A couple of days leading into the weekend of the 9th the forecast was really looking too good to be true. I’d called up all of my offshore buddies and each had their own excuse for not being able to make it. It was starting to look like I was going to have to fuel up Shawnodese and make a run solo.
Friday just before lunch, the head of the plant safety and environmental department called me up to see if I would mind talking to his son Ryan about some places he and a buddy could try to fish for the weekend. I told him, “Man, have I got a deal for you”!
So, the plan was set in motion, I was going to be taking Ryan Wharton and his Buddy Jonathon Jackson out for a “who knows how far” fishing trip leaving from Dauphin Island in the 6 o’clock hour on Saturday the 9th.
The guys showed up at my place about 10 after six Saturday morning and they had one more in tow, Ms. Lauren Littleton. We grabbed my gear and hopped in the truck for the remaining 0.8 mile ride to Billy Goat Hole. Everything was loaded into the nearly new black hulled 22 foot Century center console and we were on our way into the forecasted 1 to 2 foot seas and light North West winds……
Well, you must know by now that NOAA can seldom if ever get everything right. They were only 90 degrees off on the winds as they were most definitely out of the south west. And there were some one to two foot seas mixed in with the constant barrage of their larger cousins that kept everyone nicely drenched as the SW winds would blow any spray right back into the boat. But, alas, we had a hearty crew and no little saltwater bath was gonna be keepin’ them from getting a good pull on.
We made a stop for extra foul weather gear from the console and kept into the sloppy seas. Two early stops were called off due to boat traffic in the general area. At twenty miles we did stop to check a bottom spot for trigger activity and see if we could maybe entice some bait into the boat. Nothing doing. Every bait dropped brought back red snapper. Ryan did manage a pinfish for the live well on his last drop there. We were fishing double dropper rigs baited with small cuts of squid on mustad #4 sheepshead hooks and anywhere from 8 to 12 ounces of lead via bank sinker. VK-77 lay to our south and while we were fishing a boat had made a few attempts around it and went on their way so I didn’t bother even trying it. The chop had spread out and running was easier so we headed farther south.
We made our next stop at a rig in the 30 mile range. There appeared to be hard tail activity and I was definitely marking AJ around it so we put out a sabiki rig for hard tail, a diamond jig for AJ and a double dropper rig for whatever would hit it. The sabiki got hit right away as did everyone else. The diamond jig brought a small AJ to the boat and the double rig had a red snapper. The sabiki came up about three hooks shy. Everything was released and dropped again. Pretty much the same thing repeated its self many times over. The only difference being every now and then the diamond jig would have a red snapper instead of an AJ.
The first sabiki bit the dust as did the second. Jonathon gave it a try with a fresh sabiki and hooked up good right where I was marking bait, about 40 to 60 feet. Guess what, no hard tails, red snapper. Yep, couldn’t put the sabiki down without getting hammered by red snapper. Meanwhile, Lauren, (we’ll call her cutefisherlady, or CFL, from here on out) had managed a nice keeper beeliner on the dropper rig.
We were off to the next rig to the south east. There was a boat there fishing to the south of the rig and it appeared they were playing catch and release with the many hungry undersized AJ. We put our only live bait down on a 10/0 circle and hoped for the best. He got chewed on in short order, but, no hook set and when he was retrieved to the boat, he had been chomped pretty good by what appeared to be a snapper. He was dropped again and taken never to be seen again. Out of live bait and nothing doing on putting more in the boat. Ryan did boat two under sized scamp on the sabiki rig there.
We left there and headed to some bottom spots to the south. I had everyone rigged with dropper rigs and put out the squid in hopes of big beeliners. We caught a few, but, the action was not what I had hoped for. Plus, there were too many interruptions to vent and release red snapper. We had been putting one “Grouper Sandwich”, (a cigar minnow stuffed up inside a squid), down on some spots, but, nothing but snapper were hitting it so I called an end to that.
We did manage a few white snapper and some nice beeliners, but, more importantly, several great big offshore sized pinfish were added to the live well.
I gave the crew the option of heading on out to the 50 miles rigs since we were only about 7 or so miles from them. They jumped at the chance and seeing as how calm the seas had become, I figured getting back in would be no great feat.
We made stops at a couple of rocks before trying a rig and were rewarded with a few more white snapper, some undersized AJs and of course, more red snapper to vent and release. We put two big pinfish down at the rig we picked out. There were some pretty decent marks on the fish finder, but, pretty deep, around 120’. The guys dropped and the wait was on. Jonathon was first to get hit and hooked up solid. We motored away from the rig and watched as his did the tug of war with one of the resident rig donkeys. When his fish was boated it measured out at 31 inches. Slimy fives all around and we dropped another set of baits. This time we substituted a bar jack that Ryan had caught casting jigs around that rig. But, the second fish also took a big pinfish and gave Ryan a good fight on his new Tekota 700.
This fish was fighting big so I stayed a little further from the rig. After a goodly little tussle the AJ was brought onboard and measured out several inches longer than the 36” measuring stick, sweet!
We put down another set of baits but went without any attention for a good spell and pointed the boat north. We dropped on a few more deep bottom spots and found some nice sized triggerfish, and of course, more red snapper to vent and release. We did have one stop were everyone on the boat got taken to the house, a couple of times each. I figured we’d attracted a shark so I put some single strand wire on a freshly severed leader and put Ryan down with a whole cigar minnow on and told him to send it to the wreck. In seconds he was bowed up and brought the fish well up in the water column, only to have him take a drag burning dive right back down and, yes, into the structure. We worked the 30 pound braid for a while with no luck so I wrapped the line a few times and gave a good pull. We got back everything except for the hook. The wire had broken in the loop the hook was on. The one that got away; what would any fishing story be without one of those?
The sun was sinking so I picked a couple numbers close in and we made good time running about 34 knots to the north. We spent the last hour of daylight catching a few keeper triggerfish in close and, you guessed it, venting and releasing NICE red snapper. The sun sank out of sight while we were about 15 miles offshore. The seas were slick and the crew was tired. We made Billy Goat Hole right at 6:00 pm.
Some pics back at the marina before cleaning the days’ take:
I really enjoyed my day spent with Ryan and his good friends Jonathon and Lauren. Everything on the boat functioned nicely, the seas turned as fair as any day I have ever seen and I now have a little hope in some of our younger generation. Jonathon and CFL are both studying in the marine biology field and Ryan has graduated from the University of Alabama in Business. Thanks for letting me be a part of y’alls adventure!
02/09/08 out of Dauphin Island, AL.
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