Game Face? ... Check...

[Deep C]

Feel like Santa Clause with all my lists and checkin em twice. Jeeze, I feel rusty. Been since the WMO since I had to load up for a tournament. Should be and usually is like riding a bike but with this long of a gap its been slow and methodical instead of instinctive...
Gonna slide and get 130 nautical behind me by mid day tomorrow. Pull the sticks back, bag some bait and see what I can scout up. Wednesday is supposed to be a practice day but the wind forecast sounds like it's gonna be sloppy at best. Oh well golden opportunity to see if my cast net takes these temporary implants with it.
Lets see. 8 outfits rigged. 8 spare spools ready to go. Six bait outfits dialed in? Check... 50 leaders with snelled circles? Uh Huh...Three chum bags, two bottles of secret scent mix, bag of secret "ball em up" flakes, cooler of chum and plenty of diced bait to catch live bait? Yep!... Tag stick and tags? Present and accounted for! Cookies, pretzels, snack crackers? Check... Livewells and all systems functioning the way they should? Spare live bait pumps? Check!... Secret maps and notebook? Yeppers... Anti bird and triggerfish measures? Check... Scorpion catching kit? Check... Lucky shirts, shoes, pants, pliers, belt and sunglasses? Check... Warm and cold weather gear? Yes sir... Sneaky stash of Reeses peanut butter cups to hide under pillow for midnight snacks? Indeed... Cooler full of sodas including super secret sneaky good luck ones? Check... Game face on? In progress...
Are we gonna place? Who knows? Stiff competition... Miami boys "gang block" entire reefs by going kite to kite so nobody can squeeze in. South boys have the sand, tall towers, and quick responding boats to work shower fish. Go fast boys bring down ungodly amounts of goggle eyes for bait and live chum they have been able to pen up and feed vitamins to for a month. Gonna be tough for sure. Still a blind hog finds an acorn now and then...
What I do know is that I need to de-rust. Boss needs to get away from work. Guests need some needling and Deep Deckhand really needs to work on his tan. I'm looking forward to it. If I can pirate some Wifi I'll try to update...

[Deep C]

40 Views and nobody can come up with anything I'm missing? Not a "good luck" or "hope you lose" in the bunch? Hmmmmm... Just for that I may not share the adventures and keep you warm with tropical tales of gin clear water and dancing billfish on 12 pound test...

[clt_capt]

Got your kites?

Catch 'em up.

[Deep C]

God I hate kites!

I have em but would rather pleasure myself with a chain saw than fly one. Yeah they work ok but nothing worse than seeing fish going off and the kites position won't let you get to them quick.

The other drawback to em is that I have to designate someone to tend to it when maneuvering a hooked fish. On a small boat that ties up one of only three anglers I have instead of him keeping other baits in play to hopefully add to a multi header...

Since you were good enough to respond maybe I'll PM you results....

[WAHOONBOX]

40 Views and nobody can come up with anything I'm missing? Not a "good luck" or "hope you lose" in the bunch? Hmmmmm... Just for that I may not share the adventures and keep you warm with tropical tales of gin clear water and dancing billfish on 12 pound test...

NOW YOU SOUND LIKE ME....

[dunn6253]

What boat are you going to be on? The vike or the contender? Good luck deep.....

[Deep C]

We're taking the Contender... Better set up for live baiting with its twin monster pressurized live wells. She's quicker and nimbler than the big one too. Get the angler up front fighting and we can still keep a spread behind to hook up more. The one drawback for that keys fishing is that without a tower its harder to see the fish on the sand. You can see the showering bait ok but baiting a fish goes a whole lot better whe you can see him clear and which way he's pointed...

[Hatterized]

Deeepster......unsweetened Pumpkin Pie is the new secret chum.....

well at least thats what i thought i saw on the Martha Stewart show....or maybe it was the Cookin with Paula Dean show....

anyhow.....good luck...enjoy and win some $$$$ so you can buy us all XMAS gifts.....

[Deep C]

I'd love to...
I used to hold my own and win a bunch in the Keys/ Miami circuit. Was out of it for quite a few years and when I got back in it was a rude awakening... The competition has really stepped up. Not just who can fish best any more. Almost dirty but alls fair in love, war and sailfish, tourines.
Theres a large fleet of guys that work together to litterally block off sections of reef up to a mile long by spreading their kites and then lining up. Kites are to live baiting what chunks do to a trolling area then to surround the whole edge where you can't slip in unless you're part of the "club" is tough.
Then the other Miami trick that the real rich guys do is to own bait catching operations with big pens and tote down often 500 goggle eys per boat. To buy that much would cost upwards of $5000 for the regular guy without that kind of set up.
Yet others hire "scouts" to fish north south or east away from the fleet to find a "secret stash" . They call the competing boat when they find them . By the time other boats dial them in that boat has built a commanding lead and often the bite is finished by the time others arrive.
The game I have to play since I don't speak spanish or have more money than the purse pays is fairly simple. Go find my own private stash of fish. That gets tough when you have the boss growling cause he hears the fleet catching fish. Yeah twenty fish called in an hour sounds like a lot but that fleet might have fifty boats in it. One fish for every two and a half that are there for that hour isn't all that much. Meanwhile we might be raising an average of a fish an hour where we are...
I really consider shutting that f*****g radio off during the day until we are hooked up. Got a hunch though that the boss would catch on to that trick quick.
I know though that I have found my own private stash enough times through the years to warrant continuing our approach. The boss should know that to be right. A couple years ago during the kickoff we went seven for ten in just under two hours when the rest of the fleet combined didn't catch that many. I guess he just forgets... Understanding the whole picture is something that comes with years and he's still relatively new to this.

[gman]

what type of tournament? ... sailfish?