Here is the skinny from yesterday…
Derek and I ran out on flat ocean to fish a spot out of the way. The kind of spot that I only fish once or twice no matter how bad arse it is. Look at finder and thing lit up like in simulation mode…crazy! Take our time to get boat ready and make a few, super slow drifts to check everything out before anchoring. In no time floor of boat is covered up in all kinds of quality fish. And, then, not even 45 minutes into fishing everything stops. And, I mean everything! Graph is clear and the stud triggers suspended in 100’ are gone along with everything else. Everything else, but jumbo remoras! We stuck it out for about another 1.5hrs, even dropping down the chum to get 'em going…nothing and I mean nothing!
So, we reluctantly headed back in (promised my 7.5 month pregnant wife I’d be back by 2pm). Around 90’, we stopped on a string of bottom that we marked heading out and put some knotheads in the boat on diamond jigs, as well as a 20lb. king that Derek caught high-speed reeling under some birds. Made one last stop to play with some AJs before heading back in.
Weird day for sure, but still enjoyable. The only thing I’ve been told by the “pros” is that a school of big silk sharks most likely moved in. All the bottom fish hide in the rocks and the other stuff hauls butt. Either way, those fish were going to get eaten by us or the sharks, .
Some more weirdness was the rip we found. The debris in it was all edible. It was fruit, lots and lots of fruit. Pineapple tops, oranges, apples, and vegetables. I saw several fennel tops, lol. Maybe from the cruise ships?
I’m assuming you checked to see that you weren’t dragging anchor? I had a day like that once where whenever I would anchor over something it would shut off. I confirmed I wasn’t dragging, then ended up drifting the rest of the day with a ton of success. The fish were very active that day and seemed to move quickly over bottom rather than stay in one place.
Any pics G2G!!! So far on the gamefish not a single trigger has come over. Everything else from gags, to ARS and every other imaginable 100’ and less bottom dweller has come over the gunnels except for triggers.
I’m assuming you checked to see that you weren’t dragging anchor? I had a day like that once where whenever I would anchor over something it would shut off. I confirmed I wasn’t dragging, then ended up drifting the rest of the day with a ton of success. The fish were very active that day and seemed to move quickly over bottom rather than stay in one place.
Thanks, too, for sharing that just in case. I’m always thankful to learn from others past experiences.
Yep, they got out of dodge. Anchor, drift, and anchor w/ chum. When you send chum cloud down and they don’t come something happened. I couldn’t see down there, so I’ll just take some old salts opinions and go with it. We were hammering 5lb b-liners, jumbo trigz, jumbo jo-jo’s, and big knotheads. Not to mention the school of AJs that were just hanging around busting bonita around the boat. And, then nothing, but jumbo remoras. We still did alright, but the goal was 40 5lb trigz!
And, sorry Foridaboy2, no pics. I’m still in the flip phone and no facebook era, lol. Usually my buddies take the pics and post 'em. I’m getting better though, but still lots of room for improvement.
I’m almost positive it was jaws that screwed up our day… especially since the disappearance of literally everything on the depthfinder coincided with me being cut off twice in a row. then the remoras moved in, jumbo ones too. jumbo remora = jumbo shark?!?
Getting that king on the diamond jig was a nice consolation though and enjoyed catching those 5 to 10 pound ajs at the offshore reef too. Good day man, we will get ours next time though!
I almost wonder if those sharks followed that rip of food scraps that moved in… crazy stuff