[Capt Black]

Well, I was hoping I hadn't used up all my luck on the previous 2 days of scouting. With the 29 5/8" trout my Dad picked up on Thursday and the solid 25"+ I caught on Friday, I was encouraged that we could get on some fish to make my clients smile. Once again, Baffin did not disappoint.

Decided to hit the sack early in anticipation of the next days events. Wes Reed showed up at the trailer around 1:30am hoping to hook up with the hottest fisherman the last few months....... my Dad! Wes had his fast new Majek Extreme and was counting on my Dad to put him on fish. I guess if Dad gets his guide license, I'll be out of business LOL.

I piled out of bed at 4:30am to the smell of coffee and headed for the kitchen to get the breakfast tacos going. Went to check on my boat and heard a diesel motor idling behind the trailer. It turned out to be half of my days charter all sprawled out in the front and back seat of Bert Schoonover's truck.

BertS and Billy (BayRat) were a little bleary eyed but after I ushered them into the trailer for some coffee and tacos, they perked right up. In short order we were at the ramp to meet the rest of the crew. CJ and his son Paul were waiting and ready to hit the water and we were away from the ramp in the dark shortly after 6:00am

I had the opportunity to show off one of my favorite Baffin Bay traits when I doused the lights on the boat so everyone could see the eerie phosphorescent glow around the Don Coyote while we were on plane. Looked like the ground effects lighting on a lowrider LOL.

We eased the anchor out at our first stop of the day and after a little quick instruction about the area we were about to wade, we spread out to see what the day had in store for us.

I again drew first blood about 5 minutes into the wade with a rootbeer/red glitter assassin when I stuck a rambunctious and aerobatic 23 1/2" beauty. Gotta love it when a morning wade starts out like that.

The bite was steady albeit unspectacular as we caught several dinks interspersed with some really nice solid fish. I eased over to check on the Father - Son team just in time to witness them double up on 20"+ trout. CJ's fish was obviously a good one so I stayed out of the way until he had it safely in hand. It turned out to be the biggest trout of the day also caught on a rootbeer/red glitter assassin at 25 1/2" WTG CJ!

 

[Capt Black]

More.....

CJ and Paul carried the group on our first wade as we regrouped back at the boat. They had half of the fish caught by the five of us but we all got a little taste of what was to come when Billy made it back to the boat after numerous explosive attacks on his go-to lure the pearl Skitterwalk (modified with red hooks).

He missed a couple of good fish but still managed to hang some real nice ones including these two on the first wade.

 

[Capt Black]

More.....

We moved on to drift some deep rocks where my Dad had some luck a couple of days earlier. We picked up a couple of fish but nothing to brag about. Then we had one little memorable exchange.

Billy, Bert and I had all tossed our topwaters out at about the same time and were steadily working them back to the boat when Bert's Skitterwalk was anihilated in a frothy explosion 50 feet from the boat. We all looked on in slack jawed amazement at the lure bobbing in the aftermath when my red/white Super Spook Jr. suffered the exact same fate. The tremendous explosion could have awakened the dead as once again the lure floated to the surface sans fish. Mere seconds later, Billy's pearl Skitterwalk went thru the exact same drill with one difference.......... Fish On!

After a couple of hard charging line stripping runs it became evident that this was a good size redfish so I readied the netso we could ease the bronze torpedo aboard and make an internet star out of her. She taped out at 28 1/2" and weighed 8 1/2 pounds on the Boga.

Billy with his favorite Billstix rod bowed up on a big redfish and the end result.

 

[Capt Black]

More.....

We headed to another wade spot which proved unproductive and it was obvious that the bite was shutting down. The sun was beginning to bear down on us and the calm conditions didn't afford us the usual cooling breeze. Cold adult beverages seemed to beckon the crew and I knew something needed to happen soon or we would be headed to the ramp early.

Well, when you need something exciting to happen, go to the guy with the hot hand right? Billy added a little more excitement to the trip with his trick topwater as we witnessed another exciting guerilla attack from below from yet another big fish.

You could see this fish coming 10 feet from the lure as it crashed into the lure in a furious frenzy. It looked like a U.S. nuclear sub nailing a Japanese fishing boat (ewww!! tasteless analogy, I know). The powerful runs of another big red kept Billy on the run for the next 10 minutes or so. He eased her to the side of the boat and I slipped the net under the fattest redfish I have ever seen. She was 28 1/4" long and weighed a whopping 10 lbs even on the Boga Grip. Look at the belly on this fish.

 

[Capt Black]

More.....

Soon after, we headed to the ramp as the lure of cold drinks became overwhelming. We arrived with a solid box of 15 trout including 8 over 20". We released the two reds and a handful of keeper trout as well. Thanks for being conservation minded fellas. Y'all are welcome to fish with me anytime.

Remember to practice conservation and just keep 5. Later, Aubrey

 

[troy merrill]

That's it!

I can't take no more. I will be calling you sometime this week.

 

[BertS]

Troy,

you won't be disappointed. As was the case the last time I got a chance to fish with Aubrey, I was humbled. His knowledge of the rocks in Baffin, and its close environs, is nothing short of amazing. Not just the locations, but depths, formations, ridges, and where the fish like to hang out on, and around them. If you couple that with the newbie friendliness of his teaching on the water, you get a first rate guide. I don't consider myself a super knowledgable fisher-person, but I know a little about it..lol...and both times I've fished with him, I've come away with a better understanding of the fishing game.

On a side note, it was a pleasure meeting you Wes, and Rusty. This is an added bonus of staying and fishing with Aubrey. When you get to fish with a first rate guide, that happens to be a first rate person, you get to meet some of the greatest people/fishermen. I cant' tell you folks, how much I enjoyed this trip. I spent the majority of it playing whipping boy on the boat, as everyone else seemed to be doing the catching, and I was stuck with just the fishing.....lol.....and I still had a great time.

Thanks Aubrey.

 

[PHINS]

Yo Troy

If you need another to help with costs, I'd be in for some of that myself.

B

 

[Capt Black]

Day Two.....

Thanks for the kind words Bert. Its always a treat to fish with folks that suffer from the same affliction I do........ terminal grinding LOL.

Here is the second installment of the weekends events. Rusty Pool and Wes Reed joined us to make this one memorable as well:

On my insistance, Bert and Billy stayed over another day and we hooked up with Wes and Rusty Pool for a little morning fishing trip.

We witnessed a beautiful sunrise this morning and I tried to capture the magic of the moment with a quick pic as we were headed out. Here is that magic moment.

 

[Capt Black]

More.....

Hoping for similar action we had the previous morning we headed out for our early morning wade spot with high hopes. As seems to be the start of a pattern, I struck first again with a 22" trout on my red/white SS Jr.

Unfortunately, that proved to be the only keeper of the first wade as we thoroughly covered the area for almost 2 hours. Several dinks and some dramatic topwater explosions kept the confidence up though.

At our next spot, we drifted the deep rocks again and picked up an occasional keeper for the box but it was obvious that the bite was going to be significantly slower than the previous day. Wes provided the highlight of the day when he tossed out his mullet colored Corky near some rocks and was greeted with a hammering THUMP!

Wes set the hook and the fish immeadiately headed to the surface thrashing her head furiously foaming the surface of the water. A sure sign that she was probably hooked deep. Boy was that an understatement.

Wes fought the fish to the side of the boat and we all noticed that there was only fishing line protruding from her mouth. I netted her and when Wes opened up her mouth, we were amazed at how deeply she had taken the large suspending bait.

 

[Capt Black]

More.....

We tried a couple more areas but the fish just weren't cooperating for us. Time constraints cut the trip short this morning and Wes was looking a little worn out anyway.

It was a great time on the water again guys and I'm looking forward to doing it again real soon.

Remember to practice conservation and just keep 5. Later, Aubrey

 

[BertS]

LOL........if anyone will look close, they will see that in all the fish pictures I'm in the background.....I'm just fishing.....lol.......no pictures of me with any fish!!!......oh my side...

gonna change my screen name, to boat whipping boy.......lol

 

[sightcast1]

Billystix Rods

Looks like you boys had a good time. Nothin like stickin pigs with ole Aubrey. I noticed on the pic with Billy bowed up and him holding up the brute Red, that his rods eyes were below his reel except for the one closest to the reel. Like a spinning rod with smaller eyes but with a baitcaster. Am I seeing things or is that the customization of the Billystik itself. TL

 

[InfamousJ]

Alright Bert... now you can concentrate at work, proving that the big girls dont exist therefore you dont need to dream about them. LOL

Sounds like my type of luck.

 

[BertS]

check out Billy's page. It is a customization, spiral wrap.......makes it nice and easier, to control thos oversized reds.......

 

[Badhabit]

Great report Aubrey, I gotta come see ya soon... Gotta luv Wes, he makes a party "A Party"...How's Danny, has he been catching ??? Glad ya'll had a good time.... Tell yer Dad I said Hi.....

 

[Billy S.]

Stix

Looks like you boys had a good time. Nothin like stickin pigs with ole Aubrey. I noticed on the pic with Billy bowed up and him holding up the brute Red, that his rods eyes were below his reel except for the one closest to the reel. Like a spinning rod with smaller eyes but with a baitcaster. Am I seeing things or is that the customization of the Billystik itself. TL

Very good observation. Yes, that is his spiral rod. Actually, the other eyes are not in a straight line below the real. They make a spiral around it. I absolutely love mine. Matter of fact, it's going to be very hard to ever use the conventional type again. However, apparently they're not for everyone(just ask Aubrey). He's got some kind of mental block type thing with them.

 

[Billy S.]

Yep

Troy,

you won't be disappointed. As was the case the last time I got a chance to fish with Aubrey, I was humbled. His knowledge of the rocks in Baffin, and its close environs, is nothing short of amazing. Not just the locations, but depths, formations, ridges, and where the fish like to hang out on, and around them. If you couple that with the newbie friendliness of his teaching on the water, you get a first rate guide. I don't consider myself a super knowledgable fisher-person, but I know a little about it..lol...and both times I've fished with him, I've come away with a better understanding of the fishing game.

On a side note, it was a pleasure meeting you Wes, and Rusty. This is an added bonus of staying and fishing with Aubrey. When you get to fish with a first rate guide, that happens to be a first rate person, you get to meet some of the greatest people/fishermen. I cant' tell you folks, how much I enjoyed this trip. I spent the majority of it playing whipping boy on the boat, as everyone else seemed to be doing the catching, and I was stuck with just the fishing.....lol.....and I still had a great time.

Thanks Aubrey.

I agree 100%. I can't imagine another guide out there who is as knowledgable about Baffin, convey's that knowledge to his clients without speaking down to them, and is so easy to get along with(this coming from someone who is most definitely not a people person; just ask BertS). If you take a trip with him, you will not be disappointed. You may not catch all the fish you want or that one wallhanger you are looking for, but it will not be due to a lack of effort on his part. As good as he is, remember there are 2 things he can't do. He can't control the weather and he can't make them bite. Anyhow, I've rattled on enough. Lookin' forward to the next time I can make it down that way(keeping my fingers crossed, hopefully January or February). BTW, if you do go, pray that that a**wipe Wes ain't around........jk. He's a pretty good ol' boy hisself(even if his boat don't run to well). I'll let someone else tell that story.

 

[Badhabit]

BTW, if you do go, pray that that a**wipe Wes ain't around........jk. He's a pretty good ol' boy hisself(even if his boat don't run to well). I'll let someone else tell that story.

Hey Wes, you gonna let yourself get punked out like that..... LMAO

 

[BertS]

Hey Wes, you gonna let yourself get punked out like that..... LMAO

he has to.......there were 7 witnesses that saw Aubrey's 200 Merc, loaded with over 1000 #'s of beef, blow by his 225 Yammy, with only 2 people in it, like he was just standing still in the water.........lol........