Me, Mr. Keys, and Jettsetter loaded up the ol’ Pioneer 197SF at 3am this morning and quickly were greeted with a flat, beautiful ocean. Lines in 180’ at SW Banks around 6:15am. We trolled N and zigzagged across the ledge and up and beyond GTH. No signs of life and no knockdowns on the wahoo spread by 9:30am, so we opted to bottom drop the ledge. Maybe we gave up too early on the 'hoo, but we were itching to pull the trigger. The deep bite was steady with lots of big triggers coming in, as well as a few yellowtail snapper and grouper. Around 1:30pm, we started to head in shallower to see what else we could find. On our way, we found a rip with some fish splashing and after a few casts with a small waxwing, bam, dolphin. As we were goofing around with bonitas and dolphin on the waxwings, Jetsetter started laying the smackdown on some more trigs. School was thick and it didn’t take long before we were slinging triple doubles of triggers in the boat. Bite slowed down and at 5pm we ran to one last spot, hoping for that gag we were missing. 2nd drop down, D in a tug of war with gag, rod all bowed up. Ended the day on that fish as darkness overwhelmed us. Got the boat ready to go and had to put my knee on the fish box to get it to latch. Rode back in with the light of the moon and pulled back into Remley’s on schedule after cruising 35mph on the way back in. Great, safe trip of diversified species with variety of methods. Thanks Stu and D for toughing it out today for a “man” trip and fishing hard all day.
Just wanted to add a thought with it being election time and stuff. If you are looking for a boat now, through winter, or whenever, please consider the Pioneer brand is all I can say. The 197 is an amazing boat that fishes much bigger than its’ size and can handle a bigger ocean than one thinks. We ran close to 240 miles yesterday, high-speed trolling way past GTH. I left the motor running all day and ran back in the last 40 miles at 3/4 throttle with a loaded down boat…we burned a hair under 50 gallons. Sorry and not trying to “spam” Pioneer, but just amazed at what this boat continues to do and how it fishes.
First of all… Andy you are a class act and a gentleman. Thanks for allowing me to join you and Derrick on this epic journey.
Best day by far I have ever had fishing out of Charleston. Deep dropping is the ticket.
Alot of firsts on this trip:
>I have never left and returned on a flat ocean
>Fishing offshore in Nov with shorts on
>Caught fish until I could’nt pull up anymore
>So many differnt species in one trip
>Big FAT quality fish - Triggers, Yellowtails, Groupers… unbelivable!
>Constant tax paying to the three devils under the boat… (Barracuda’s) - 10lbs of lead payed.
I could go on… but you all get the point!
thanks again Andy.
Stu
G2G,
You make excellent points about the 197. They are a solid built boat that is crazy efficient to operate. Customer service from the factory level is second to none. Two of my friends have them, both those guys love everything about the boat. I would have bought one last year but I just had to have more room for dive gear and such.
High speed trolling takes its toll on fuel and you still only burned 50 gallons, That’ll make you smile at the end of the day.
