Left our place in West Bay with Blackbeard & Beach Bum Bailey at gray light and headed out towards the Jetties. Met by smooth conditions in the bay and very calm seas as we passed the south jetty. Ran 25 miles off shore before stopping at a single structure rig to pitch some baits. First cast double hookup 1 king and a ling on! The king we boat quick and release as were more concerned about the ling. Beach Bum Bailey was fighting the ling and gave it a good pump and hit the t-top (guess he got excited) slacked the line and wouldn't you know the ling gets off...
We did a couple more drifts and boated 4 kings to 40" when we decided to go ahead and move further on out. We jogged on our way out to V.A. FOGG and hit every platform trying to redeem Bailey's goof at our first stop.
At our 2nd stop we dropped a few bottom rigs and hooked up with two ~20lb Red Snapper that we properly vented and sent back to the bottom to be caught probably by someone yesterday lol...
We were able to pick up a Spade Fish and a Lane Snapper at the same spot and decided to push on as it was nearing 10:30 by this point.
About the time we were getting ready to head out when the clicker on the Torsa 30 goes screaming. Line goes ripping off and I quickly motion to Bailey. He grabs the rod and I quickly realized that this is no kingfish, perhaps a Wahoo or Barracuda, maybe a Sailfish... The fish takes 1/2 the spool and we are now in hot pursuit. Unfortunately the leader and rigging fails, the 150lb clamp swivel is bent in half and the hook is nowhere to be found. Upset to say the least I'm guessing it was a Barracuda... I'd like to think it was a Wahoo or Sailfish but who knows we never saw anything. Not to have this happen again I bust out the wire leader rigs and needless to say we did not get broken off anymore after that.
Headed further out and ran across some weed lines tossed some chum but nothing biting except the seagulls.
Finally arrived at V.A. FOGG to find two other boats there on the same wreck. Like an idiot I forgot to punch in the rest of the coordinates I had downloaded that night and only managed to put 6 of the 10 or 12 coordinates they give you online... The winds picked up and seas started building we made a couple of drifts and found the wreck but it was tough keeping the boat in position and dodging the other vessels we more or less free lined some baits and had a few hookups but nothing impressive. I was kicking myself for spending too much time fishing on the way out
We started heading back and stopped at the rigs that produced fish, 3 lings we lost at our final stop solid hookups but perhaps the hook was the issue, so we changed it out to sharper J-Hook and wouldn't you know we hookup to a ling. We measure just short revive for 5 min and release her to be caught again soon.
It was a good trip for the Robalo, first time off shore this year and she performed great. One scary moment we were drifting out at V.A. FOGG when all the sudden we smell gas and see a slick around the engine... Turns out perhaps a patch floating on the surface because I removed cowling and checked and then the oil and gas smell and slick were gone...
While we were out at the wreck and were well drifted off it we decided to take a swim and were met by a porpoise. We tossed it a few sardines and it came closer. Bailey even tried to feed it by hand to no avail lol but she did get fairly close to the boat.
We did a couple more drifts and boated 4 kings to 40" when we decided to go ahead and move further on out. We jogged on our way out to V.A. FOGG and hit every platform trying to redeem Bailey's goof at our first stop.
At our 2nd stop we dropped a few bottom rigs and hooked up with two ~20lb Red Snapper that we properly vented and sent back to the bottom to be caught probably by someone yesterday lol...
We were able to pick up a Spade Fish and a Lane Snapper at the same spot and decided to push on as it was nearing 10:30 by this point.
About the time we were getting ready to head out when the clicker on the Torsa 30 goes screaming. Line goes ripping off and I quickly motion to Bailey. He grabs the rod and I quickly realized that this is no kingfish, perhaps a Wahoo or Barracuda, maybe a Sailfish... The fish takes 1/2 the spool and we are now in hot pursuit. Unfortunately the leader and rigging fails, the 150lb clamp swivel is bent in half and the hook is nowhere to be found. Upset to say the least I'm guessing it was a Barracuda... I'd like to think it was a Wahoo or Sailfish but who knows we never saw anything. Not to have this happen again I bust out the wire leader rigs and needless to say we did not get broken off anymore after that.
Headed further out and ran across some weed lines tossed some chum but nothing biting except the seagulls.
Finally arrived at V.A. FOGG to find two other boats there on the same wreck. Like an idiot I forgot to punch in the rest of the coordinates I had downloaded that night and only managed to put 6 of the 10 or 12 coordinates they give you online... The winds picked up and seas started building we made a couple of drifts and found the wreck but it was tough keeping the boat in position and dodging the other vessels we more or less free lined some baits and had a few hookups but nothing impressive. I was kicking myself for spending too much time fishing on the way out
We started heading back and stopped at the rigs that produced fish, 3 lings we lost at our final stop solid hookups but perhaps the hook was the issue, so we changed it out to sharper J-Hook and wouldn't you know we hookup to a ling. We measure just short revive for 5 min and release her to be caught again soon.
It was a good trip for the Robalo, first time off shore this year and she performed great. One scary moment we were drifting out at V.A. FOGG when all the sudden we smell gas and see a slick around the engine... Turns out perhaps a patch floating on the surface because I removed cowling and checked and then the oil and gas smell and slick were gone...
While we were out at the wreck and were well drifted off it we decided to take a swim and were met by a porpoise. We tossed it a few sardines and it came closer. Bailey even tried to feed it by hand to no avail lol but she did get fairly close to the boat.
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