With the seas expected to be 2ft or less, Richard, Barron and I decided to pull an overnighter. We hit Kirby around 2:30 Friday afternoon, gassed up at ICM and hit the jetties around 3:30 heading for Tequila. Stopped at a few weedlines on the way out to make bait. First weedline was full of chicken dolphin so we played with them for a little while, boxed six or so, a couple of livies for later and headed on to Tequila. Another weedline produced more chickens and a few more livies. Nothing spectacular. Got to tequila and trolled for awhile. Picked up one cuda but nothing else. Decided to start making drops when we realized we might have picked the wrong rig for our overnighter. Can you say sharks?? I have never seen so many sharks, ever. It was impossible to get a bait down without it being engulfed by a shark. No matter what we tried, we could not get anything but sharks. Well, my spotlight on the boat was not working properly so I did not feel comfortable driving to another location, don't have radar. We decided to stay at Tequila for the night to see if any blackfin would show. They were likely there but we couldn't get anything but sharks. We had them circling the boat the entire evening, even if we drifted off a mile or so. At one point, we started throwing spoons to see if we could catch some more live bait, mostly small jacks. If we could get them to the boat without them being eaten by sharks they ended up in the livewell. It was fun, but not what we were there for. We did manage to hook one blackfin but it was eaten at the boat. We took turns getting some sleep and waiting for sunrise.
Woke to a beautiful morning, seas flat calm. Decided to head over to Jalapeno for some trolling. First pass, cuda. Second pass, cuda. Third pass, I get a big hit and it turns out to be a large dolphin. We get her close to the boat and notice she has a friend. Richard tosses a bait out and wham! He is hooked up with the other dolphin. We get both in the boat and return to trolling. At this point a cuddy contender has arrived. No big deal, he is being polite and we are trolling opposite sides of the rig. But, then I get a big hit which peels off a ton of line. We were hoping wahoo. The contender begins to troll right over our lines!! Fortunately, he was so close to us that he heard us screaming that we had a fish on that he was able to change direction just in time. Turns out to be a large cuda. With all the other rigs close by we decide to leave Jalapeno to the contender. We troll to the next closest rig. First pass, cuda. Second pass and Barron gets a nice wahoo. Third pass produces another wahoo. We pick up a couple more cuda's and then I get a big hit. Just as I am grabbing the rod, Barron gets a big hit. Unfortunately, Barron's fish cuts across my line and breaks me off. We concentrate on Barron's fish. We get it close to the boat and we all start yelling yellowfin! First ever Yellowfin for the BeeJay. We get it boxed, after the obligatory pictures and then back to trolling. Nothing but cudas. So we decide to set up a chum line where we hit the Yellowfin to see if he had any friends. Nada.
At this point, we are all getting tired so we decide to start making our way back in. Stop of at a wreck around 50nm out. Drop out a marker buoy and start drifting. Pick up a couple of keeper snappers and then Richard gets a hit on a drifting chicken. Turns out to be a nice ling. We get it boxed and decide we had a full box. We got to pick up our marker and, of course, someone is fishing right on top of it. Mind you, this is large wreck. We had no choice but to move in close to the other boat. We had to get our marker back. Once that was finished, we head in.
Around ten or so miles out, we spot something large and white floating. Decide to check it out. It was a refrigertor/freezer! Hoping for another ling, we get close. No line but we spot a tripletail. Not big but still, a Tripletail! Fine eating. We throw a shrimp jig at it to no avail. We start throwing chunks of bait towards it and it begins eating. Barron grabs the bass rod with just a hook on it and a piece of cut bait and bounces it off the freezer. The tripletail eats and we net it and in the box. Back to Kirby to clean the boat and fish. What a day!
First pic: out total catch
Second pic: Me with my dolphin
Third pic: Richard with his dolphin
Fourth pic: Me with Yellowfin, yeah, I know, I didn't catch it but it was the boat's first yellowfin
Fifth pic: Barron with his tripletail
Sixth pic: Barron with his hoo
Woke to a beautiful morning, seas flat calm. Decided to head over to Jalapeno for some trolling. First pass, cuda. Second pass, cuda. Third pass, I get a big hit and it turns out to be a large dolphin. We get her close to the boat and notice she has a friend. Richard tosses a bait out and wham! He is hooked up with the other dolphin. We get both in the boat and return to trolling. At this point a cuddy contender has arrived. No big deal, he is being polite and we are trolling opposite sides of the rig. But, then I get a big hit which peels off a ton of line. We were hoping wahoo. The contender begins to troll right over our lines!! Fortunately, he was so close to us that he heard us screaming that we had a fish on that he was able to change direction just in time. Turns out to be a large cuda. With all the other rigs close by we decide to leave Jalapeno to the contender. We troll to the next closest rig. First pass, cuda. Second pass and Barron gets a nice wahoo. Third pass produces another wahoo. We pick up a couple more cuda's and then I get a big hit. Just as I am grabbing the rod, Barron gets a big hit. Unfortunately, Barron's fish cuts across my line and breaks me off. We concentrate on Barron's fish. We get it close to the boat and we all start yelling yellowfin! First ever Yellowfin for the BeeJay. We get it boxed, after the obligatory pictures and then back to trolling. Nothing but cudas. So we decide to set up a chum line where we hit the Yellowfin to see if he had any friends. Nada.
At this point, we are all getting tired so we decide to start making our way back in. Stop of at a wreck around 50nm out. Drop out a marker buoy and start drifting. Pick up a couple of keeper snappers and then Richard gets a hit on a drifting chicken. Turns out to be a nice ling. We get it boxed and decide we had a full box. We got to pick up our marker and, of course, someone is fishing right on top of it. Mind you, this is large wreck. We had no choice but to move in close to the other boat. We had to get our marker back. Once that was finished, we head in.
Around ten or so miles out, we spot something large and white floating. Decide to check it out. It was a refrigertor/freezer! Hoping for another ling, we get close. No line but we spot a tripletail. Not big but still, a Tripletail! Fine eating. We throw a shrimp jig at it to no avail. We start throwing chunks of bait towards it and it begins eating. Barron grabs the bass rod with just a hook on it and a piece of cut bait and bounces it off the freezer. The tripletail eats and we net it and in the box. Back to Kirby to clean the boat and fish. What a day!
First pic: out total catch
Second pic: Me with my dolphin
Third pic: Richard with his dolphin
Fourth pic: Me with Yellowfin, yeah, I know, I didn't catch it but it was the boat's first yellowfin
Fifth pic: Barron with his tripletail
Sixth pic: Barron with his hoo
