Left Ripley’s at 0430 heading somewhere slightly south of straight out. Lines in at 0700. 3 knockdowns in first 15 minutes but only one dolphin to the box. Nothing but worried faces for the next 2 hours until Mr. Weedline shows up outa nowhere and it was game on. Pretty consistent action for next 3-4 hours with 1-3 dolphin at a time bolting out from the weedline. Managed a total of 28 with most good sized.
Personally on the bad end of two potential day makers. First pulled the hook on an estimated 40-45 bull. Then decided to break out the fly rod into the foray and missed a little pecker due to slack line as the boat was backing down. Proceeded to hook a sizable fish that about wore out my GLX with some serious rod bending and reel palming only to lose him at the transom. He wore through the tippet just above the fly. It never ceases to amaze me the amount of pressure you can put on a sizable fish with a spindly litlle piece of graphite and a 25# tippet.
Cudos to the entire crew…Capt Louis (who harkened back to his ENT days by performing a tonsillectomy on a smallish dolphin who must have swallowed his most favorite lure) Bruce ( who did a heckuva job keeping us on the weedline all day), Austin (Bruce’s son who awoke from a slumber to slam several nice sized dolphin into the box), George C. (who, at 17, knows his way around a sportfishing boat better than most twice his age and pitched the bait to the bull I lost), Stanton (who, with George C. as his mentor would make for a fine first mate) and “Older” George (for his calming effect and piloting skills while the rest of us sleep).
mark
Pathfinder 2200V
Yamaha 175 VMax