I have a theory that reports are positively skewed by the crews who do well. It makes sense that those people are pumped up and eager to report, the others don’t want to share mediocre results. Well here’s an honest report to keep perspectives in balance.
Left CHS,. Went right over the Y-73 towards the ledge, lines in at 8:30 and 150’. Nice ride out despite getting a tab stuck in the down position and losing main GPS. Tweaked the load for a better ride and punched the numbers into the back up GPS and we were back in business.
2 ‘cudas in 1st 30 minutes and hooked a nice dolphin 15 minutes later in 180’ only to lose him on his second jump. No big deal, fish were biting and we were going to have more shots. Only we didn’t. Not another knockdown rest of the day. Went out to 250’, back in, a little north along ledge, a little south, fished with the other boats in the scattered weeds, went out by ourselves for a little while, picked up and ran 15 mins for a re-set… nothing doing. Had the planer, ballyhoo,daisy chain, WB, WWB, cast with the spinning rod to debris, tried everything we could think of but that was it for us.
A day later I have to say I’m a little bummed out but I was proud of our effort. We kept active (weeds were a PIA), tried different things, dealt with some challenges and nobody complained. We took a 13 year old for his first trip and he had a blast, he saw some great sights. 50 miles out and a school of porpoise surround the bow, that was awesome. Run in was ridiculously easy. Not a bad Sunday for some weekend warriors from the mosquito fleet. 85 gallon tank still had a quarter left after we logged 135 miles on the GPS. We’ll get 'em next time.
BTW, another friend went to SW Banks area 800-1500’, 8 hook ups with 4 phins boated, all good size but lost an estimated 50#‘er 20’ from the boat…
Same thing here except we had 3 bites right off the rip. Boated one and went about 4 hours without a bite. Finally found a spot with a few and ended up with 9 dolphin and a wahoo. It sure was boring for a while.
Just be happy that you were on the beautiful ocean ! You can rig ballyhoo weedless very easily. Just bend the pin backwards and place the hook into the hoo’s body - hidden.
Same here, I caught 21 may 4th and caught 4 dolphin, 1 Bonita, and a cuda. I haven’t caught a cuda in four years, but it happened. Fished the first weed line in 150 all the way to 900 ft. Picked up the dolphin on a weed line with the fleet. Had to put my turn signal on to get back in line after I boated a fish. I don’t think it helps fishing behind people, but you take what you can get. Rolled lines up at 12:30 and headed north to the g hole. Saw a few boats fishing dropped lines and caught a Bonita. Trolled for another hour… Zip, nada. Rolled them up and headed in at 35 knots. It happens, wished I would have caught more, the sst break was spot on, not sure what happened. I don’t like how it’s heating up so fast, the good news is we won’t have to run as far in another couple weeks.
quote:
My idea of a bad day would be not coming back at all.
Exactly
If the boat doesn’t break and nobody gets hurt it’s a good day. If you can bring home some fish too it’s a great day
It’s sort of like flying. Any landing that you and your passengers can walk away from is a good one. Any landing that you can walk away from and use the plane again is a great one:smiley:
Capt. Larry Teuton
Cracker Built Custom Boats
“Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made.” -Robert N. Rose
Been there…more than once. Not much fun to report after a day like that.
Hell, I lost my swim platform ladder on Sunday while putting in at JIYC on a bail-out tide. Forgot to raise it after climbing in the boat. Launched from trailer right into about a foot of water and all four of us had to push the boat over to the dock before we could get going. Didn’t notice the missing ladder until later in the day when I was putting lines out!
Felt pretty stupid but fortunately for us, that was the only downer of the day. Made it out and managed to catch some fish.
My philosophy on “bad” days is, “Count your blessings, it can ALWAYS be worse.”
We had a great crew, a beautiful spread, and a similar result. The ride was slick, the fuel consumption slight, and the beer was cold. A beautiful Sunday despite one in the box. A bad day involves SeaTow and/or the USCG!
