Month: November 2021

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.

Sushi

Brody can already taste the sushi

For the past week or so, there have been rumors that the Blackfin Tuna bite is red hot along the 30-fathom curve.  Blackfin Tuna make excellent sashimi and poke.  Two of my favorite foods.  Unfortunately, a sprained right ankle has kept me from offshore fishing.  On Thursday, the allure of fresh Blackfin Tuna became overwhelming.  So, Brody and I invited Elliott (my son), Dave (my brother) and Tristin Poole to join us on Friday.

We left the dock just before first light.  Our plan was to run to the 30-fathom curve then troll a spread of DTX lures (for Wahoo) and cedar plugs (for Blackfin).  We arrived a bit late to the fishing grounds and missed the prime fishing time.  However, we did manage to catch some tuna.  With a good supply of sashimi and poke in the fish box, we decided to stop trolling and do a little vertical jigging.

While I navigated to a small ledge in 165 feet of water, the crew switched from trolling to jigging tackle.  Upon arrival at the ledge, we dropped Shimano 170-gram Shimmerfall jigs to the bottom.  This was my first time to fish a Shimmerfall jig.  I liked it.  More importantly, the Grouper and Snapper liked it too!  Dave even hooked a couple of Blackfin Tuna on the Shimmerfall.  However, one pulled the hook and the other was eaten by a shark.  This got us to thinking about specifically targeting Blackfin Tuna with jigs.  It will take a bit of trial and error, but I think it will become a highly effective technique for keeping sashimi and poke on the table!

On Saturday, Brody and I did a little inshore fishing.  The Trout, Flounder and Redfish were crushing the Z-Man Finesse TRD.  They were congregating around creek mouths on the last half of the falling tide.  Shallow, oyster laden creeks produced the best action.  While we were fishing, a boat pulled up and stopped.  I expected them to ask a fishing question.  However, they just wanted to see the “famous” fish finding and stock trading dog.  It was a humbling experience.