CHECK THE GUESTBOOK COMMENTS THESE SAY IT ALL!!!!!
As the old saying goes, "what a difference a day can make". Today we were with Joel, Brent, Bruce, and Aaron Somero along with them were good friend David Samuelson. We were supposed to do a full day trip today and I was going to cancel, but, the guys wanted to fish some, so, I advised them that it was not supposed to get bad until later that day and we could stay close in and do some fishing. I let them know the outlook wasn't too good with the weather we had to work with, but, everyone wanted to do what we could.
The strong front that was approaching had definately messed with the fishes minds and equilibreum. The bite we had the day before had been blown away with the winds that had roughed up the water from the day before that was flat calm to a good 2 foot chop this morning.
OK, we are going to try it until the swells get to 3 feet, then we are out'ta here I said. Everyone agreed. Suprisingly, we were able to fish longer than I figured we would. But, the bite was definately slowed way down by the low pressure. We caught a big lizard fish, and we promptly deployed it on a downrigger at 25 feet. We had not trolled it too far when something big tried to tear the rigger off the boat. It stayed deep like a tuna would do. Brent was the man on the rod but it didn't last too long, the fish proved to be just too much for the 20 pound class king mackeral tackle we had him on!!! We will never know for sure what it was, but, we do know it was "BIG" and "HEAVY".
By this time the seas were cranking up and we moved back inshore to a live bottom area, here, we also found the fish to be a little lethargic. After moving up and down the live bottom that is a ledge that runs to the east, I finally found a few fish.
We were catching some Black Bass that would have been keepers just a week ago, but were now a 1/4 inch short of the new size limit, along with those we were catching a few bluefish, some sharks, Aaron caught a real nice flounder,(in which I forgot to get a picture of), maybe they will email me one!! But, again Brent was the "rod man" when the big red drum hit. We all thought it was a big shark since we had caught several but when it came to the top it was a 60 inch red drum, which I estimated at 45+ pounds, we did get that picture, since it was too big to keep!!
Guys, we did the best we could today with the weather we had to work with and had to call it quits around lunch time. The seas didn't want to cooperate past mid day, maybe we will have better weather next time, don't think it will be any worse, unless there is a hurricane!!! Till next time, FISH ON!!! Capt Butch and "Private Bodie" the fish dog says, what was my final score for the "swan dive" I did off the transom!!!! www.yeahrightcharters.com
THURSDAY10-26-06
Today "Private Bodie" and I were in the great company of some local fishermen and fisherwomen. We had with us today Kim Ann Russ, that's right, the Kim Ann Russ from Southport reality, with her we had the "birthday girl" Jane Astoske, who told her age but I don't think she looked a day over 20, with those girls were Kai Nielsen, and Kid Caison.
We started off on a King Mackeral mission and found some at the Shark Hole and Coral Bottoms. The bite was not on "fire", but, it was steady most of the morning. As with all fishing, some of the fishermen had put together the right combination of colors along with the preferred trolling speed, you know, all the "right little things" that make the difference, while others were just "picking" at them. We would have limited out if we could have kept all that hit on the hook. But for various reasons, several were "quick released" to fight again another day.
We got all we wanted by lunch time and we went bottom fishing. the bottom fishing was a little tougher. The new size limits that went into effect this past Monday has made keeper size fish a little tougher to come by. But, we kept moving and moving until we found a school of fish that were keeper sized and wanted to bite.
We were catching Triggerfish, Spanish Mackeral, yeah, Spanish Mackeral on bottom rigs, I would say there were several where we were at,Black Bass, and of coarse, we were catching some sharks. But, I must say that the fun really began when a big school of Bluefish moved in. They were catching them two at a time as fast as they could drop down, and quite a few were good size fish.
Kim, Jane, Kai, and Kid I hope we met and passed your expectations of what you expected on a fishing trip!!!, I know that Bodie and I enjoyed fishing with y'all!!!!! Till next time, FISH ON!!! Capt Butch and "Private Bodie" the fish dog says HI!!!. www.yeahrightcharters.com