this is an official report so i won’t get nailed for improper postin… but d$%&mn you guys are gettin on em out there. very impressive. i was feeling pretty good about dusting the skunk and bringing home some dinner, but after reading all these reports 20, 30, 40 freaking fish, i can’t help feeling like a rooky. oh, forgot. i am a rooky.
me and my 11 year old on the new boat. 32’ edgewater. followed capt. mel out of dewees and headed to swb. great ride out. started out running about 30, once the sun came out we kicked it up to about 40. actually had the entire boat out of the water 3 times. very fun, feeling a little reggie fountain at times. fish in 200ft. kept 6 dolphin, 1 wahoo. = 2 doubles and 1 triple, got them all in the boat. felt pretty good about that. the 11 year old was very proud, as he should be. anyways blah, blah compared to other boats. then the fun started again. secured everthing as we almost lost a few items on the way out. set the TR1 for dewees inlet, put the throttles to 5000rpms = 45 mph with a nice tail wind. gps said 51nm, TTA = 1hour, 10mins. yam. fuel management states 28gph. sat back and didn’t touch the wheel or throttles for the next 1hour, 10mins. freakin awesome ride home. 11 year and myself were all smiles.
anyways, congratulations again to all who slayed em out there. you guys should give lessons!!! i’m available.
Nice boat!
The difference in 10 fish and 30 is typically very small details and being ready when the fish come to the boat. How many rods are you trolling? Flurocarbon? Wind-on leaders? Ballyhoo rigging? What are you looking for when out there? Which direction are you trolling (north/south or east/west)? Give some information and I am sure some of the pros can help.
“Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a
pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly
used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming–WOW–What a ride!!!”
-Stuart Wilde-
All Rise - 31 Contender Fish Around with a pair of 250 Yamahas
lowlander, your right. i think i’ve created a monster. the kid has fishing mags all over the place. he walks around mumbling about 50 wides, need a dredge, check out this sweet jarrett bay. hey dad, when are we getting a big boat? oh boy, what have i done?
scoutin 4 goodies, here’s the run down. we check out hot spots sst, but never really take those readings serious, so we head out in a blind direction. stop at some live bottom in 200ft. they show on the walmart charts. put out 6-7 lines, no particular color all on 140lb mono. you know pink, green, blue/white all rigged with hoo. run a downrigger with a planer not a ball, i think it runs deeper. put the cable rigged black bart on that. then sit back and troll in no particuler direction, maybe along this ledge everyone talks about. put on the bob marley, crack open a corona. life is good, even better when something happens. so there’s the big game plan. pretty complicated huh.
now that i spell it out, i think there is room for improvement here.
Not quite a full deck.
I don’t know much about them, but I thought all Barts were made for surface running. But then again…as a business module they could’ve very easily expanded their offering to include sub-surface baits.
If you want to catch a bunch o dolphin…pull up to a weedline or a rip that has signs of fish… start chumming peices of squid… freeline a few peices of squid chunks into the frey… continue until you sick of catching them…
It is more fun than dragging a bunch of 10 to 20 lb dolphin in on 50 wides… plus a box of squid is a lot cheaper than 6 packs of ballyhoo…
Don’t get too worried by the fish numbers of other boats. You start comparing yourself against charter capts that fish 4-5 times per week during season and that is hard to keep up with.
With two in the boat and one being a young man, try to limit the lines pulled to 4. Keep the bait fresh and if a lure is not working, replace it with another. Use common sense and listen to what others are doing on the radio. Two in the boat makes it hard to get the numbers so maybe next time take a friend of your son and his father.
More hands make quick work.
Nice report by the way and good luck to you and your son in the future.
If that was done to me at age 11,I would walked around mumbling too.You thought that you where catching fish,but what you just caught has a life long fishing partner.I’ll bet you a Dollar to a dough nut that you’ll never walk around mumbling “where did I go wrong with this boy”.That’s what kid fishing does!
greg1, black barts san sal candy. got hit twice on the planer in 2 hours. we lost the first one. classic rooky mistake, we put the boat neutral, then the fish ran straight towards the boat. learned something there, didn’t repeat that move and got the second one, nice hoo.
cracker, thanks for the tip. that puts us one step closer to knowing what we’re doing.
wando, you are right. feels like competing against tiger woods. we’ll keep it in perspective. thanks for the words.
lowlander, you’re right too. we’re hooked for life and will appreciate all the trips to come. he’s a great kid and a good mate/capt. in the making. he just started mowing grass and doing chores so he can save up for tackle.
You had fun, caught fish, and spent some quality time with your son - it doesn’t get any better than that in my book!!! I think people lose sight of things when they get too hung up on numbers. Don’t compare yourself with the charters who pull 12 lines with a professional captain, professional mate, and 6 anglers. Also, I’m sure there were plenty of people out there who didn’t do as well as you did - they just don’t post about it on the internet.
By the way, that San Sal Candy is a great planer bait - we’ve caught a ton of wahoo, dolphin, and even tuna on that rig. Try a Super Pro Jet on the way back line and hang on!
cant wait until my two boys are a little older. They always ask to go but I think we will try some near shore and maybe the 60 and y73 before I take the 7&10 year old to the ledge.
Great post, the others are right a friend and his father will make the labor and the trip better.
Nice boat and nice fish, you have created a fishing monster, but you have also created a bond with your son that no one is going to break any time soon.
