Well, as predicted, Connie again outfished me. No surprises there.
We got a late start on Friday - had to shovel the sand out of the boat from it sitting most of the summer. Couple maintenance items to take care of, then get gas, get ice, etc. We finally got launched about 11:00 and found a slight breeze and fairly smooth seas. Seemed to take awhile to scratch up some bait. Went through about 6 sabikis just bam-bam-bam because the sierra were literally chewing the hooks right off them. You'd drop six hooks, pull back up four, drop again, pull up two, etc. Went digging around the boat and found a couple sabikis that had slightly bigger hooks and heavier line, then finally started putting some bait in the bait tank.
About 1:30, headed up to the 18. Connie had been dying to get her new pole wet. It's a Daiwa 80 lb. pole with a Saltist SLD30 two-speed reel, spooled with 80 lb. red spectra. It's a very light set-up and easy for her to handle. As I put a live bonefish on her grouper rig, I asked her - "You're not going to cry if a big grouper snaps this thing like a toothpick, right?" She said no, bring it on. So, I dropped the bonefish over the side and she started fishing. I baited and dropped on the other side of the boat. I had barely hit bottom when I hear that familiar "OOOOhhhhh! FISH ON!!!"
I had set her reel for strike, rather than full on drag. The fish was pulling line, so I set the lever drag for full on. Just to give you an idea, I had checked the drag before dropping. I could not physically pull any line off the reel by hand. However, this fish was having no problem pulling line at a good clip. Couldn't make any headway cranking on the fish, so it was just a matter of holding on tight and hoping the grouper wouldn't rock us before the drag tired it out. More pulling line, then a lucky break - the fish got tired and we were able to start making some headway on it. I helped Connie with the lift, then she would crank as I lowered the rod. Up and down, but finally getting some line back. Then another run, but the fish was definitely tired now. I had her put the reel in low gear and just start grinding. The fish started coming up; looked like the battle was won.
Sure enough, after much hot, sweaty cranking, the grouper broke the surface. It was a biggie - easily 80 lbs. or better. My scale bottoms out at 50 lbs., so no sense even bothering to weigh it. A good gaff shot under the bottom lip and them yours trully manages to man-handle the beast over the side without falling and breaking my ass on the deck! Seeing the fish laying there on the deck, Connie says "That's the biggest fish I've ever caught!" Yup. Sure is. Dragged it over to the fish box and it barely fit. We both needed a break after that.
Connie decided she was done grouper fishing for the day. Can't imagine why. We went further north to the 23 and tried a couple spots in that area, but no takers on our live baits. Headed back in about 4:00 on smooth seas.
Saturday, we opted to try fishing for somethng other than grouper. Made some live baits and caught a few sierra to use as cut bait. Also got into a nice run of threadfin herring and had several of those to use as cut bait. The breeze was stiffer than Friday and we headed out towards the 41, but was just too rough to make good speed. Stopped at the 17 and had a few nibbles, but no takers. Motored SE to the 20 mile south reef and same story there, just small nibblers. Went to the Caballo and drifted that several times. Had one good taker, but it didn't stay on. The only thing I hooked (almost) was a big sealion -- took me surprise as it grabbed my bonefish on the way up and started to run with it. Fortunately, it didn't take the hook and let go after a nice 20 yard run.
Finally got tired of being ignored by the fish and headed back to Penasco about 3:30 on a following sea. It's still very hot out there. Looking forward to a cooler adventure in October! Good to see Art Pina + Sandy, Dan (he went down to Lobos), Beachgirl (ran into her briefly at Reggie's). Ric was out with Dennis and I hear they got a nice grouper and some white seabass, Doug and Scott were at lobos, but didn't hear their fishslaying numbers yet.
We got a late start on Friday - had to shovel the sand out of the boat from it sitting most of the summer. Couple maintenance items to take care of, then get gas, get ice, etc. We finally got launched about 11:00 and found a slight breeze and fairly smooth seas. Seemed to take awhile to scratch up some bait. Went through about 6 sabikis just bam-bam-bam because the sierra were literally chewing the hooks right off them. You'd drop six hooks, pull back up four, drop again, pull up two, etc. Went digging around the boat and found a couple sabikis that had slightly bigger hooks and heavier line, then finally started putting some bait in the bait tank.
About 1:30, headed up to the 18. Connie had been dying to get her new pole wet. It's a Daiwa 80 lb. pole with a Saltist SLD30 two-speed reel, spooled with 80 lb. red spectra. It's a very light set-up and easy for her to handle. As I put a live bonefish on her grouper rig, I asked her - "You're not going to cry if a big grouper snaps this thing like a toothpick, right?" She said no, bring it on. So, I dropped the bonefish over the side and she started fishing. I baited and dropped on the other side of the boat. I had barely hit bottom when I hear that familiar "OOOOhhhhh! FISH ON!!!"
I had set her reel for strike, rather than full on drag. The fish was pulling line, so I set the lever drag for full on. Just to give you an idea, I had checked the drag before dropping. I could not physically pull any line off the reel by hand. However, this fish was having no problem pulling line at a good clip. Couldn't make any headway cranking on the fish, so it was just a matter of holding on tight and hoping the grouper wouldn't rock us before the drag tired it out. More pulling line, then a lucky break - the fish got tired and we were able to start making some headway on it. I helped Connie with the lift, then she would crank as I lowered the rod. Up and down, but finally getting some line back. Then another run, but the fish was definitely tired now. I had her put the reel in low gear and just start grinding. The fish started coming up; looked like the battle was won.
Sure enough, after much hot, sweaty cranking, the grouper broke the surface. It was a biggie - easily 80 lbs. or better. My scale bottoms out at 50 lbs., so no sense even bothering to weigh it. A good gaff shot under the bottom lip and them yours trully manages to man-handle the beast over the side without falling and breaking my ass on the deck! Seeing the fish laying there on the deck, Connie says "That's the biggest fish I've ever caught!" Yup. Sure is. Dragged it over to the fish box and it barely fit. We both needed a break after that.
Connie decided she was done grouper fishing for the day. Can't imagine why. We went further north to the 23 and tried a couple spots in that area, but no takers on our live baits. Headed back in about 4:00 on smooth seas.
Saturday, we opted to try fishing for somethng other than grouper. Made some live baits and caught a few sierra to use as cut bait. Also got into a nice run of threadfin herring and had several of those to use as cut bait. The breeze was stiffer than Friday and we headed out towards the 41, but was just too rough to make good speed. Stopped at the 17 and had a few nibbles, but no takers. Motored SE to the 20 mile south reef and same story there, just small nibblers. Went to the Caballo and drifted that several times. Had one good taker, but it didn't stay on. The only thing I hooked (almost) was a big sealion -- took me surprise as it grabbed my bonefish on the way up and started to run with it. Fortunately, it didn't take the hook and let go after a nice 20 yard run.
Finally got tired of being ignored by the fish and headed back to Penasco about 3:30 on a following sea. It's still very hot out there. Looking forward to a cooler adventure in October! Good to see Art Pina + Sandy, Dan (he went down to Lobos), Beachgirl (ran into her briefly at Reggie's). Ric was out with Dennis and I hear they got a nice grouper and some white seabass, Doug and Scott were at lobos, but didn't hear their fishslaying numbers yet.
