Pittman on Cobia Fire!

On the boat today is just Jim Pittman and me.  Everyone else had to work.  What's it like to work on Friday anyway?  It must suck.

Marine APP calling for 1-2 ft seas today, but as we head out I see the "whoop-de-doos" on the horizon which I now know are white caps past the channel markers.  Huh?  Those aren't supposed to be there.

We start heading offshore but we stop at a small "tripod" structure just outside of Ochlocknee Bay.  We cast several times looking for Cobia.  Something is big down there cause it keeps hitting Jim hard.  I actually get him on the line - turns out to be a small shark.  I hate those damn things.  I don't think Jim is a fan either:

While we are at the tripod, the winds pick up considerably.  Now, there are white-caps EVERYWHERE.  WTF?  Supposed to be 1-2 today.  These are more like 3-4.  Frickin weather.

We go hide in the bay.  We catch nothing but stingrays and catfish.  Now I remember why I hate inshore fishing.

After a few hours, the wind starts to lay down so we make another attempt.  No way dudes (and dudettes if any women read my blog).  Waves out here are 5-6 feet.  In fact, one comes over the stern and swamps us.  Easily a 6 ft wave.  Scared the hell out of me.  Frickin weather is so unpredictable out here.

As we mosey back in, we notice a few small boats hanging out in an area that is only about 5 miles offshore.  Nowhere near the 20 miles where we were originally headed, so we cruise by them slowly.  The wind isn't as bad here.  As we get close, my fish finder goes crazy with structure.  So we drop anchor.  I'm pretty sure I have finally found "Rotary Reef."

We spend the next few hours here and Jim catches Cobia after Cobia on frozen squid.  The boy is on fire!  Who knew Cobia liked squid?  I was always told they loved live bait but I have a fresh pinfish sitting on the bottom of one of my rigs and they aren't touching him.  Ain't nobody eating live shrimp, gulp shrimp, or gulp squid either - only frozen squid.  Fish are weird.

Because the damn government requires Cobia to be something like a minimum length of 139 inches  in order for a recreational fisherman to actually keep one (don't get me started), we have to throw all these beautiful fish back.  But hey, I had fun watching Jim, and I KNOW Jim had a great time catching them. 

Nice fishes Jimbo.

As a Captain, I learned several things on this trip:  I learned that the spot where Jim and I were fishing is excellent and not far from shore.  There is structure everywhere there.  I'm very excited about that.  I learned that Cobia love squid.  I learned that blue runners love sabiki rods.  I learned to trust my gut and not to test mother nature.  I learned that being a better Captain REALLY DOES require a lot of time on the water.

We didn't return to the dock with a lot of fish, but it really was a great day fishing.

Hey, taking the family to Italy next week for summer vacation, so no blog for awhile. 

Who's next on the boat in July when I return?

Arrivederci!

Cap'n Hook



You did NOT just eat that!

May 10, 2013

My apologies.  I got busy at work and got behind on my fishing blogs.  I know, I know, I don’t have my priorities in order.

This will be a VERY short blog. You'll see why in a sec.

On the boat today is Ryan Brooks and Matt Hansard.  Matt is our corporate accountant. He is the one who decides how much we can write-off in respect to “boat expenses”, so it is important to keep him happy.

Smooth winds and seas today.  In fact, the conditions today are even nicer then they were last week.  We should catch a lot of Kings today on Oar Reef.  They sure loved those bananas we sacrificed last week!

We get out to the reef – no problems.  We start trolling – no problems.

Ryan pulls out a banana.

I laugh. 

We all know the banana routine now - Bring a banana, throw it overboard, catch a big fish.  It's that simple.

Ryan peels the banana....................................... and starts eating it!

He starts eating it!

He doesn’t throw it overboard, he starts eating it!

Oh my god!  I turn to him in amazement and say.  “What the f*ck are you thinking dude?”  He responds, “Come on Marc, you are too damn superstitious.  My banana has nothing to do with catching fish.  There are no “Fish Gods" that must be given sacrifices - besides the banana has potassium that my body needs”.

We caught nothing the rest of the day in perfect conditions.

End of blog.

Wait...as luck would have it, shortly after Ryan throws in the banana, we get stopped by the police.  I get stopped so often by them now though, I'm starting to think they just like having their morning coffee with the Geeks 1 crew.  The badge and the .40 caliber weapon really get their attention when they pull alongside.  Russell is the man!

End of blog.

Wait, wait……In all fairness to Ryan, HE caught two AJs - neither of them keepers.  He caught one Amberjack on 12 pound test on my bass spinning reel.  I told him that there was no way he could catch that large of a fish on such small pound test.  He loosened the drag and 20 minutes later, both he and the fish were exhausted, but the fish was in the boat.  I bowed to him, as promised.  If you look closely, you can see that he still has a small banana remnant left on the side of his mouth.

Doesn't anyone eat oranges anymore and what the hell is potassium?!

Have a fruitful day folks!

Cap'n Hook.

Slayed Em

Only three of us on the boat today:  Russell Paul, Gene Griffin and me.  The rest of you boys had to work on Friday!  Go figure.

Short blog this time.

I didn’t even bring any small rigs today.  Marine APP is calling for 1-2 ft seas and no chance of rain.  I haven’t seen that APP show seas that small since last year.  It has been extremely windy here for months and months.  Man, did we get beat up fighting the waves two weeks ago in that Rock-the-Dock tournament.  The slamming of the boat up and down forced me to go see a Chiropractor.

But not today!  As we leave the channel, no white caps.  I like it I, like it..

45 minutes later – we reach Oar Reef. 50ft of water – not too deep, but I really like this reef.  It is becoming my favorite.  I’m learning some good spots on it.

The big question:  Have the Kings arrived from South Florida yet?  That is why we are here.

A little something different today as we are going to try to use a downrigger for the first time.  Thank you, Major Mike Wood of the Leon County Sheriff’s Office, for the gift.  I plan to put the ribbon fish lure that went through my finger two weeks ago on that downrigger.  That is probably a better place for it, you think? So we put out:  One red stretch, one ribbon fish on a downrigger and one teaser (skirt) in the middle.

Russell, of course, immediately pulls out a banana.  “Thanks for the tip Jeff Paul,” he says.  (You would have to read my last blog to understand).  So he throws the banana in the water.  No kidding, exactly one minute later – ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ, the trolling line goes nuts.  Large ass grouper.  I’m a little disgusted.  I call in to Rock Landing Marina to see if we are absolutely, positively in Federal waters.  I call several times – no answer.  Oh crap, I don’t think my VHF radio is transmitting.  That is bad.  But then Sea Tow answers, plots my coordinates, and yes, we are in Federal waters by one mile.  Back in goes the grouper.  You just have to cringe.  I really do need to vent soon through my blog.

I find out later that the marina FORGOT to turn on their radio.  Oops.

I promised to make this a short blog.  So suffice it to say, we had an amazing day fishing.  We caught lots of Kings and lots of grouper.  I know it’s a good day when I'm eating a sandwich; the trolling line goes crazy; and I lackadaisically say “Hey, one of you guys get it, it’s probably just another damn grouper”.  And it was.

Normally, I place pictures throughout the blog, but since we caught so many damn fish, here are a few of them all at once.  My favorite is Gene Griffin holding the one by the tail.  That was Gene's first Kingfish and it was huge.  Nice fish dude.  Russell was no slacker either though:

  
  

You can see why we returned smiling.  Most productive offshore fishing trip yet.  Getting better bitches!  Nice job crew!

Have fun out there.

No accidents to report this time out!  :-)

Captain Hook.