Venice bottom dunking

[capthoop]

Had a group trip for Deep South Charters of 11 people that had thier hearts set on tuna. This was to be a 2 boat trip and even at the dock they were checking the sea conditions and saying it was only 2-4's out there. We knew it was different. Here we have the protection of the land to the east or west depending on the direction of the wind. They could not cancel till Sunday so off we went to the west where the land base protected us from the easterly wind somewhat. We never went more than 12 miles out.

I assured my boat of 5 people that there would be plenty of action. After my third stop I was begining to doubt myself. The water was dirty and we could not loose a bait. The second boat started with me but got discusted and moved about 5 miles farther out to another set of rigs. They found 3 mangroves right off and let me know. I had a few more stops before I ventured out that far. The seas were 2-4 here and the wind was picking up as the sun heated up the day. One of my customers was already down and nothing yet. My targeted rig paid off and it was fish as quickly as we got the bait down. The limit is 16 inches on the red snapper but we never kept anything under 20. Useing circle hooks, a fish flipper, and being in shallow water all released went back virtualy untouched and unharmed. We had many black tipped sharks, a few nice mangroves, senet, and a lot of big red fish. We set for King Macrel and looked for cobia but it did not happen.

On the way in we made a stop for some redfish in state waters and were lucky to pickup one before they decided to take it to the barn.



The other boat did a lot of running and had a little rougher time getting the red snapper of good size. They did manage a nice cobia to add to the fish box.



Both boats had a great time and were glad they never got out any farther. Could not get any other shots as I ran without a deck hand and the action was constant once we found them. Between cutting bait, rigging, and unhooking fish I never stopped.

Life is Good!
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Fishing is not a matter of life or death. It's more important than that.

Capt Hoop
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