After not getting out since the first week of August I was itching for some time on the water. Watching Earl approach it looked like there may be a couple of fishing days on the back side. So I got a hold of Jacky (of Merry Marlin Fame) to see if he wanted to join us for some offshore Wahoo chasing, he said he was in and offered on the day we didn’t go offshore to jump on the Merry Marlin for some bottom slaying.
So the plan was set and the weather looked like it was going to hold, the only thing I wasn’t sure of was what the water would be like offshore and what it would do to the bite. As always I figure the only way to know for sure is to give it a shot. The plan was Sunday offshore and Monday bottom fishing on the Merry Marlin, boy was I stoked.
Sunday we headed out bright and early 0430 to be exact. The crew was Me, Daniel, Doug, and Jacky. We had a nice ride out and had lines in at 0700. We decided to head the opposite direction most of the fleet was fishing. We found a great rip and with a good amount of weeds in 35-38 Fathoms and 83 degree water. It sounded like we were seeing more action than most with 7 solid bites. The bad part was we only managed 2 Hoo’s in the boat. One we should have never caught he had the wire leader wrapped half way around his tail, yup that’s right ½ wrap. The head of the lure kept enough pressure the wire leader dug in and held tight until he met the steel.
We had one break off and a couple of fish that didn’t come tight. We also had the demon fish from hell hit the flat line and end up about 100 yards in front of the boat in less then 10 seconds then he decided to head at us just as fast. I was reeling as fast as I could and we tried to get the boat turned to keep the line tight we just couldn’t, and he came off. He hit so fast that at first I thought we had 3 fish in the spread as I saw him cut across the spread hit and then splash covering enough distance that at first I didn’t think there was any way a fish could move so fast.
We did some deep dropping without much success, Jacky was pulling up what we think was a nice grouper out of 550 feet of water and had less than 100 feet to go when Mr. Shark decided he needed a meal. We also caught some Sand Tiles and a first for me a long Trumpet fish.
Monday Daniel and I joined Jacky and Ted on the Merry Marlin to do some bottom fishing. In short order we had a limit of grouper and a mess of Beeliners, Triggers, and other bottom dwellers. Daniel caught his first Gag a 26 inch keeper which was really cool. Jacky said the day wasn’t up to normal Merry Marlin standards, but I would venture to say that most folks would say that it was a banner day.
All in all it was a great weekend. It was great both days and both days crews were fantastic with lots of fun and camaraderie. Jacky is great to have on board, and is a hell of a captain and fishermen. It was great to finally get a chance to fish with Ted, who is a ton of fun to fish with.
I’ve added a video of the tail wrapped Hoo (Daniel's first run of the video camera) and Daniels grouper.
Ponce good trip there, I would have killed for it to be that calm Monday You know that planer rod has a reputation for ruining a Hoos day, hopefully she'll bring you many more!
Ponce, Thank you for the invite, I had an absolute ball fishing with you guys. I hope we can make it back out there soon. And maybe the weather and fish will cooperate a little better.
PS tell daniel im very impressed with his first video
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You know that planer rod has a reputation for ruining a Hoos day, hopefully she'll bring you many more!
I'd fish with you guys any time!