My first Golden Tile - Feb 4, 2008

[Uncle Buck]

A bit of back-story about this fishin report... I have been trying to catch a golden tilfefish for nearly 2 years. The 900ft+ deep-drop area in which I fish is not well charted, and the few "honey holes" that folks know are well-guarded secrets. I've found a few decent deep-drop spots since 2006, but have not been able to yank a tilefish up until this post...

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A few hours, two dozen drops, twenty-two rosies, and finally... I struck gold! Not a giant, but it's my first. I'm guessing about 8lbs. Of course, that also meant that I was done fishing. (1 golden tile per person limit )

Met my local Marine Patrol at the cleaning table. Nice guy. You should have seen his face when I opened the cooler! There were a pair of skipjack tunas below the rosies, so it looked like way more. He had actually never seen a rosie or tile, so I got to teach him a little somethin'. Too bad I didn't go after barrelfish today too.

[jemche]

good job on the tile. the other things look like goldfish

[capt. jakeg]

Them golden are good eating, but I think the rosies are the best eating fish in the ocean.

[striper101]

Congrats on your first Golden! Hope you have many more! That is some good eats in that cooler!

[Nauti Natured]

Very nice!

[SeaBiscuit]

Beautiful colors in that box! Thanks for the reports and pics Uncle Buck!
SeaBiscuit

[Uncle Buck]

That's why I love deep-droppin! I have not caught a single fish from the bottom that isn't delicious on the plate. The rosies are A++ for ceviché!

[Jer]

Congrats on your first golden tile!

Nice colors in that cooler

Do you know if there are any blueline tiles around?

[tabasco]

UB,
good job. i thought that was you from that swordy website. you turned me on to buoyweather---love it. Hoping to try some deep drop up here in NE florida. would welcome any pointers(like how many lbs. to get down that far) ]
tom

[Uncle Buck]

JER... Yes. I go south to fish in Golden Tile areas, but if I went north 10-15 miles, and fished a bit shallower, I'd find Bluelines (grays).

Tabasco... Yes, it's me from the Swordfishing Central forum. I'm no deep-drop expert! I've been trial-n-error deep dropping since I started in October '06. I usually use a 5lb lead sash weight beneath a standard 5-circle hook chicken rig. I normally bait with regular whole frozen box squid. (5"-7") But will be trying bonito and barracuda when available.

Like I said, I'm no expert... but if you wanna know my methods, send me an e-mail. uncle_buck@mac.com