July 4 weekend fishing

[dmcauley]

One of the things I look forward to is this weekend is to catch a grouper for my B-day.
I have been successful in getting one every year for several years excepting last year which was so bad we couldn't get the boat out. I did manage to land one the following weekend tho' so I was happy.
This weekend Buoyweather called me and said there was a small window on Sat. morning and would I like to go out w/him. I jumped at the chance and joined him on his new 42 ft. Tiara yacht.
What a boat. 42 ft w/ a 16 ft beam and all the luxuries.
We headed out to surprisingly calm seas to the caballo reef or somewhere there abouts. At about 930 am Toni the boat hand pulled in a nice 85 lb gulf grouper After that the current got to strong to fish so Art suggested we just relax and wait for the slack tide at 2-3 pm.
There was cloud cover and a cool breeze coming from the west so this made waiting easy.
Sandy made us breakfast in the galley while we fished for more bait and when we got too hot we all went below in the air conditioning.Again, what luxury.
We went out about 2pm and the bite was on. Sandy caught a 50 lb gulf and a half hour later
I hooked up with an 80 lb grouper.
Art, ever the optimist. said he'd get his pretty quick and sure `enouigh he landed a 70+ lb gulf grouper.
I have to say that this is my best B-day ever and i will remember it for years.
Thanks Art and Sandy. What a trip, what a yacht. Great captain and great company. I,ll post pics later

 

[moore_rb]

Awesome.

Good fishing, Breakfast, AND air conditioning...? Sounds like you old guys were really suffering.

I'm glad you were able to tough it out.

 

[dmcauley]

As you get older, and spend more time in RP, Robert, you'll find out you do not have to go 200 miles roundtrip and fish 16 - 17 hours to get fish. We had a really great time and if this is what getting old is like, I just can,t wait for the next B-day.

 

[azfish]

Awesome.

Good fishing, Breakfast, AND air conditioning...? Sounds like you old guys were really suffering.

I'm glad you were able to tough it out.

Hey now, you know how hard it is to turn that AC nob to cool. Nice to see you didnt need assistance unloading the fish from the boat.

 

[moore_rb]

As you get older, and spend more time in RP, Robert, you'll find out you do not have to go 200 miles roundtrip and fish 16 - 17 hours to get fish. We had a really great time and if this is what getting old is like, I just can,t wait for the next B-day.

haha.. very funny. but to correct one minor detail Dan- we ran 200 miles and fished 16 hours in order to catch ZERO fish

still, 16 hours of fishing (or running) still beats 16 hours of working.

But I definitely admit I'm jealous of the air conditioning.

 

[Shawno]

Congratulations!

Happy birthday Dan! Wow, that sounds like a trip fit for a king. Those are some really nice fish. Wish I could have joined you. Thanks for posting the report! Here is one of Art's pics with Sandi and the 4 big grouper.