Ryan, my 13 yr old son rolled out with me, my oldest son Austin, and his friend Will, for his first trip offshore yesterday. Sea was perfect. Ran out at 28-30kts.
We pushed out to SW Banks and set the lines in about 160’ and pushed back and forth over the ledge. All the action was in about 170-220’.
He sat there with his belt attached waiting for the big one! First knock-down teased the hook, made the reel scream for a couple of seconds, then spit the hook. Never got him on the rod, but he said his heart was pounding!
Second knock-down yielded him his first dolphin ever. Not a mammoth by any stretch, but nonetheless for him it might as well have been Jaws!
A few minutes later we had another one on the line, and Austin took him like a champ. Nice size bull.
As we were leaving the Banks, I was looking back at the spread and a Marlin came in and destroyed the short line, spit the hook, and went to the right line and played with it for a minute, then went to the WTFB and showed us his head as he politely gave us the one-finger salute and went about his way. What a thrill to see. To bad we couldn’t do anything with it.
Went in to bump the bottom and marked UNBELIEVABLE bottom. Needless to say, I don’t think there is any shortage of “overfished” species out there.
