[SurfMeister]

Was not planning on fishing this weekend, but Snagged calls me at 7 pm Friday night and asks me if I want to take the boat out and I said why not. Good wave forecast and didn't want to miss the weather window. We left Port A around 7 am Saturday morning hoping to find some weed patches and another shot at a Bull Dolphin. Well no weed patches on the way out. So we stopped at a rig and got ran off by a helicopter. Tried another rig with no luck so headed over to Hospital Rock. Bottom fished, drifted sardines, trolled equals nada. So we left there and started heading towards some other rigs when we spotted some other boats fishing and joined them drift fishing. Snagged pulls in a 15 lb. snapper and we decided to hang around a bit. I caught a shark and was thinking about leaving, but then hooked a keeper kingfish and the bite was on. Snagged managed 3 snapper and one kingfish. Then my Torium took off like never before and my line went all over the place. Snagged thought it might be a mako but it ended up being my first wahoo and went over 30 lbs. Ok we're definitely staying here. Caught a couple more kings and was looking for the last one to finish off our limit when my rod goes off again. Great another king, I head to the front of the boat and something peels off 100 yards in about 10 seconds. Can you say WAHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Took me a while to wear him down, but we got him in the boat. Snagged estimated the fish to be over 75 lbs. Picture is attached. Not bad for a 21 ft. boat and some drifted sardines. SM

 

[mcgolfer]

nice hooter... bare feet and wahoo can be a deadly combo....rick

 

[Bellyup]

Great hote and great trip. And to think Snagged mentioned something about this to me last night!

 

[hbat065]

they can pull some line in a hurry. nice hoo
Joe

 

[STxFisherman]

Great catch, Brian! WAHOO!

I hope to hook into a hoo soon....looks like a lot of fun. I have been working all week but will be checking out the conditions every day next week to hopefully find a window. I hope that Snagged isn't too tired to bring some of that luck onto my boat next week. If you can go....let me know. Richard.

 

[SurfMeister]

McGolfer, the fish had fought his last fight. It took over 20 minutes to get him to the boat and by the time we got him in the boat he was on his last breath. Snagged told me to hit him with the bat but I knew the fish was done for. He must have made at least 4-5 screaming runs whenever he got close to the boat. The smallest King was more of a problem and almost opened the ice chest and got away. After today's trip I learned a few thing about fishing from a small boat. Don't bring a green fish in the boat. Big or small, they will reak havoc on gear, feet, toes, & beer. Tire the **** fish out and when they are ready to gaff- then stick it to them. Better for you, better for them. Jerry got it on the leg by one of the big snappers he caught today. It happens.........so from now on, we make sure the fight is out of the fish before we bring him on board. SM

 

[STxFisherman]

Did Jerry get hurt? Finned, or slapped by the snapper?

 

[SurfMeister]

He got finned, and almost got thrown overboard a couple of times for not clearing the rods quick enough. Both wahoo would circle the boat several times before we got them in. Snagged was the best today though, I get WAY too excited whenever I hook a big fish and have dreamed for years about hooking a fish like this. After watching years of offshore fishing shows and thinking I could catch a trophy fish from my little boat became a reality. I could think of no one better than Jerry to share in that experience. I keep wanting to get a bigger boat................but just to rub it in a little............we went 40 miles out, 40 back, moved around a bit and left the motor running all day and only burned 24 gallons...........We almost doubled our mileage by leaving the two 20 gallon livewells on the transom empty. I love fishing with live bait, but not with today's gas prices. SM

 

[SurfMeister]

Here is a picture of Jerry's Snapper. The biggest to date from the boat and Snagged also caught the most snapper to date on the boat. I am still on an adrenaline rush from today's trip so bear with me. SM

 

[STxFisherman]

Well, he doesn't appear to be limping in the pic....after being finned by that fish. Hope you're doing alright Jerry!

 

[Snagged]

Just remember that if you fish with Brian keep Mr Billy-E-Club hany to get his attention, when he gets excited two or three swats between the eyes and you can get his attention to talk to some sense into him. :biggrin:
As to green fish, Brian appears to enjoy the excitement of Ho's and kings snapping at toes. This is one of the reasons I don't want anything to do with sharks or cuda's in a small boat.
What he failed to mention was that we fished a rig for a short period with a few cutoffs, the interesting part was that we could see large fish and the rig legs a good 70 feet down. The water was the clearest I've ever seen in this part of the Gulf.

 

[hbat065]

Thanks for sharing job well done
Joe

 

[Crossroads]

Nice 'Hoos, mighty fine dining with that.

 

[Kalamity]

Congrats SurfMeister,

Nice Fish! Hope the Hoo is one of many to come for You.

Kal