Want to know the secret to deep-sea fishing?
Gene Griffin, Cameron Paul, and I spent all day yesterday on
the Triton – but not fishing. It was a “maintenance”
day. If you read one of my earlier
blogs, you knew that both my VHF radios died. Gene installed a new one on the boat, and I
purchased a new mobile VHF. Communications
restored. 110 degrees in the marina
shed. It was unbelievably hot! The three of us spent the night at the
Panacea Motel because it was close-by. Like
the teenage girls text: OMG. That is the nastiest motel in the U.S. The shower handles were made from electrical
tape. We were going to head home after
our maintenance day but Terri asked, “Why aren’t you guys going fishing on
Sunday?” Excellent question!
We were all happy to wake up, put salve on our flea bites, brush off the roaches, and get on the water. Since we were right down the street from the
marina, we did get an early start and were on the water at 6:30 a.m. Leaving the channel, we watch the
sunrise. It is a breathtaking sight and one of those moments that make you feel blessed just to be alive. It is also a beautiful day and the seas are
less than 1 ft. The smoothest I have ever seen it out here.
Because of the smooth seas, our goal is to get to Bryon’s Reef
about 50 miles away from the Marina and ten miles past K Tower. It is a long way, but there are big fish out there.Because of the smooth seas, we have no problems getting to the reef an hour and a half later. There is nobody else out here, so we start trolling first. Not much luck, so we decide to bottom fish. We are using frozen squid and ballyhoos for bait. Not much luck bottom fishing either – which is annoying since we can see fish EVERYWHERE. And I don’t mean just a few fish:
As we sit on the reef, we see an ENORMOUS variety of fish
species. Floating next to the boat are
large Kings, hundreds of AmberJack, 8-10 foot sharks, thousands of Spanish
Mackerel and Angelfish. The water is
a crystal clear blue. It’s kind of like being
in an all-natural aquarium. What are we
catching? Not a damn thing. We are obviously doing something wrong! I get a bite. It’s a large shark. I don’t want shark.
I get frustrated with bottom fishing, so we start trolling
again. Something big hits the line. Cameron grabs it first. Cameron fights this thing for 15
minutes. He has to maneuver around the
entire boat. Don’t lose it dude! That is the biggest fish you have ever had on
the line! We get it in the boat. Nice Amberjack Cameron! 
Cameron says he is exhausted. Of course, like almost ALL fish species, it is closed, so we have to throw him back. Just for the record, I think the ever-changing Federal fishing regulations are utterly ridiculous.
We continue to troll, without much luck. Very frustrating since we can see fish
everywhere!
It is still relatively early, so we head back to K Tower and tie up next to it.Once again – fish EVERYWHERE! Barracuda (6 ft easily), Cobia (4-6 ft), Mackerel. Well, pretty much every fish species I have ever heard of is right here under the boat. Millions of bait fish. What are we catching? Nothing. Wait – I take that back. I throw a lure about 100 feet. As it is in the air, a sea bird flies right into it, flips over, and falls 20 feet from mid-air. Now my lure is attached to the bird’s wing; he is squawking like crazy and I have to slowly reel him into the boat. Cameron and Gene remove the hook from the wing. The bird is wounded but after a few attempts, she finds wind under her wings. I flip him the bird. (Sorry – but I’m irritated). So while other people are catching fish, I am flipping birds. The observation, “I suck at fishing”, really seems to be an under-statement at this point in time. Stop laughing.
A boat approaches.
They start fishing. Two minutes
later – they have a large slot redfish.
Another two minutes their 7 yr old catches a grouper.
What the hell??!! I yell over, “Hey, what
are you guys fishing with?” The guy
replies like I am an idiot, “Live pinfish, of course!” Of course, indeed. I ask him, “Where did you get them?” His response, “I could tell you, but I would
have to kill you”. Interesting.
Another boat approaches.
They anchor right next to us.
They start catching fish immediately.
I ask, “What are you guys fishing with?”
The guy looks at me like I'm an idiot, “Live pinfish, of course!” Of course, indeed. The old guy asks me, “Do you guys have a sabiki
rig?” You mean that thing in my boat
that I have never used but Gene just happened to rig up yesterday on
maintenance day? Yep, I got one of
those. The old guy says, “Give it a try”. So we do.
A sabiki rig is simply a bunch of small shiny hooks that have
no bait on them. Little fish are
attracted to the shiny hooks and they bite them. It seems silly to fish without bait, but
supposedly, it works. Cameron gives it a
shot. A minute later, viola, he catches
a small minnow. I put that minnow on my
hook and drop to the bottom. Wham! Gag Grouper.
Nice. Cameron catches another
minnow. Minnow on hook, Gene drops the
bottom. Wham! Gag Grouper.
This is cool. Cameron catches a larger
bait fish – some kind of fish I don’t recognize. I put him on the hook. Drop to the bottom:
WHAM! Okay, this is, without a doubt,
the largest thing I have ever had on my line bottom fishing. It takes all my strength to hang onto the
pole and to keep my sorry ass from falling out of the boat.
I start moaning and grunting. My
deep-sea rig is bent completely over.
This must be a shark. SNAP! Line breaks.
Dammit! As I am re-rigging a new
leader, I see a school of 5-6 ft cobia directly under the boat. One of them has my hook, leader and weight
hanging from his mouth. He is
laughing. I can see the bubbles.
So Cameron keeps sabikiing.
(That is not really a word). Gene
and I, and sometimes Cameron, place the bait on our lines, drop and struggle
for a while with massive fish until the line snaps. Keep in mind that we are using 50 pound test
with 50 pound monofilament leaders. It
is simply not enough. Most of the time the leaders are breaking at the hook – not our
line. We keep this up for a couple
hours. I am now completely out of
leaders, weights, and circle hooks. Hey, I get to spend more money on fishing equipment - who knew?
The secret to deep-sea fishing: Live
bait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Granted. On certain
days, the fish won’t bite anything due to conditions, moods, tides, or whatever. But without
live bait, I’m certain it is not worth the time and effort to take the boat 40
miles offshore. As best as I can tell, success
revolves around live bait – and heavier
tackle. I will be purchasing 80
pd test and 80 pd leaders, now I just have to figure out where to buy bait
traps and how to get them out on the water the night before.
Stay tuned for my next blog – with live bait.
I wonder. Is fishing
like golf? Just when you think you have
it all figured out, you realize you don’t?
Captain Paul
No comments:
Post a Comment