Confession

Fishing season is here!  Thank you God.  It seemed like this winter went on forever.

For those of you who actually read my blog, I know it says, “Panacea Fishing on the Triton” when you receive your email.  And yes, it's true, I do not have a Triton any longer –  I have a Century.  However, the method in which this blog was created doesn't allow me to change the email title.  Apparently, the only way I can change the email title is to create an entirely new blog.  Of course, if I do that, the three of you who have signed up for this blog will no longer automatically receive an email when I write a new post - unless you sign up for the new post.  

I don't want to lose any readers, but since we are working towards a fishing show, I also can’t live with the title being wrong.  So, sometime in the next few months, I will be changing over to a new blog.  I promise to let you know when I do that so that you can sign up for the new one.  (We also have a new website coming).  For now though, please tolerate the incorrect title.  I loved the Triton, so let’s just think of it that way.

Easter is only two days away. 

On the boat today – three of us:

·         “One Last Cast” Sam

·         “She needs a nickname” Charmaine

·         Capt’n Hook

Early start.  Up at 5 a.m. Out of house by 5:40 a.m.  At the dock by 6:45 a.m.

This is what the morning looks like leaving the dock:

I have taken the boat out of the channel using just electronics before, but it definitely isn’t easy.  On the very first turn, I screw up and almost run us aground on an oyster bar.  There is a delay between the GPS and the actual direction of the bow.  On a clear day, I am used to that delay, but trying to stay in a 60 ft wide channel that is only 1 foot deep – just outside the channel – is quite challenging on a 32 ft boat when you can’t see the channel markers. If you don’t believe me, I will happily pass the driving over to you.  

We proceed VERY slowly and eventually, we clear the last channel marker. 

Whew.  In the clear right?

Heck no.  Now we have three miles of crab traps in front of us.  These things are like little land mines scattered about just waiting to blow up your propeller.  My windshield is completely useless (hmm. windshield wipers would be nice on a boat).  Sam takes lookout duty on the bow.  It is very wet and cold up there, but he never complains - great to have dedicated crew on board.  We clear the land mines, but we are still 17 miles from K Tower.  We still can’t see a damn thing – like for instance another boat that might be 20 feet in front of us. 

We finally arrive at K Tower, but we can’t really see it.  Still, I know it is there because my electronics say it is.  The fog is lifting – somewhat.  Funny, just a year ago, there isn’t a chance in hell that I would have navigated all the way to K Tower in heavy fog.  I probably shouldn't have done it this time either.  Oh well, we are here.  Time to fish!

Through the fog, we can see another boat near us.  They are jigging hard for AJs. Every few minutes, they are successful as we see their rods bend. There are five people on this other boat.  Sam and I remind ourselves of that as they keep catching fish and we don't catch anything.  This goes on for at least a ½ hour.  Pretty soon, the math ceases to work for two versus five people.  Very frustrating.

Copying is the sincerest form of flattery so we begin jigging like them – still nothing.  We even have live bait floating off the back of the boat – nothing.

But if there is one thing experience has taught me – when you aren’t catching fish – keep changing something.  So, I put a large egg weight on one of the rigs that had live bait, and I drop it to the bottom.  Wham!  AJ.  28”.  Not big enough.  Big enough for Charmaine to finally get some video of us catching a fish though. 

By the way, for those of you who aren’t following, we are producing an offshore fishing show this year.  Charmaine is the videographer and editor.  She is out of the FSU Communications school. Today is her first day on the boat fishing offshore.  I don’t think she was really awake until that first AJ hit the deck. But after that, she videotaped just about everything, all day, including some really strange shots of a little green frog that hitched a ride with us.  In fact, throughout the day, we often forgot she was taping.  So she will have LOTS of editing to do to remove all the stupid stuff we did.  I'm just kidding - our goal is to actually SHOW the stupid stuff.  So prepare for some laughs this year (on video).

Okay, so putting live bait at the top of the water table doesn’t work, but putting it at the very bottom DOES work.  So, let’s do that again.  Live bait on the bottom.  Wham, Yep.  Another AJ.  We do that a few more times and catch a few more large AJs, but none large enough to keep.  I think they have to be something like 300 inches at the fork, or something ridiculous like that, in order to keep them:

The seas are calm, so I make the decision to head 10 more miles offshore to Bryson Reef.  Maybe the AJs are bigger out there.  But before we go, Sam says, “Let me make one last cast”.  He throws his jig out one last time before we move the boat.  Wham!  HUGE AJ – and a keeper.  33” inches at the fork. 

Nice fish “one last cast” Sam!

So we head into deeper waters - 10 more miles offshore - to Bryson Reef.

The fog FINALLY completely lifts at Bryson Reef.  Wow!  It really is a beautiful day now.  Calm waters, perfect temperature and blue, blue skies like you always see near Easter.  We can see V Tower from here, but we are not at it - so no tattoo for me today.  

From past experience, I know that the first trolling run around Bryson Reef is very important.  Most boats don’t troll – seems like everyone likes to bottom fish.  But I have learned that the 1^st troll over a reef is always the most important because we usually get a big strike.  After that, I think the fish figure it out.  One of them must say something like, “Hey, what happened to Amber?”  And the other answers, “She went after that weird looking red and white minnow and then she got jacked out of the water.  Let’s stay away from those weird red minnows!” For those of you who think my blog isn't very punny, you should re-read this paragraph.  :-)

Okay, so that may not be exactly what the fish say to each other, but I'm sure it's close.

Sure enough, on the first trolling run, a VERY large AJ hits our line.  36” at the fork.  This is a large AJ!  We are only allowed one more because we can only catch three.  Which, by the way, is also frustrating because when we look over the gunwale, we can see thousands of them down there schooling.  But, whatever…..

1:30 in the afternoon now – time for lunch.  And time for my confession.  Sadly, I was told by "one last cast" Sam that if I didn’t confess, I would never be forgiven.  Forgiven by whom? Hmm.  I’m not certain of that, but alas I will go ahead and do it anyway.  But before I do, allow me to say this:   I was just trying to be nice.  It was Charmaine’s first trip out on the boat.  I wanted her to be comfortable.  I was thinking of my crew’s comfort – not my own.  I’ll never do it again.  For the record, as a now certified Coast Guard Captain, I was thinking of my crew first – not me. 

Along with some strawberries and some dried apricots – I brought a banana on board my own boat.

And we actually ate it!

No, you still may not bring a banana if you fish with me - unless you throw it overboard - and sacrifice it.

It probably explains, though, why we couldn’t catch that 3^rd AJ. 

Confession over – Happy Easter - back to fishing.   

My fishfinder is broken – it keeps freezing up.  Gene – you gotta fix it!  At the moment, I can’t see what the bottom looks like, so I don’t know if we are over structure or not.  I know we are close to it though because I am sitting on an old waypoint.  Sam hooks up on something extremely large that fights like a bull.  In fact, I'm pretty sure it is either a bull shark or a black tip shark - lots of them on Bryson Reef.  He fights it for a few minutes, but then the line breaks.  We both look at each other – shark.  I watched Jim Pittman fight those sharks on Bryson once.  Remember that Jim?  It was fun, but he was exhausted after an hour.  Something breaks my line.  I think the sharks are here.  They want the banana.

Anyway, it is getting late in the day and we are far from home – so we pack it up.  It would have been nice to return to the dock with three large AJs, but two huge ones aren't bad either.  Better than zero fish!.

Quick Sam selfie on the very pleasant drive back:

At the dock, Sam is cleaning the fish while I clean the boat.  A gentleman comes up to me from the restaurant and says, “Excuse me, what type of fish were those you took off the boat?” 

I reply, “Amber Jacks”. 

He says, “Wow, those were really big - and nice boat.”

I said, “Thank You”.

Then he asks, “Are you a charter Captain?”

My immediate response is, “No”.  He actually looks disappointed as he walks away.

I smile and then I think to myself, “Hmm.  Am I?”  

Thanks for reading everyone.  (all three of you).  

Happy Easter!!

Captain Marc Paul