October fishing 10/19/19

[Scotfish]

So I booked a whole day fishing charter for myself my son and a friend.Its funny people want to eat fish but no one wants to go out and get them.Anyway things started out rough we only manage to get Spanish mackerel for bait so using mackerel strips for bait the first fishing spot nothing.The 2nd spot again nothing and I was beginning to wonder if the day was going to be a bust! Even the captain looked a bit baffled so on our third stop we did get a decent size spot bass.So I decided to try some frozen sardines i brought so using a 80# 6 foot mono leader and I put on a whole 7-8 inch sardine and almost got my rod pull out of my hands first drop 14 pound pinto bass.So we ended up with a modest catch of groupers red snapper and one pinto all but one on sardines not to mention the ones that snapped 80 and 100# braid.The shiny silver bodies and the oily smell I suggest keep some on hand fresh or frozen!

 

[Stuart]

Nice catch!

 

[Kenny]

Ric and I were out on the 51 and this boat, Ric knew them vaguely, pulled up and they asked for some bait. We would always catch and freeze Sardines and had plenty, so Ric handed them some in a bag. They pulled off swung around and as they started their drift we noticed that one of the guys was cutting up the Sardines. Our heads turned to each other and we just shrugged with a smile. They had just ruined the bait we had given them if they wanted a decent fish. You did well by bringing some frozen Sardines Scotfish, and don't underrate a whole formally frozen Sadine when it comes to catching quality fish.

 

[Mexico Joe]

So I booked a whole day fishing charter for myself my son and a friend.Its funny people want to eat fish but no one wants to go out and get them.Anyway things started out rough we only manage to get Spanish mackerel for bait so using mackerel strips for bait the first fishing spot nothing.The 2nd spot again nothing and I was beginning to wonder if the day was going to be a bust! Even the captain looked a bit baffled so on our third stop we did get a decent size spot bass.So I decided to try some frozen sardines i brought so using a 80# 6 foot mono leader and I put on a whole 7-8 inch sardine and almost got my rod pull out of my hands first drop 14 pound pinto bass.So we ended up with a modest catch of groupers red snapper and one pinto all but one on sardines not to mention the ones that snapped 80 and 100# braid.The shiny silver bodies and the oily smell I suggest keep some on hand fresh or frozen!

Why don't any of the nationals fish live bait? They all want to use cut bait. I remember Kenny and I were out about 10 miles from Santo Tomas on my first trip down back in 2011 in a ponga. We caught some CANDY MACKS and the guy goes to start cutting it up and Kenny is like stop that, I want that one live! LOL

They love that bait cut up! lol just drifting around with some weight. I guess it really doesn't matter that much because I caught a huge Pinto on cut bait that other trip with Kenny down Santo Tomas way. Shout out to Jerry! RIP from the forum!

 

[Mexico Joe]

So I booked a whole day fishing charter for myself my son and a friend.Its funny people want to eat fish but no one wants to go out and get them.Anyway things started out rough we only manage to get Spanish mackerel for bait so using mackerel strips for bait the first fishing spot nothing.The 2nd spot again nothing and I was beginning to wonder if the day was going to be a bust! Even the captain looked a bit baffled so on our third stop we did get a decent size spot bass.So I decided to try some frozen sardines i brought so using a 80# 6 foot mono leader and I put on a whole 7-8 inch sardine and almost got my rod pull out of my hands first drop 14 pound pinto bass.So we ended up with a modest catch of groupers red snapper and one pinto all but one on sardines not to mention the ones that snapped 80 and 100# braid.The shiny silver bodies and the oily smell I suggest keep some on hand fresh or frozen!

Nice Snapper! Good to see some of those around. About how far did you guys go? Heading?

 

[Kenny]

Pinto's feed different than Grouper, WSB, Snapper and such, so you can catch them with cut bait and Squid right next to the other species who have ignored it. As a kid in the 50's, we caught a lot of Pinto's and big ones in close on cut bait we caught trolling the bay. If I remember right, Stuart's wife who usually outfishes him anyway, caught a what, a 40+ pounder while fishing with Squid. As you know Joe, you've heard the stories, big Pinto's were often caught in close back in the day. A smart fisherman always tries to put the wife or girlfriend on a quality fish early on. They don't provide quality bait or spend their time catching it because it's time and money spent that they want in their pockets. There is some older Panga fisherman who can hit the 12 mile with their eyes closed, and we know going into and during the summer there are some nice Grouper working them. But you need good bait and tactics to catch them.

 

[Mexico Joe]

Pinto's feed different than Grouper, WSB, Snapper and such, so you can catch them with cut bait and Squid right next to the other species who have ignored it. As a kid in the 50's, we caught a lot of Pinto's and big ones in close on cut bait we caught trolling the bay. If I remember right, Stuart's wife who usually outfishes him anyway, caught a what, a 40+ pounder while fishing with Squid. As you know Joe, you've heard the stories, big Pinto's were often caught in close back in the day. A smart fisherman always tries to put the wife or girlfriend on a quality fish early on. They don't provide quality bait or spend their time catching it because it's time and money spent that they want in their pockets. There is some older Panga fisherman who can hit the 12 mile with their eyes closed, and we know going into and during the summer there are some nice Grouper working them. But you need good bait and tactics to catch them.

Copy that. I never use cut bait anymore. I used to tip the scampi rigs with some cut or squid but the squid goes bad so fast and stinks so bad that I don't want it on the jet ski with me lol. It doesn't stay on the hook well either. I could be doing it wrong. Strong possibility. Maybe I need to start using some CUTTY again.

 

[Scotfish]

Nice Snapper! Good to see some of those around. About how far did you guys go? Heading?

We didn’t head out very far about 15-20 miles and never fished in water deeper than 200 feet.I really wanted to get some red snapper I was very happy to get two of them.I did notice the fish was biting better on the longer leaders 6 foot or more?

 

[Wood Spinner]

Good info guys. Sure hope this is a better winter than last year. It was so cold and windy,

 

[Kenny]

We didn’t head out very far about 15-20 miles and never fished in water deeper than 200 feet.I really wanted to get some red snapper I was very happy to get two of them.I did notice the fish was biting better on the longer leaders 6 foot or more?

I use about a 5-foot leader off a 3-way swivel, and that's very close to hand to, for me anyway, hands held out in an open cross position. WSB are line shy, so we'd go as light as we thought we could get away with. The one in my picture was caught, if I remember right, on a 50 lb leader that Ric had tied.

 

[sampson]

What was the charters name, number and price.

 

[Scotfish]

What was the charters name, number and price.

Hey Sampson the charter service is Santiago Ocean services the all day fishing charter is $900 flat rate you split however you like with friends and family or any others you want to share the cost with the boat is the Caballo Del Mar.