RUN-OFF Offshore report 4/6/07

[O-SEA-D]

Left the dock a couple minutes after 5 am. Lines in around 7:15 am. It was a little more bumpy then the weather man led us to believe. Suppposed to be light and slight. We had Captain Brians good friend Jimmy and we also had our buddy and tournament mate Steve fishing with us today. We had a great time on the water. Saw lots of different marine life today. We saw a Whale jumping on the way out this morning. We saw more turtles then I have ever seen in my life as well. There was a rip out there that was just crazy. 9 degree temperature difference from one side to the other. It looked like a white water rapid river flowing. On the warm side it was 6-10' and on the cold side it was 3-5'. Of course the fish were biting right in the middle of the nasty stuff.

First pass through we got raped by the hound fish. Yeah that's right, I said HOUND fish. We caught 1 of them at least. LOL We had a pack following us for a while just eating everything out there. There were also some Mahi mixed in with them as well as some tuna's. We even caught a turtle today on the left long. LOL

Over all it was a decent day of fishing. We all had a lot of fun and the guys took home lots of fish. We ended up with 7 Yellowfins and 4 Mahi. The tunas were mostly 45lbs and up.

[Overboard]

Pretty work on your catch guys...Awesome report Jon

[gradywhite273]

outstanding work guys, very pretty catch.

[Bluewater Lady Charters]

Way to go guys. Pretty work!
We were supposed to go today. Wind is really howlin.

[hunt4fish]

Pretty work on the tuners.

[JD5652]

Nice!...VERY NICE!

[trollman]

Yous guys are GOOD!

[chumtini]

Any pics of the houndfish?

Girl stabbed by leaping houndfish


Injury to neck is nearly fatal

BY LISA FUSS

Ifuss@herald.com


BIG PINE KEY -- A 17-year-old Tampa girl who went snorkeling with friends during Spring Break had a near-fatal encounter with a needle-nosed houndfish that leaped out of the water and stabbed her in the neck.

Stephanie Mittler was recovering Tuesday after emergency surgery at Fisherman's Hospital in Marathon. Stephanie was standing in chest-high water Sunday about 100 yards off Camp Sawyer when the houndfish jumped out of the water and pierced her neck with its needle-like bill at full speed. Two pieces of the fish's ser*rated bill broke off, with the longer four-inch piece puncturing the teenager's throat and coming within a millimeter of her carotid artery.

Stephanie's sister, Jennifer, and a friend surfaced from snorkeling to find the girl bleeding profusely from the neck. Thinking a shark had attacked Mittler, the girls scrambled to get her aboard their pontoon boat and to shore. Emergency personnel from Big Pine Key transported Stephanie to Fishermen's Hospital in Marathon, where she underwent emergency surgery to repair the damage and remove the bill pieces embedded in her neck.

Laura Mittler, the girl's mother was in Tampa when she received a phone call from a physician at the hospital requesting permission to operate. At her daughter's bedside Tuesday, Mittler said Stephanie is still shaken by the incident but is otherwise in good shape.

The teen was taken off a respirator Monday and moved out of the intensive care unit Tuesday morning.

"It's so ironic that Stephanie hates seafood and she hates fish," her mother said. "1 told her the fish gods must have gotten back at her for hating them so much."

The fish that injured Mittler was never caught, but hospital staff was able to identify it as a houndfish, Laura Mittler said.

A junior at Sickles High School in Tampa, Stephanie arrived in the Keys Saturday for a six-day Spring Break vacation. She was snorkeling for the first time when the accident occurred.

Houndfish, technically known as tylosurus crocodilus, are related to needlefish but are typically bigger. They average three to six pounds and can grow as large as 10 pounds in the Atlantic Ocean. Fishermen are known to fear the houndfish because it has a tendency to leap out of the water and cause stab wounds when startled.

Although Mittler detests fish in general, she apparently wants a token of her near-death experience, her mother said. The teen asked hospital laboratory staff to save the broken bill pieces for her as souvenirs.

[#1Gaffman]

Pretty work Jhon..

Good to see you guys got them.

[SeaBiscuit]

Good catch Brian, John and crew. Nice grade of yellowfins!
Those tunas are definitely running larger this year than recent springs.
Keep up the reports and pictures.
SeaBiscuit