Well this was the first trip on the new boat. We started the day early heading out at 4:30 A.M. Radar and GPS were working great to get us around all the sportys that were headed out as well. Went out past a couple channel markers and set the autopilot for the 26 hole and set the throttles at 30 MPH and sat in for a rough wet ride in a confused sea. I thought the ride would be smoother based on the weather. It wasn’t bad as we were able to do 30 MPH but it was not smooth.
Got out to about 240 feet of water and about 74 degrees and started to troll towards 226. Long slow troll. We picked up the first fish after about an hour. The second fish 30 minutes later then it got even slower. As I got closer to the 226 the temp started dropping. So at about 2k feet deep I turned back in search of warmer water. Troll, Troll, Troll, and just a fish here and there. Then I found some 76.6 degree water in a tight area. Trolled through there and all heck broke loose. First we had a double knockdown. Lost one landed one. Then a ways later all 5 rods go down. It was amazing. So I set the autopilot and the boat at about 3 mph and the three of us started to bring them in. There were no tangles and all 5 were landed and in the fish box. Luck and a great crew, I couldn’t have asked for more. I did notice that we were on a school. If I would have been smart I would have left a couple on the hook by the boat and started to pitch bait to a few of the followers but I was so focused on getting the 5 in the boat the I didn’t think of it till later. Put the spread back out and trolled through there and got another.
So to end the day we burned 106 gallons of gas. We landed 11 Mahi missing only 1 (all fish found in about 5 to 600 feet of water). I need to get 4 things fixed on the boat before the next trip. Overall it was a pretty successful day especially for my first trip.
If i can get a picture of the fish ill add it later.
