Capt'n Hook

The Adventure

Pensacola, Florida

First, thank you to all three of my blog readers! Good to have you and thanks for following this blog. This is going to be another long blog, so grab a cup of coffee, find a comfortable chair, and I hope you enjoy this next adventure with us.

You all knew I would. I bought a new boat! Here she is:

32 ft deep V Century with twin outboard Yamaha 250s on the stern. It is quite simply a beautiful, elegant, fishing machine! The gentleman who previously owned it took impeccable care of her. As the previous owner stated, "I was rather 'pedantic' about the maintenance." Thanks to him for that. There isn't a scratch or dent anywhere on the boat. The NEW name of the boat? "Capt'n Hook" :-).

I admit, at first I was embarrassed about the "Capt'n Hook" moniker considering the circumstances of how I attained it. But hey, after awhile I decided to accept my nickname fate. There are worse monikers to be labeled as a boat captain. One of the dock guys in Pensacola told me that he calls a boat owner there "Captain Crunch". I'm certain that is worse.

The boat didn't come with a trailer, not that I would trailer the darn thing anyway. Those who know me are certainly aware that I loathe boat trailers. But we have to get it from Pensacola to Panacea. Last I checked, that is a long way! And it is November. Cold and windy in November in North Florida. Nonetheless, the boat has to move. I can pay a transport company to move it by highway; but what is the challenge in that? Besides, there is no better way to learn a boat than to spend three days on it. Now, who can I find foolish enough to come with me on a three day tour, in November, on a boat that I have never used, taking it 200 miles through the Gulf of Mexico from Pensacola to Panacea?! When I called them, both of them said, without hesitation: "I'm in!"

So the crew makeup is: Marc Paul, Gene Griffin and Sam Littlefield.

And really, the final crew member is Ryan Brooks who drove us all the way to Pensacola, dropped us off, and drove right back to make a 3:30 p.m. meeting the same day. Thank you Ryan for doing that. It was greatly appreciated!

To illustrate the journey:

If it looks like it is a long way from Pensacola to Port St Joe. Trust me, it is. Keep reading...

Waypoints:

Monday, 11/10/2014 - Pensacola

Sunny, kind of chilly, low to moderate winds. Pensacola Marina dock. We know we are going to spend the night on the boat tonight, but the question is, should we do it at the dock where it is safe or do we head out into Federal waters where we can potentially catch fish? The decision is unanimous: Head into Federal waters outside of Pensacola. After loading all our gear, sleeping bags, coolers etc., and preparing tackle, we leave the dock around 2 p.m.

Wow, this boat is a beast! Very intimidating to steer. 500 horsepower. Wow.

After catching some bait-fish near a wreck, we are now approx. 11 miles offshore south-east of Pensacola. It is about 6 p.m. The sun is setting:

Temperature is about 60 degrees. A little chilly - but all-in-all, quite pleasant. I find a fishing hole with lots of structure. We anchor. We start fishing.

Snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, snapper, - okay you get the idea.

I say, 50 red snapper. Gene always claims that I exaggerate; he says 30. Okay, so lets go with 40. And yes, they ALL go back in the water. Snapper season is only open for 3 weeks a year for recreational fisherman. Again, don't get me started with recreational versus commercial fishing rules! We could have easily filled up the boat with snapper as we were catching one every 2-3 minutes. Mind you, these are pretty big fish. Here are a few pictures of our first night: (and no, that is NOT snapper cooking on the grill)

This last picture is kind of odd. Not because of Sam (although he is a little odd) but because he caught a live squid with a dead squid. Now that is odd. Caroline Cook (who I know still reads this blog although she would never admit it) once caught a starfish with a shrimp.

Hers was the oddest catch - until Sam's. Caroline is still much cuter though.

We finally stop catching snapper at 11:30 p.m. Time for bed.

Gene and Sam are sleeping under a tarp on the bow and I have a small berth in the head compartment. At about 1:30 a.m. an odd, loud noise wakes me up. I don't like odd, loud noises on a boat 11 miles offshore. We have put an anchor buoy out to check during the night in case we drift. I don't see the buoy. Oh, there it is. Whew! The wind has picked up. The noise I heard is simply the wind blowing hard on the bow tarp. I don't sleep that well the rest of the night as the boat is kicked around quite a bit. Believe it or not, it is a little stressful sleeping on a new boat 11 miles offshore with strong winds.

Tuesday, 11/11/14 - 11 miles SE of Pensacola Beach

We awake around 7 a.m. to a beautiful sunrise:

The wind has subsided. Gene breaks out the "present" again that he and Ryan got me as a "boat-warming" gift: A gunwale (pronounced gunnel) grill. Man, that was a great gift gentleman! Gene cooks sausage and brews fresh, percolated coffee. Having hot food and coffee on the boat first thing on a cold morning does wonders for your soul!

Time to start heading East! I turn the port engine key. Click. Nothing. I turn the starboard engine key. Click. Nothing. Crap. Batteries are dead. Crap! Crap! Yes, we did charge them for a few hours at the dock, but the boat has been sitting for months. They really should have charged for 24 hours. Well, I guess we coulda/shoulda/woulda have done that, but offshore fishing was much more enticing (less wussy) than sleeping at the dock. But wait! The boat has 4 batteries on it - two of them are backup. Gene switches to the backup batteries. Vroom, vroom, both engines start immediately. We all exhale nervously. I smile. With the engines running, all four batteries are now charging. We're back in business. Crisis averted.

My eastward route has us heading quite-a-ways offshore. There are a few waypoints (reefs) I want to fish along the way. I mean, why not? Before we left I entered all our waypoints into the GPS - which is a good thing since I forgot to bring my trusty offshore map. I'm an Idiot. Yes, I capitalized that word for a reason. Terri and Delaney have actually been texting us screen shots of map segments. I don't really need it as long as my electronics work. However, if the electronics go down, then I am limited to navigating by compass. I would prefer avoiding that particular navigational challenge. After 2 hours, we reach the first waypoint - without further incident.

We are pretty far offshore now (approximately 30-40 miles). We are at the location circled on the map to the right. No land for a long, long way. The guys are anxious to try out the outriggers. So they setup 5 rigs in a "W" placement. We troll for an hour or so, but all we catch are bonito. Beautiful fish, and I know there are a few recipes on the Internet for eating them, but I have tried to cook them myself, and trust me, although they are beautiful, they are nasty, nasty tasting. Save your recipes folks, I'm not eating them. We have no problems throwing them back. They bleed everywhere on the boat.

Nothing biting out here but bonito. This doesn't bother us too much as our goal is to get the boat safely from Pensacola to Panacea - not to fish. Still, it would be nice to catch a wahoo, or a King Mackerel, or whatever. But nothing. November!

At the next waypoint, the guys bottom-fish for a few minutes. Here is a nice Amberjack they caught:

And of course, he/she goes back into the water. "AmberJack are also closed". Now don't get me started on the recreational versus commercial fishing rules. BTW, Gene and Sam are exactly the same height. I'm sure Sam would want me to convey that for the record.

We are very far out in the gulf now and still a long way from Port St. Joe. The forecast on my marine app calls for 0-2 ft seas. Bullcrap! The wind and seas have increased to 4-5 ft and it has gotten very cold. Fortunately, the wind is coming in from the West (a following wind), so we are not steering into the teeth of it. Still, it is very choppy. We are about 30 miles south of Panama City Beach. It's time to head for Port St. Joe. This next leg is 2-3 hours.

And now allow me to quickly tell you about the nicest feature on this new boat. Autopilot. OMG, I love this feature! You simply enter your next Waypoint into the GPS, press "Track" on the AutoPilot, sit back and the boat drives itself! For hours! The computer moves the engines to keep the course. Amazing. Even with autopilot though, I have to admit that this is the worst part of the trip for me. It is cold, dreary and for the first time, I get wet. We are coming down off a 5 ft wave and water clears the considerable gunwales. In fact, the wave crashes over the entire boat. Did I mention its a big boat? I make note of it. That said, this 32 ft boat handles these big waves without much effort. Had we been on the Triton bay boat, I wouldn't be here to write this blog.

We arrive in Port St. Joe, on schedule, at 4 p.m. It is my next opportunity to dock this boat, but this time I have to do it with big yachts around me. I'm happy to say that there were no dock or boat crunching ("Capt'n Crunch") sounds to be heard. I take my time and pivot the boat using the two engines. It takes a little practice; it is a little stressful, but not too bad.

Safely on land after 27 hours on the boat! The people working at the Port St. Joe Marina are very friendly and hospitable. We are light on ropes (forgot those also), so they let us borrow a few. The hot showers and morning coffee were awesome. Oh, and the bicycle was quite useful!

Time for a little on-shore fun:

So that night we each drink 2 or 3 beers total in various bars/restaurants. I seem to remember that there was also some tequila involved. At least one waitress named Taylor won't remember us favorably. :-) We return to the boat around 10:30 p.m. Sam patiently waits for me to finally shut up and we go to sleep. I sleep much better here since we are safely tied to a dock and the boat isn't rocking. The beer and tequila had absolutely nothing to do with my sleep satisfaction.

Wednesday, 11/12/2014, Port St. Joe. 7:30 a.m.

This next leg is interesting because instead of taking the boat back into the Gulf and heading around the cape, we are taking the boat through the intercoastal (which is basically a river). The river eventually emerges in Apalachicola. We head into the "ditch" which is a 3-4 mile man-made channel that takes us to the river. And here is where I will issue my first apology. I enter the ditch going too fast and there are lots of small boats around me cast-netting. I forget how much bigger this boat is and I cause problems for these small boats. I get a lot of angry stares and one guy is actually screaming at me before I figure out that I should slow down. So there are some people near Port St. Joe who don't have a good perception of "Capt'n Hook". I really am sorry guys. A "no wake" sign would have been helpful though. There wasn't one. Still, I should have been more courteous.

The "ditch" is a little creepy with sunken ships scattered about:

The "ditch" ends at the river. Gene takes the helm. The river contains lots of twists and turns. Gene does a great job at the helm. In fact, he is the one who really figures out how to make the engines "hum" by synchronizing the tachometers and correct trimming. I learn that from him. Lake Wimico is kind of like the lake that time forgot. Very beautiful. Nothing there but millions of ducks. And I think that even Gene would agree that I am not exaggerating this time. There really were millions of them. The river is calm and driving through this is scenic and fun. We even pass a few sailboats.

Thank you Justin Williams for this intercoastal route advice! Not only does it reduce our overall journey by 2-3 hours, I really wasn't looking forward to heading around the Cape where the waves can get rather severe.

We exit the river in Apalachicola:

I go too fast here also. A "no wake" sign would be nice. If it had been summer, and busier, I surely would have been ticketed, but there is really nobody else on the water, except the Coast Guard putting out new buoys in the cold.

Thanks again to the Coast Guard for all you do.

I'm happy that I donate to the Coast Guard foundation.

About this time, the porpoise show up and play in the wake. Gene and Sam feed them from the boat as they play in our wake. Since we are not fishing, it is always fun to watch them surf:

I am nervous about going through "government cut" which is the man-made pass separating the Gulf from the Apalachicola Bay. I go slow, but it is well marked. There is a small boat next to the rocks. I am courteous and go even slower! I'm improving. No apologies needed this time.

We emerge again into the Gulf of Mexico. Holy Crap! No wind, the Gulf is smooth as silk and the sun is shining. This is what the weather was supposed to be yesterday. "O" Tower is our next Waypoint. It is about 20 miles offshore and "somewhat" on our way home. We fish this Air Force tower for 20-30 minutes with a variety of bait, but there is simply NOTHING biting. November!

Bring em in. Time to head home boys.

Two hours to our final waypoint. Autopilot on. Smooth seas, smooth ride. A few more miscellaneous pictures: (not in any particular order)

Amazing Electronics including AIS, AutoPilot, and Radar.

We arrive in Panacea ahead of schedule. My final docking maneuver goes smoothly. They even make me do it twice while they move boats around - to test me apparently.

Cleaning the boat takes forever. It is a big boat. My brother Russell even makes it down to see us. Thanks bro, for being our welcoming committee. That was cool of you.

Thanks to Captain Joel Singletary at Sea Tow Panacea for "standing by". I will remember to close out my float plan next time on VHF.

Thank you again to Gene Griffin and Sam Littlefield for adjusting your busy schedules and being an amazing crew. I couldn't have done it without you guys! You did a fantastic job. I'm proud of all three of us. Tomorrow it gets windy and very cold again. We were quite fortunate to get the boat that considerable distance in November because I think our window of weather opportunity has now closed until Spring.

It is winter now so the boat, and this blog, will be quiet until Spring. Look for us again in March/April! Come fishing with me next year. It's time to go deeper!!!

Thanks for reading everyone. (all three of you)

Long Live Geeks 1

STAY TUNED!

Capt'n Hook

Russian Roulette

Russian roulette is a potentially lethal game of chance in which a "player" places a single round in a revolver, spins the cylinder, places the muzzle against their head, and pulls the trigger. "Russian" refers to the supposed country of origin, and roulette to the element of risk-taking and the spinning of the revolver's cylinder being reminiscent of spinning a roulette wheel.

July 3. 2014

Hello everyone. Happy 4th of July.

Hurricane Arther is directly off the Florida east coast.

Bullet #1.

Hurricane Arther is being upgraded to a Category 2 hurricane and blowing at about 100 mph. It should hit the N.C. coast in a few hours. Sucks to be them.

One of the outer bands has been pushing severe weather into the Tallahassee area.

Bullet #2.

At 4:00 a.m. this morning, my entire family is awoken, in the hotel room, from severe lightning, wind and thunder. We are spending the night in the Wakulla Best Western hotel. (What can I say, nothing but the best for my family). We go back to sleep. However, it IS our intent (okay, my intent) to wake up at 5:50 a.m. and head 20 miles offshore to K Tower for BIG fish. The "family" is tired of me bringing "big fish" pictures home. They want to "experience the excitement" of offshore fishing.

In retrospect. That's funny.

I wish I would have remembered to take a screen shot of my phone at 5:50 a.m. this morning. From a safety perspective, that is funny. But I didn't. However, at about 6 p.m. this evening, I did take a phone screen shot:

See all that red stuff on Tallahassee? Yeah, well, this morning, it was all at the coast.

Bullet #3

I know....... You are thinking what I am, right?

TAKE THE FAMILY FISHING!

I'm pretty sure Cameron Paul isn't awake yet. Delaney Paul, I must say, is being a trooper. She is better in the morning than Cameron - takes after her Mom.

So.... family on board.....Wind blowing kinda hard. Hurricane nearby...... Very hazy... Lightning visible nearby.... Perfect fishing conditions for a bay boat. What could go wrong?

Bullet #4

We head out with confidence! Delaney is learning how to be Captain. She takes the helm. Not bad Delaney. I wish Cameron had taken a picture of you at the wheel. Being an offshore Captain is difficult. Taking direction from me (your father) is even more difficult. I'll give you credit. You stuck with it. Nice job. For those of you don't know her, Delaney is wicked smart.

We head to Trout hole. Terri is immediately on fire. She catches everything that moves: Trout, shark (good sized shark), dogfish, mudfish, she kind of catches everything there.

The sun comes out. Who knew? I'm thinking we are in the hurricane eye :-) The wind is still with us, but heck, I like the sun. Where's the sunscreen? Lets bring up the lines and head for Rotary Reef about 8 miles offshore. Screw the weather. Time to go deeper. The hurricane can bite me.

We arrive at Rotary Reef. Damn. Terri is still on fire. Who taught Terri how to fish? Here she is with a Cobia on light tackle:

Obviously, because of the wind and weather, we don't make it to K Tower. Believe it or not, I am not that much of an idiot. Its all about safety for my family, right? For those of you still reading: I know, you call bullshit...

Bullet #5.

We were fishing with small tackle, yet I forgot to tell the hungry, large Cobia that. Oops. Sorry family! "Yes, the rod is supposed to be close to breaking..." At least there are no water spouts visible like when I took Caroline and Jared fishing.

Hurricanes are overrated. I know what I'm doing, right?

We kind of tore up the Cobia (with live bait). Cameron Paul and I shared this dude:

You can't really see it, but 5 minutes before this photo was taken, Cameron got blood all over him from trying to release a Ladyfish that his Mom caught. Teaches him not to wear white shorts on the boat. Nice of him to help his Mom though. Crew members have responsibilities on my boat! Cameron is good crew.

I have Cobia scars/punctures on my left arm from this little bastard (the fish, not Cameron). Wait a minute, is my 17 year old son bigger than me? Damn.

Perhaps it was the hurricane, perhaps the fish were just swimming around confused from all the wind and lightning, but whatever it was, I must say, that I have never seen such a variety of species caught in a two hour period. It was Cameron's job to keep track of everything we caught on Rotary Reef, but here is my attempt (and trust me, I may be forgetting a few):

1. Cobia (obviously), we were killing them.

2. Gag grouper (very small, but still....)

3. Ladyfish

4. Mudfish

5. Key West Grunts

6. Shovelhead Sharks (Terri)

7. Pilot fish (the ones that stick on sharks)

8. Salmon (are you really that gullible? Just wanted to see if you are still reading)

9. Some weird species between a grouper and a grunt (now that is actual fact)

10. White Trout

We returned to Mad Anthony's at the dock, where we had a very nice lunch in the pouring rain and lightning. We learned that a water spout, the night before at 2 am, had taken out part of their roof, and all the tables had been smashed up against the windows. Like I said, it was a hell of a storm and... hurricanes are overrated.. And, Captain Hook knows what he is doing....

Have you been keeping track?

In typical, revolver style Russian Roulette, I have one bullet left!

As a family, we managed to safely catch an amazing number of fish amongst high seas, high wind, lightning, rain, a water spout, a nearby hurricane and return to the dock with only superficial scars.

What are you waiting for??? Come fish with me soon.

I have one bullet left. :-)

Happy 4th of July, everyone. Thanks for reading.

Capt'n Hook

Like Father, Like Son.

Good morning everyone. Not a long blog this time.

A heart-felt "Thank You" again to everyone who takes the time to read. This blog has surpassed 1900 page views now - closing in on 2000. Thanks everyone.

I'm certain that I have written about "Action Jackson" before. Bottom line: This kid loves/lives to fish. Now, I don't mean that he "really likes" to fish. Its kind of an addiction for him. This boy knows more about fishing than I do. (which, honestly, isn't saying much). I mean, he spends his entire weekend watching fishing shows (okay, so do I). I have never met a kid that likes fishing as much as he does. He has a good soul and is a kindred spirit. So it is always a pleasure to have him (and his Dad) on my boat.

It is early Friday. Gorgeous morning:

Live bait in the boat: Check. Lunch: Check. Everything working: Check. Let's go!

45 minutes to K Tower. Very smooth seas. We arrive:

For those of you who don't know, the navigation towers in the North Gulf of Mexico are no longer used, but they were previously used by the Air Force for pilot training purposes. Because they have so much structure under them, they are a haven for big, mean fish, and small scared fish. Now, that's not to say that catching the fish that hang out there is easy. It has taken me years to figure out how to attract fish to my line. And on top of that, it has taken me even longer to figure out, once I get them on the line, how to keep them from munching through "said" line. The fish we seek out here are BIG, and they have big teeth.

Tackle Today:

Penn Senator reels
Stiff trolling rods
80 pound monofilament line
43 pound steel leaders (not thick enough - should have been using at least 60 pound)
Live pinfish
No weight whatsoever on the lines

We are also using the downrigger. Downrigger is set to 45 ft.

Water depth: 55 ft depth at K Tower
Water Clarity: Average
Distance from shore: 20 miles

Another lesson I have learned: "The first boat to K Tower wins". That is why I prefer fishing on Fridays versus Saturday or Sunday. There are very few boats out here on Friday, so the odds of being the first to the tower are much better. In the summer at least, the "bite" seems to be "on" between 8 & 9 a.m. After that, more boats show up and the fish simply stop biting. I don't know if the fish have figured the boats out, or it just gets too hot for them. Either way, its good to be the first one out there. The biggest fish hit early and fast.

We decide to do the "bump and run". By this I mean that we throw live bait out the stern, with no weight and I bump the throttle from neutral to forward every 30 seconds or so depending on the wind and current. It takes a little practice. So we are "kind of" trolling, but kind of not.

It doesn't take long.

That wicked cool drag sound "zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz".

I really need to get that sound as the ring tone on my phone.

Now, for the 3 people who actually read my entire blog, you know that the last time we were at K Tower, (a couple of weeks ago) we mostly caught Amberjack. Jim Pittman, of course, caught that huge smoker king, but mostly we caught lots of big Amberjack. The bad news, Amberjack are closed in Federal waters. In fact, almost everything is closed in Federal waters. Wait: Is Snapper open? No, that is only open to recreational fisherman for 9 fricking days this year. Of course, it is open to commercial fisherman all damn year. Grouper - closed. Snapper - closed. Amberjack - Closed. Salmon - Closed. (Okay, there are no obviously no salmon in the Gulf, but if there were, I'm sure that species would be closed).

Sorry, Capt'n Hook digresses.....

So, I forewarned my crew (father and son) that the odds are good that we will be throwing most of our fish back due to "regulations". Still, there are worse things to do on a Friday than catching big fish and throwing them back.

But throwing big fish back simply isn't the case. The first fish that hits the line: Cobia. (Big Cobia in fact - 36 inches at the fork). Incredible job Jackson reeling that monster in. I wish you could have seen his face after we landed it. His first Cobia. In the middle of the fight, which lasted about 5-7 minutes, it actually jumped completely out of the water. That was cool. Cobia are strong fish and they run like hell so Jackson had to use the entire boat to get it reigned in. He did a great job by keeping pressure on the fish the entire time.

The next fish that hits the line: King (For those of you who are keeping track of the biggest fish on my boat - no, it is nowhere near as big as Jim Pittman's king), but still, a very cool, large fish. King run like crazy also. I think father and son played a role in catching this guy. Have I mentioned that it isn't easy to actually get these fish in the boat?

So, two big (keeper) fish in the boat and we've been out here less than an hour. Who's your Daddy!

If you are keeping score, and I am sure Jackson is, Jackson's Cobia is bigger and fatter, than the King his Dad caught!

Up until this time in the early morning, Jackson has been relying on his father for quite a bit of the "crew" duties. You know, putting the poles out, baiting, re-tying the leaders, etc. Gene is busy on the bow and I turn around and see Jackson sitting on his 12-year old ass. "Dude", I say, "What are you doing?" He looks at me quizzically. "What, Mr. Marc?" He is drinking a coke and neither of the trolling lines are in the water. "You got crap to do little man, get off your lazy butt and get those lines in the water! That one needs to be re-rigged, and the other two need to be baited and payed out. I ain't paying you absolutely nothing so you can sit on your adolescent butt". I probably shouldn't be so hard on a 12 year old, but the life/fishing rules are slightly different, and more severe, 20 miles offshore. If you wanna make the blog, you gotta earn it! :-)

I don't care what age, or gender, you are, if you are going to be a fishing crew member on my boat - you got duties and responsibilities. Now if you want to go "boating", I can accommodate you with a pleasant lunch and some sight-seeing, but come on, we are fishing for monsters at K Tower. You got to be on your game out here - the Coke can wait until AFTER the lines are in. After that, the boy stepped up his crew game just fine.

We actually had another big Cobia on the line and the next King we had on the line was huge, (I think bigger than Jim Pittman's), but Capt'n Hook lost him right there at the end. My fault, not sure what I did wrong. Fish don't count unless they actually make it into the boat. That is a long-standing rule that comes from "Lake Cue". I should probably share those rules with you sometime - they are kinda funny.

We did catch some Amberjack (which we threw back), and on the way back in, we stopped at my favorite Camp spot (thanks Camp - you fishing with us on the 11th?) and caught a ridiculous amount of Key West grunts and tasty Rock Bass. By 1 p.m., the cooler was full of fish, so we decided to call it a "short" day and head back to Rock Landing Marina.

I love it when my cooler is full of fish at 1 p.m.!

Oh, and one of the great things about Mad Anthony's Bar & Grille at Rock Landing Marina, is they will cook the fish you just caught. (Yes, they still charge you), but still, it doesn't get any better than that. Here we are eating freshly grilled and blackened Cobia:

We had ourselves a little mini-feast.

Jackson: You're a good kid. You're welcome back on my boat anytime. Nice job.

Thanks for taking all the pictures Gene.

Have a great and safe 4th of July everyone!

Capt'n Hook

OMG - Pre-teen acronym for "Oh My God"!

Good morning everyone. It is Memorial Day weekend. I am home after spending Friday and Saturday at the coast. I have a sore throat and a fever, but yesterday was a different story. Here's why:

Oh, before I get started, I should say that two weeks ago, I had my brother Russell on the Triton. Unfortunately, the biggest story of the day was "the one that got away". Funny story, and you really should here it from me over a beer, but it can be summed up with, "Don't try and catch a 30 pound cobia on 8 pound test line". My bad. Good to have you on the boat again though, bro. That was fun.

But let's return to this Memorial day weekend. I spend Friday at the coast messing around and getting the boat ready for fishing on Saturday. My "primary" Friday goal is to catch "live" pinfish. I take the truck to Mashes Sands where I have caught them in the past with my castnet, but it is low tide, and I don't catch any. I decide to try another spot. Truck won't start. OMG. All the way down at Mashes Sands at the end of a dirt road. The weekend isn't starting the way I would have hoped. My brother has my back, drives down to get me, the truck eventually starts (fuel pump dying). I won't waste too many words talking about my truck problems; this is a fishing blog; suffice it to say, I had truck problems all weekend. But it all worked out. I am very lucky. My wife has my back also, btw. Thanks Terri.

Russell and I make it back from Mashes Sands to Rock Landing Marina Friday night, and I ask Fred, who works at the marina, how to catch live pinfish. He says, "The easiest way is to go over to my trap - right over there - and take out whatever you like". Who knew it was that easy. Have I mentioned how nice everyone is at Rock Landing Marina?!

So the next morning, I get 15-16 pinfish out of Fred's trap. Okay, probably not a long-term solution to the live bait problem, but for today, I'll take it. We get an early start, heading out right at 7 a.m.

On the boat with me today (Saturday) are Jim Pittman and Sam Littlefield. My goal is to get to K Tower and fish for Amber Jack.

Very windy this morning. Easy 3-4 ft waves with white caps, but the waves are at my stern, so it isn't too bad riding out. About halfway to K Tower, (I have learned), I turn the boat around and face the bow into the wind. Big waves, and lots of wind hitting me in the face. Decision time. Do I chicken out? I'm thinking...... Have I mentioned to anyone that I need a bigger boat? :-) Halfway to K Tower, kind of like a big hand in poker, I feel like I am pot-committed. I really want to make it to the tower, so I make the decision to keep going. Hopefully, we stay safe. I do know that Sunday (tomorrow) calls for lesser winds, so I factor that in to my decision. My calculated guess is that winds are going to subside, not increase, throughout the day.

We're at K Tower. We rig up and put the live pinfish on. 2-3 minutes later. WHAM! Something HUGE hits it. OMG! Jim fights it for a while, Sam gaffs it perfectly and Jim pulls this monster King in:

Gene Griffin: You HAD the biggest fish on my boat, but sorry, you have officially lost that title. This, by far, is the biggest damn fish EVER on Geeks 1. The ruler on my boat doesn't go past 5 ft. Unbelievably nice fish Jim - way to go. Not only do I need a bigger boat, I definitely need a bigger cooler. This fish doesn't even come close to fitting in it. We have to break his tail to get him in.

Okay Sam, you are a guest, so the next one is yours. We put another pinfish on. 2-3 minutes later - WHAM! Jim gets another hit. He fights it for a little but, like a gentleman, hands the pole over to Sam. Shortly after, the line breaks. Sorry Sam, that was a bit unlucky.

A few minutes later, another pinfish - WHAM! Jim gets another bit hit on his side, but like a gentleman, hands the pole over to Sam. Line breaks. Sorry Sam, that was a bit unlucky.

Jim catches another, (I have no idea what Jim is doing differently, but I do hear him whispering to the pinfish), and like a gentleman, hands the pole to Sam. Line breaks. Dammit. I am using 80 pound monofilament line and 45 pound wire leaders. Sam isn't doing anything wrong, but the wire leaders keep breaking. This happens one more time. 4 HUGE fish lost. I am irritated.

We discuss the problem.

We all agree that it isn't Sam who is unlucky but the problem lies with the pre-made 45 pound leaders, (with cheap gates) that just aren't strong enough for these huge fish. That is our consensus:

UNTIL..........

Sam sits down on the bow, faces me, and decides to have a "snack". Good for him. He is a little tired from losing all those fish. The first thing he pulls out: A f*cking banana. Oh no you didn't! You did NOT bring a banana on my boat! "What?" he asks me. I very calmly, but very seriously, inform him, "You can either throw that banana away NOW, or you can swim back from here". He replies, "But I brought 4 bananas!". I immediately do the math in my head. How many HUGE fish have you lost in the last 30 minutes? Let's count, oh yes, 4!!!!!!!

All the bananas, including the one he is eating, get thrown overboard.

Sam starts catching Amber Jacks left and right, even jigging for them. The boy is on fire. He says its because he started rigging the tackle. Uh huh, sure it is, Sam! Meanwhile, there are no more bananas on my boat.

Once again, something VERY LARGE hits Jim's line. Jim starts fighting it. 15 minutes later, Jim is still fighting this thing. 30 minutes later, Jim is still fighting. I start calling Jim names, none of them manly. 45 minutes later (I'm not kidding), Jim is still fighting this fish. And when I say "fighting", I don't mean little tugs. For the last 45 minutes, the pole has been completely, and perpetually bent over. For the benefit of the camera, here let me show you:

Jim did this for 45 minutes! This is no amber jack. For the last 45 minutes, as the Captain, I have used the boat to follow the fish for Jim - we have travelled well over a mile. OMG! What the heck is this thing? Do they have whales at K Tower? After 45 minutes, we still don't have a peek at it. Jim, and I don't blame him, is exhausted. I can't believe that, whatever this fish is, it hasn't broken the line. It probably has to do with Sam's new custom-made leaders! :-)

Finally, we see it. Ironically, it surfaces right next to the bananas that we threw in the water. Okay, not really, that just sounded good! OMG! Bull shark. Biggest damn shark I have ever seen from my boat. Definitely the biggest "fish", we have ever caught. A couple of years ago, Ryan Brooks had a large bull shark on the line near K Tower. He asked me what to do. I said, "Not a damn thing cause you ain't catching a 150 pound, 8 ft bull shark from my little bay boat". So now I have to retract those words, because Jim Pittman has just done it. Obviously, we aren't letting this monster in the boat. Have you ever seen those idiots that do? Yeah, me too. Sharks get really pissed when they enter your boat. They are not fans of oxygen and they are extremely strong. Captain Hook doesn't need any more stitches in his body, so we bring it as close as we can to the boat, and VERY CAREFULLY cut the leader next to the hook. Look, I have no beef against sharks. They deserve to be out there. They serve a purpose. As recreational fishermen, our goal should be to protect all we can. I catch fish to eat them, not just to kill them.

We did our best to get some pictures of it in the water for you. If I could play the JAWS audio here, I would:

OMG! Now THAT is the biggest fish ever caught from Geeks 1. Probably somewhere around 7-8 ft long and 150-200 pounds. Just guessing, but trust me, I don't think I am exaggerating. It looked a LOT bigger next to the boat cutting the line with its huge mouth near my right hand.

Jim, bless his heart, needs a little "break" from fishing. The shark needs a break from Jim.

Very busy at K Tower now with lots of boats; the wind has subsided considerably (I figured it would); so we decide to head to Oar Reef about 3 miles from K Tower.

But before we go, I decide to foul the prop with hundreds of feet of trolling line. You know, just to make the day interesting. Just when I think I am getting better at this Captaining thing, I do stupid stuff like this. Keeps me humble, I suppose. It takes a while, but without going swimming, I'm able to cut it all off with my knife. I've gotten better with that particular maneuver also. Precariously hanging off the back of the engine while cutting line off the prop with a razor sharp knife is one of the reasons I don't drink alcohol out there. Even being careful, bad things happen sooo quickly out there. And this time, I didn't lose my military and police knife. Not so in the past.

I REALLY want to learn how to use the "downrigger" that Major Mike Wood (Leon County Sheriff's Office) graciously gave me last year. He actually gave me two of them. These devices place the bait at whatever depth you want. We still have 5-6 pinfish left, and Sam and Jim agree to give it a try at Oar Reef. OMG! I don't think there was ever more than 5 minutes elapsed before an amberjack hit the bait at the depth we set it to. A couple of years ago, we had tried to use the downrigger (with no success), but we were using artificial lures, and not live pinfish. Downriggers rock. We hammered the fish with it. Thanks again Mike Wood.

Here is Sam with one of the keeper Ambers:

So we used 16 pinfish, which resulted in 16 large fish on the line. We lost a few at the beginning, many were under 30", and we kept a few. All in all, it was the MOST fish ever caught on Geeks 1 and definitely one of our more exciting days. Sam, you are always welcome back - with oranges. Fred - I owe you some beers at the bar. Thanks again for the bait.

Lessons learned (this time):

1. Don't fish offshore without live pinfish.

2. Don't use 45 pound pre-made leaders with crappy gates. Make your own leaders with wire.

3. Always keep a sharp knife handy.

4. Downriggers are the "shit".

5. Thou shalt not bring bananas on my boat!

Thank you to all our soldiers. God bless you all and Happy Memorial Day. Thank you for making the USA the best country - ever. If you are a veteran, you are always welcome on my boat.

Happy Birthday to Casey at Mad Anthony's. When she smiles, the world is a brighter place.

Tight lines everyone. :)

Captn Hook

Rock-The-Dock

The Panacea Rock-the-dock fishing tournament is this weekend! This is our 2nd year in the tournament. We are a lot smarter this year - we think. We KNOW we ain't gonna win anything. More on that later.

Since this is a tournament weekend, I have lots to write. So for my 3 readers of this blog, you may want to read this when you have 5-10 minutes to spare.

Conditions are perfect this weekend. 1 ft seas or less, no chance of rain. The tournament directors could not have picked a more perfect weather weekend. Because I am always looking for any excuse to be at the coast, I head down there on Thursday with the excuse that the boat really needs to be cleaned. In all honesty, the boat really does need to be cleaned. After a couple of months in the shed, it is completely black with dust. I hate fishing on a dirty boat. So I spend all day Thursday cleaning. The boat is in the water, but never leaves the dock. Of course, I don't drink any beer while I am cleaning - that would just be wrong.

Mad Anthony's, the new amazing Tiki Bar and restaurant that they have built at Rock Landing Marina is going through final preparations for its grand opening tomorrow night. From my boat, I can hear the entire staff being trained. Lots of staff! Big bar - nice place. It should be hopping tomorrow night.

I install my last new battery. Over the winter, I have installed four new batteries and I had my mechanic do LOTS of engine work. I am not expecting any troubles, so I turn the key. Engine starts perfectly!  Nice. Electronics? None! Figures. So I spend the next few hours cleaning ground wires, checking things, etc. Still nothing. No GPS, no fish finder, no trim tabs, no radio, no toggle switches, nothing. Dammit.

Gene Griffin makes it down Thursday night. As he walks down to the Triton, I go to my truck to grab a flashlight so he can see inside the battery compartment. (It is starting to get dark). I am 45 seconds behind him. As I approach the boat, I hear my satellite radio and I see my GPS on. Bastard. I love him, but he is still a bastard. I missed a wire. A big one to the battery apparently. I am an idiot. But I am still a genius cause I have Gene to fix everything. What is the old saying, "Surround yourself with people smarter than you to be successful". Exactly. The fact that he fixes it within 45 seconds is a little irritating though.

At the bar, we meet up with a couple of Gene's friends ("Camp" and his son) and have dinner together. They ask if they can fish with us tomorrow morning. Sure! Love to have the company.

We head out Friday morning. Beautiful day. It is immediately apparent that Camp really knows his stuff. This guy teaches me more about fishing and tackle in the first 2 hours he is on my boat than in the last 2 years that I have owned the damn thing. Sometime in the middle of the day he says, "I hope you don't mind if I keep making suggestions". I turn to him and say, "If you STOP making suggestions, I am going to kick your ass". So Camp gives us lots of advice; many GPS Coordinates; we catch lots of in-shore fish; and we return to the dock with a cooler full of trout, rock bass, and several other species of in-shore fish. We head in, Oh hello FWC. A safety check? Well of course. God forbid I fish a day out here without getting stopped by my friends at FWC. At this point, I even know, by memory, what the expiration dates are on my flares. (February, 2017, BTW). Since this is my 18th safety check in two years, the safety check takes all of 2.5 minutes. I'm a little disappointed that they carry .45 calibers now. Used to be the .40 caliber I always carry on the boat was bigger than theirs. Now I have weapon envy.  Don't even think about it Russell. I don't need another handgun. We have being pulled over by the cops down to a science. See ya. All in all, a great day of fishing. Thanks Camp, you are always welcome, and no, I am not going to purchase your 35 ft yacht. Tempting though.

Friday afternoon, Mike Wilson and Ryan Brooks arrive in Panacea. The tournament Captain's meeting and party start at 7 p.m. Gene and I, fortunately have had enough time to get back to Carrabelle, shower, and return to Panacea. Because I have had my boat in Panacea for a couple of years now, it is fun to hang with people we know, shoot the sh*t, and have a good time at the bar. Rob owns the place and he has flown down from Pennsylvania for the occasion. We sit with him at the bar for awhile and talk business. I am drinking these odd "red" something or other beers that are apparently 10.1% alcohol. They sure are tasty. Needless to say, when we leave the bar at 10 p.m., I am absolutely hammered. Thank you Ryan for driving, because I couldn't have made it to the end of the street, let alone all the way to Carrabelle. Of course, that doesn't stop us from stopping at the bar in Carrabelle for one last beer. I will sleep when I die.

OMG, is that my frickin alarm!? What the heck time is it? 6 a.m.? Who beat my head with a baseball bat while I was sleeping? Am I dead, cause if not, I want to sleep more. Wow. Maybe we should just fish on Sunday and skip today.  We have even lost a guy, since we can't find Ryan anywhere. I was pretty sure he was here when I went to bed, but he has disappeared. Did another boat Shanghi him?  I think we were playing "CLR" before I went to bed, and I have a vague memory that Ryan was at the table. We are ready to leave for Panacea and he hasn't returned. I finally think to check my phone. Ryan had been feeling sick all night and decided to return to Tallahassee at 3:33 a.m. (We think it was Mike's snoring). We will miss you Ryan, but the show must go on. We get to the Rock Landing dock by 7:30 am and off we go.

Perfect conditions - again. I have to be careful though, every time I lean over and come back up I see stars and get all light-headed. Ooops. I wonder what that is from? Probably not enough protein in my diet. :) We head straight for Oar Reef which is about 17 miles offshore, and happens to be my favorite reef. We aren't there long before we hear, 'zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz'. You know - my favorite trolling sound! We are in Federal waters, so we can't catch grouper. So what do we catch? Grouper. Dammit.  Huge grouper! We throw him back. Not long after that, another grouper. Not long after that, another grouper. They all go back. Damn, that sucks!

Here is a picture of Mike holding one of the smaller gag groupers:

We keep fishing. Wham - another bite. Finally, a King!

I need a bigger cooler. 34" king. Cooler is only 32". He isn't huge as Kings go (minimum size is 24"), but hey, we got a keeper fish in the cooler. We are officially in the tournament baby!

After a few more runs, we decide to head in-shore to check some of Camps coordinates that he gave us the day before. By the time we are done, we have a cooler full of fish. I am starting to think that we are getting better at this fishing thing. Thanks again Camp for the coordinates.

Okay, now I know this King isn't very big (as Kings go), but doggone it, I want to walk across the damn stage, (something I have never done) so my crew lets me take the fish up there. I don't think I actually caught him, but I appreciate their respect for their Captain. Besides, they know what a ham I am:

The King was on the board for 18 whole minutes I think. 18 minutes of fame baby! 3 more than some people get.

We head back to Carrabelle Saturday night for a fish-fry. We actually eat a healthy dinner and I can't make myself drink anything but water. I am exhausted. I actually fall asleep at the dining table in the middle of conversation. I simply can't party two nights in a row anymore - and especially not after fishing hard for 9 hours. Peer pressure doesn't work on me (something about whiskey shots) and I go to bed at 10 p.m.

Sunday morning. 6 a.m. I feel all refreshed. Let's go, beaatches! I haven't lost any more crew members either.

We head straight to K Tower this time. There are a few boats there, and Mike even takes a picture of a pontoon boat tied to K Tower. A pontoon boat! Did I mention that weather conditions are perfect? We watch this boat next to us hook up with a large Amber Jack, then another, then another. Holy crap, what is he doing different? Well, he is trolling at about 2 mph with live bait. He isn't sitting still. The other boats sitting still are catching nothing. We have very little live bait (a whole different story), but we do have a couple pinfish in the live well, so we do the same thing as the boat catching fish. A few minutes later, sure enough, and Gene's side of the boat has a big bite. Why do pictures of Gene holding fish on my boat always look the best? I think he gets his clothes tailored before he gets on the boat. He sure isn't normally this good looking:

Now that is a nice damn Amber Jack for my little boat! Once again, small as Amber Jacks go, but definitely a great eating fish - and a keeper. Ambers must be 30" at the fork, this guy is 35". In the cooler he goes. Look behind Gene. We are 20 miles offshore and the water looks like we are in a bathtub. Because the conditions are so perfect, we really want to head out to a farther reef called "Bryson Reef". This reef is about 30 miles offshore - and outside my comfort zone as a Captain of a bay boat. I have been there before though, so let's go. When we arrive, we put some artificials on using a technique taught to us by Camp. It isn't long before we start getting hit by the Amber Jacks. They love the duster with the spoon attached to the end. Thanks Camp. The bite is definitely on! I think we catch two or three Ambers in a row that are all 29". We try to "stretch" them, but we can't keep those. Odds of seeing FWC on the way in are, what, 90%? We are out of live bait and not sure what to do so we tie a fake eel on the end of our trolling line and fish with that. Wham - that gets hit, and it is good-sized. My crew is nice to me and let me reel this one in (driving all the time gets old). These guys are so much fun to fight. I have to use two hands as I am not as strong as Gene:

34" - Another keeper. Now we got a heavy cooler, baby:

The wind is starting to increase and I don't particularly like being 30 miles offshore in my little bay boat, so I reluctantly tell the guys, "Let's head in". It is only about 2 p.m. but we decide to head all the way in because there is a lot happening at the tournament, we have fish to clean and beers to drink. (No way I am drinking just water today).

Here we are with our three biggest fish for the 2014 Panacea Rock-The-Dock Tournament:

Not bad boys! We are quickly learning that catching larger fish really offshore is all about teamwork and practice. When they are on the line, you really have to work together to make sure that you don't lose them before they actually get in the boat. As one line goes off, each member on the boat has responsibilities. Lines have to be brought in, the boat has to be maneuvered, the gaff has to be ready, gloves come on, poles get secured out of the way, etc. And all of this must happen very quickly in a very confined space. It kind of reminds me of an orchestra.

At the beginning of this blog, I said that we knew we wouldn't win anything in the tournament. Why? Well, around 3 p.m. on Sunday (final weigh-in ends at 4 p.m.), the "professionals" start showing up. You know, those guys with the 45 ft "run and gun" center console yachts with the cool wraps on the sides of their boats and all the guys are dressed in professional gear and have sponsor names all over their matching shirts. I think the "winning" king was 57 pounds (ours was 11), and I think the winning Amber Jack was 60 pounds. Do you know how big that is? Ours were like 15-17 pounds. Now that's not to say we weren't proud of them. Catching even small Ambers is a challenge. It is going to be awhile before we start competing with THOSE offshore tournament guys.

But we're coming gentleman, we're learning.

In between writing this blog tonight, I am programming and trying to make money. I'm working towards my bigger boat! I can assure you that I won't have the Triton forever. I LOVE offshore fishing. Addictions are terrible things :)

We must be improving as I did not have a single hook penetrate any of my body appendages! I still don't want to lose my Capt'n Hook moniker though. I earned that.

Thanks for reading everyone. Tight lines.

And thank you MIke for taking all the great photos - nice job!

Capt'n Hook (Sometime on Saturday near K Tower) :)

IIIIIIII'MMMMMMMM BAAAAAAACCCCCCCKKKKKKK!

Hello fishing world :-)

I know, you thought I had gone away forever, but I haven't. I'm back! I fished some over the winter, but as many of you know, especially those of you who live in the Northeast, this winter sucked in regards to rain, snow and wind! Storm after storm after storm. Geez. Global warming, indeed.

So it was a relatively quiet winter in regards to fishing - in North Florida.

But now - Spring is here!

There are actually a few of you who have assured me you like my fishing blogs, so I will try to do a better job of keeping up with them this year.

I still own the Triton, but soon, I would like to be in the market for a bigger boat. Why? Because they are almost done with the new bar at the Rock Landing Marina and I want a boat that I can sleep on after I stagger away from the bar. It is quite simple really.

Experienced fishermen tell me that the best way to learn how to fish is to spend time out on the water. Usually when I troll, I use stretch 25's or stretch 30's. But there is a reef that is only 5 miles offshore called Rotary Reef. Only about 21 feet deep there. So I thought, hey, why not use stretch 15's or even some freshwater lures with small bills on them. Leading up to that:

A few weeks before my family and I were travelling around Florida looking at colleges for Cameron Paul when we came across some old flea market in the middle of nowhere. In the back of the flea market there was an even older bait shop. Lots of very old, dusty lures. I came across a strange one, made out of plastic, manufactured in about 1977. It looked cool, so I bought it.

Two weeks ago, Caroline and I were on the boat. It was rather windy (as it always seems to be), and it was still very early in the season (early April), so there wasn't a lot of activity out there. We trolled across Rotary Reef a few times - it was the end of the day. We had caught a lot of silver trout earlier in the day, but they were all pretty small.

I had that strange flea market stretch 15 on the port side line. Just a few minutes earlier, I had said to Caroline, "I am going 'old school' on that lure. The fish haven't seen that one since 1977. Sure enough, just a few minutes later, over the reef, the trolling rig started to make that wonderful zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz sound. I love that sound, BTW.

Caroline hauled in this amazingly large Spanish Mackerel. Yes, Caroline also looks amazing as she is obviously "ripped" from her daily workout regimen:

We have caught lots of Spanish, but I have never seen a Spanish this big, and in fact, I was certain it was a King Mackerel based on how long and hard it fought; until we brought it into the boat and saw the spots. We didn't weigh it, but I'm guessing it was around 8-9 pounds. Ironically, I got a blast email from FWC a few days later talking about Spanish Mackerel and it mentioned that the state record is 12 pounds. Damn Caroline, we really should have weighed this thing. Well, whatever. It was very tasty on the grill that night.

Oh, and I have heard SO MANY differing views on whether or not Spanish Mackerel are good to eat or not. Here is my opinion:

I filleted it at the dock. I immediately placed it on ice. I actually left the blood line in - won't do that next time. At home, I soaked the fillets in milk for a couple of hours (gets the fishy smell out). I then sprinkled some Cajun spices on the fillets, mixed with a little olive oil and placed it on the grill. So for all the people who say, "Eww, mackerel is oil and fishy and yucky", my family and I call "Bullshit". It wasn't fishy at all; it was flaky and white and full of goodness. So we say, "Bring on the Spanish Mackerel!" Apparently, you just can't freeze them.

The Panacea Rock-the-dock fishing tournament is THIS weekend. Conditions look extremely favorable for an excellent fishing weekend. I promise to take pictures and write next week - assuming we catch fish - that is.

My goal this year, of course, is to keep hooks out of my various body parts.

Welcome to Spring, everyone. Tight Lines

Capt'n Hook