Tag: boat dog

Rough Seas

Sometimes, even with the help of a fish finding and stock trading dog, catching fish can be a challenge.   Saturday was one of those days.  Elliott, Brody, and I launched the boat at 6:30 in the morning.  Our plan was to run offshore and target Wahoo in 180-feet of water.  The weather was crisp.  Cool enough that that I put on a light jacket for the run offshore.  Upon exiting the jetties, we encountered rough, washing machine like conditions.  So, we decided to try vertical jigging for Grouper a little closer to shore in 90 feet of water.

On the ride to our first Grouper spot, I could tell Brody was feeling a little seasick.  You are asking, how does one know your dog is seasick? Because Brody threw up on my shoes.  Twice!   Thankfully, he began to feel a little better upon our arrival at a ledge 24-miles offshore.  Well, at least he stopped throwing up.  However, he was in no condition to help us find fish.  For the next two hours, Elliott and I dropped jigs to the ledge.  We could see schools of fish on the depth finder but only managed to catch one Grouper.  Sea conditions continued to be rough, and Brody gave me the “this is not fun” look.  So, we called it a day.

On the ride back, the ocean laid down as we approached shore.  Brody started barking.  This got my attention, and I scanned the horizon.  A school of Atlantic Bonito was feeding aggressively a couple of hundred yards ahead of us.  I pulled back the throttles and Elliott grabbed a spinning rod rigged with a Shimano 21-gram Colt Sniper jig.  We let the boat drift near the school and Elliott made a long cast into the feeding frenzy.  Boom! Fish on. 

We enjoyed non-stop action with the Bonito until we got tired of catching them.   They were not the target species, but we had a blast catching and releasing them.  Other than Brody being seasick and me needing a new pair of shoes, it was a very good day.

Overboard! And a New Recommendation.

After the shark selfie episode, my fishing trips have been more sedate. Brody (the amazing fish finding dog) and I have been concentrating our efforts in the rivers and creeks. For the most part, the Trout, Flounder and Redfish have been very cooperative. All are readily striking a Z-Man Trout Trick rigged on a quarter ounce lead head jig. On Sunday, we were catching and releasing Trout at a rapid pace. After about 30 minutes, a porpoise (with a distinct notch in its dorsal fin) began following my Pathfinder around and eating the fish we were releasing. Brody did not approve and began barking each time the porpoise approached the boat. So, we left the fish biting and moved to another location. Brody and I used the trolling motor to slowly move along the creek bank and cast the Trout Trick to points and pockets in the marsh. It did not take long to find another school of hungry Trout. A few minutes later, the porpoise with the wonky dorsal fin found us again. As it approached the boat, Brody began barking and jumped into the water nearly on top of the porpoise.

Brody is not much for swimming. Thus, he wears a floatation device when we are on water. As it turns out, Brody is a good swimmer and likes being in the water. However, I was thankful that he was wearing a floatation device. The handles made it easy to lift my 52-pound dog back into the boat. After drying Brody off, I resumed fishing. The porpoise never came back. Brody is now the amazing fish finding and porpoise scaring dog.

On occasion, I discover something that is worthy of sharing. All my fishing rods are lightweight, sensitive and very expensive. Recently, I purchased a Shimano Sellus spinning rod. It is reasonably light, sensitive and costs only $49. That is 1/10th the cost of my normal fishing rods! If you are thinking about getting a new inshore fishing rod and don’t want to invest $500, check out the Sellus. I think you will like it.