Last year I promised myself I was not going out again in early April, but my nephew was in town for Wofford spring break and wanted to go. I spent Friday looking for reasons to cancel, but the weather and the seas looked good so out we went with zero expectations. Plan was to troll for a while and bottom fish later. Left Edisto at 5:15 and had nice ride out. Put lines in in 160ft, 74 degrees. Hadn’t even finished setting up when outrigger popped and to my surprise a nice dolphin jumped. As soon as we gaffed him another one came in hot and got one of the lines we left in. Another gaffer but smaller. Not long after we got reset put another gaffer in the box. I was shocked. Then things slowed. Worked the same area for a couple of hours with only one slinger. The xm weather was showing a little warm finger in 600ft so headed out there. Found 77 degree water eventually with scattered weeds here and the. Got another slinger and pulled hook on a nice one in 400ft. Nothing out deep. At noon we pulled up and headed in to bottom fish in 100ft. Mostly BSB, really big ones too, and a handful of triggerfish and vermillion. Caught my first mutton but was short. Only one ARS. Ocean laid down as predicted and was calm on the way in. Avoided most of the rain. All in all a much better day than I anticipated. Was good to let the boat stretch her legs and have no mechanical issues was a plus for a first trip. I guess if you don’t go you wont know. Really looking forward to next time out in a couple of weeks.
