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Brandon, Bundy, Gabe and I headed
out in Gabe's boat early
Labor Day in
search of some
offshore action and
to stock up
on some shark
crack for Sharkathon.
After we filled
up the boat
we were off
through some choppy
conditions to a
wreck about 22
miles offshore. We
dropped some baits
down and Bundy
found a few
small red snapper
but mixed in
were some Lane
and B-liners.
Threw them in
the box and
as we were
contemplating our next
move, we saw
some nervous bait
about 50 yards
off the bow.
I had a
big knife jig
on my rod
and I tossed
it into the
school of fish
and ripped it
back towards the
boat. As the
jig neared the
boat Brandon and
I about *&^%
our pants when
we saw a
lit up sailfish
follow the jig
almost into the
boat.
We were
all somewhat stunned
and lacking any
live bait we
threw a dead
perch at the
sail but it
was gone, still
amazing to see
that beauty come
so close to
the boat all
lit up ready
to eat a
jig of all
things. If I
had twenty more
feet between the
sail and the
boat we might
have broke the
billfish cherry on
Gabe's boat.
We decided to
troll after the
sailfish incident and
after finding a
really nice rip/weedline Gabe landed
a nice little
mahi and Brandon
had a freight
train hooked up
on my rod
but we lost
it due to
a terrible tackle
malfunction. Sorry about
that one Brandon.
After the weedline
fizzled out, we
headed to our
main destination. Along
the way Brandon
looks off the
port bow and
spots a large
dorsal cruising about
50 feet from
the boat. Gabe
spun the boat
around and we
got up next
to a large
hammer, somewhere between
9-11 feet
long. We threw
a bait at
it, but, like
the sail, the
shark was long
gone. Before she
went deep, she
gave us a
wink and said,
"See you this
weekend boys."
So
on to the
rig. As we
tied up, we
could see the
barracuda waiting for
us down below.
We caught some
live bait, tossed
one out and
it was immediately
nailed. I was
hooked up but
lost it. Sent
another out and
almost immediately hooked
up again. This
time into the
cooler she went,
one large barracuda
ready for a
12/0. By
this time we
were itching to
get into the
water and shoot
something so we
got our gear
on and jumped
in to a
beautiful sight:
The barracuda were there and we
had guns in
the water. Gabe
swam down and
broke the ice
with the first
speared cuda of
the day:
We were
all underwater watching
Gabe hit the
first cuda and
as the spear
went through his
head, the rig
workers could probably
hear us yelling
and laughing underwater
before we even
broke the surface.
And then almost
simultaneously we caught
our breaths and
said," I'm
gettin a spear
gun!"
Gabe handed
the gun to
me and I
swam down and
spanked one in
the head. This
went on for
some time before
the cudas got
a little wary
of us.
Bundy
about to pull
the trigger on
one:
We decided
to let the
cuda rest and
Gabe chased this
turtle for a
while and managed
to get a
pretty good pic
of him:
There wasn't any snapper
or grouper that
we could see,
so I tried
to get some
pics of the
little reef fish
that were swimming
around but they
didn't come
out too well.
I had to
settle for snapping
a few pics
of the rig
legs and some
sea urchins that
almost got me
after shooting another
cuda:
A few
random rig pics:
And the
end of the
day. Thanks for
the trip fellas,
it's on
this weekend.
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