the kids. When I get the photos from the other camera, if their worth it, I’ll post them as well.
After beating me up a while back for not posting, this one’s for Mr. Hiatt…... ah…… I mean Mr. Box!!
Me, my fishing partner and his friend leave the dock at 0600 in my partner’s 23’ Parker to find menhaden for a half day light tackle tussle with amberjacks. We need to be back at the dock by 1300 so we have no choice but to stay in relatively close. At about 0615, in Back Sound, right in front of Harkers Island, we drift along w/the incoming tide. Shut down the 4 stroke Yammi, turned off the radio and shut our mouths to listen for the tell-tale “flitting” of shad on the surface while keeping an eye on the Garmin marking bait and depth. We are under a clear sky, light and puffy out of the N-NW and a beautiful sliver of a moon hanging low in the east. A few minutes later, we hear them. Unfortunately, even with a 12’ cast net, they’re hugging the bottom in 10’ of water; way too deep for any reasonable shot. So we fire up, move in to about 6’ and start the SOP again - silent, listening and watching. About 0645, bingo! One throw and we have all the pogies we want and then some. It takes two of us to haul it in. Way more bait than we need, we hail a few boats close by to us to come over and take what they want. One guy, God bless him, was so grateful, he wanted to pay us for ‘em!
Bait well stocked to the max, we clear the Beaufort Inlet sea buoy just in time to watch a spectacular sunrise behind the Cape Lookout lighthouse. It is one of those salmon-pink colored suns with a few clouds just above it all lit up in purple and orange. As many times as I’ve witnessed the sunrise over the Cape, it never, ever gets old.
We head due south in a gentle 3’ ground swell spaced out just right so as to not break stride. Lots of sargassum weed and flying fish in as close at 8 miles out thanks to a weeks worth of NE wind blowing gulf stream water inshore. We pass acres and acres of Little Tunnys in the 6-10 pound range feeding on top; plenty of time in November to deal with them on the fly rod.
Today’s target is a cluster of live bottom ledges known as the Big 10 and Little 10 about 18 or so miles straight out the inlet in 70’ of water. The relief from the ledges pop up off the bottom about 5-8’ with a few holes down to 80’ scattered here and there. We don’t want to fish structure for the obvious reasons. About 10 years ago, my partner and I tried to set an IGFA for amberjack on 4 lb test. They were easy picking around structure. However, we must have gone thru 5 miles of line that year because of all the cut offs – needless to say, we failed miserably!
At 0745, lines in. The water is gulf stream beautiful and holding steady at 79.5 degrees. We start slow trolling four live shad -- specifically, 12 lb Momoi blue, 6’of double line (spider hitch), 4’ of 80 lb Momoi blue connected to the main line via the Bristol knot and Owner SSW inline #5 circle hooks. 6’ Fenwick, fast taper, live bait rods rated at 12-20lb and Shimano TLD 20s. Based on previous experience, almost every AJ we’ve opened up has swallowed their prey head first, so we lip hook the menhaden a la live bait trolling style.
Man, what a ball!! If nothing else, it reaffirms my faith in my knot tying ability and my drag savvy!!!!!! We went 3 for 10, keeping only one for each of us at 35, 38 and 42 lbs. 4 successful releases, lost two on the bottom – each time about 10’ of chaffed line came back and lost one at the boat – botched gaff attempt by yours truly. Man, does that PISS me off, especially after the angler works his ass off on the light stuff and the guy at the wheel does his best to keep the angler in the bow and on the same side of the boat. Ave time to gaff was approx 20-25 minutes. Also boated an 18lb king, which was the only one to show for the day.
Had two “firsts” in 30 plus years of fishing:
(1) Had the first AJ of the day hit my bait in a lazy sort of way so I free spooled for a few seconds to make sure it was his. When I was sure he and the shad were one, I threw her in gear, the line came tight and the fight was on. A second or two later my partner hooks up. Woohoo, double header!!! Not even 5 minutes into trolling. Gonna be a great day – NOT!!! Damned AJ had us both. In that few seconds of free spool, unbeknownst to me, he swam directly to my partner’s bait and inhaled that one too. Funny as hell when we realized what was happening. Wasn’t much of a fight though. And sure enough, 2 circle hooks, side-by-side in the corner, right where their supposed to be.
(2) Caught the biggest friggen cuda I’ve ever seen!! After playing with the AJs, we headed back in to the NW Places to try king fishing for the remaining time we had left. The NW Places is another series of live bottom/ledges about 12-15 miles out, famous for holding kings and in the fall, you have fairly good odds at bagging a sail or two. Still had blue water, not much current but a lot of sargassum. Started slow trolling the pogies using standard Carolina live bait rigs consisting of 4’ of #5 wire haywired with a leading lip hook and a trailing #3 treble. The stinky hit the shad and off he screamed. Thought for sure we had a wayward wahoo. It wasn’t until he was just out of gaffing range that he turned broadside to show us what he really was. Up until then, all we knew was that it was long and pointy, dark back, and a hell of a runner. When he was boat side, the SOB was hooooooge. I kid you not, conservatively speaking, about 6’ long, super thick and possibly over 70 lbs. Cut the wire as close as we dared and off he swam. I kinda wish we had iced it. It would’ve made a great set of jaws of my 10 yr old son. Anyway, great way to end the short day. Pulled chocks at 1130 and had an easy cruise back home.
A few observations:
- About the Bristol knot. Started using it after reading the article titled “staying power” in the August (I think) issue of Sportfishing magazine. It’s real easy to tie and after sparing w/the AJs at 20 min or so per whack, I’m convinced it’s the knot of choice for us. When tying double main to heavy leader – mono to mono – you only need 7 turns.
- About the Parker 23’. Whether you own one or fish on one, remember to put a bucket or tackle box or SOMETHING in front of the two scuppers in the transom. Each scupper is about the size of a deck of cards and they do not have a one way flap or covering of any kind. It’s just a wide open hole. Guess where several of the flip-flop’n menhaden end up when you dump a net full into your bait well? My fishing partner learned real quick after not using the boat for a week!! I guess you could call it a design flaw in an otherwise pretty good boat.
- About AJs as table fare. I realize AJs still have somewhat of a bad rep for table fare but it’s really good. It’s not to unlike Cobia. In the ones 30 lbs or so and more, they tend to have parasites in the tail end and up in the dorsal fin area. They are easy to see because they look exactly like short pieces of cooked spaghetti. Simply cut it away and your left with a hefty loin of dense white meat that’s good grilled, ka-bobbed, fingered ( I know, I know), marinated, smoked or whatever way. It makes for a great ceviche too. If you haven’t tried it, it’s worth taking one home. About 20-25 lbs of meat from a 40 lber.
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Originally Posted by Buckwheat
