Strike outs and more Rain

[Foul Hook'd]

After a extended stay from the bluewater we finally made the return with one thing on mind, KILLIN HOOS! I was joined by friend Phil and Jace from Alanta to bloody the deck. Nice ride out, little lighting heading south but it was gone when we got to the spot. Lines in and the wait begins and we wait and we wait......., finally the right long screams out and heads to another zip code, Phil on the rod. I clear lines and he starts cranking, I get the gaff ready, then Phil really gets to putting pressure on the fish. Phil gets the fish to the prop wash with the drag locked down and thumbing the spool, I tell him to back off some or ...... pulled hook, oh well it's early.

Few minutes later the little soldier down deep gives up the ghost, once again Phil is cranking while I get ready to get the planer off. Fish comes in green and lit up, good 40lb. fish, he won''t get close enough for a shot but takes off towards the bow. Phil goes with hi then it does a 180 and to the stern and ping!!! Prop and leader don't mix

Things only get worse from here on out. Left short gets popped, Phil says it's a Hoo, that Hoo has a bill, drop back, wait, wait hooked up. We put Jace on the rod and we clear the lines while the air show goes on. 5 min. in and out comes the hook Man we suck! I look back to see a splash then a streak through the spread and the right long gets nail, right behind the hook

Bite slows by lunch, time to grouper hunt, while getting the lines in a 2ft.high fin appears in the remaining baits easy 12ft. between the dorsal and tail fin, biggest toothy critter I have ever seen. We make a 15 mile run to the #'s I wanted to try only to be engulfed in a rain squall, luckily no fireworks so we send the pogeys down. All three of us get no love on the first pass, but Jace snags something the next try, nice 8lb. scamp iced down, couple drops later Phil adds a nice pinky. I hook up but can't get 'em off the bottom and get cut off, Jace doubles over and the tug of war begins: after a good tussle I stick a nice 20lb. Red on ice for him. For a guy who hasn't had much offshore fishing under the belt he did pretty darn good.

To finish the day we plowed thru a miserable head sea for 25 miles plus more rain before emerging 5 miles from MHC and opened her up to the ramp.

By the fleet talk the Hoos were hitting on top, we had 2 go for BWC mini jag hot pink head, light pink/crystal blue and the usual pur/black on the deep. We just couldn't keep them on the hook, but it's fishing and we have been out of the game for a month and a half, we will have the kinks worked out before we return Monday or Tuesday, congarts to Jace getting he first groupers, got a couple pics at the ramp, little fuzzy but every thing else tanked today

Foul Hook'd

[calebw]

Sound like a day of action. What area did yall fish?

[Foul Hook'd]

Caleb, Rise then the Hole and up the break just a little, 30-55ftms. Water got hotter closer to the Break, 85 deg.+++, 3-4.5 deg cooler west and inshore. Alot of flyers but we only marked bait couple times all day.

Foul Hook'd

[Reel life]

we did about the same as you lots of short strikes and 1 31 lbs hoo
and a long crappy ride home with no GPS
the trusty old compass got us to the inlet

[Ponce]

Looks like some action was had, some days it hard to convert those bites into iced down fish.