Was so busy catching baits that I forget to snap a sunrise pic. Here is one from last year…
We wanted some sardines as well so we stopped at Bullshark. Only took about 20 minutes to finish topping off the livewell’s. Headed eastward from here. Plan was to hit the Hill first to try our luck for some BFT drifting some sardines.
In about 150ft we came across large matt’s of weeds and decided to make a few drifts here. Greg hooked up to a good size barracuda.
We continued to the Hill knowing we can come back to the weeds.
First drift Deidra’s line gets almost spooled but came unglued. Went back up for another drift and Scott hooks up to a mystery fish and that too comes unglued.
Went back up and it was a double header this time. Both Scott & Deidra are hooked up.
As they reel in the fish we realize they are both connected to the same fish. One of the biggest Bonita’s I have ever seen. Congrats you two.
Decided to changes things up and go hunt for some fins. With the winds coming out of the SSW I decided we should head south as you will see later it was the right call.
On the way we spotted a couple of turtles doing the two step.
We arrived to some large matt’s of weeds in 289ft and not the same weedline matt’s we stopped at early this morning. As we pull up we seen a couple of fins and first drift Scott puts his first fish of the day in the box.
Congrats Scott. We worked this patch again and Deidra catches her first fin. Congrats Deidra.
As we are running back up to make another drift I was spotting some action on another nearby patch and opted to running over there and check it out. As we pull up Greg spots some fins under the matt and we are on them again.
Greg catches his first fin of the day. Congrats Greg.
Deidra hooks up again on the next drift.
We worked this patch for a bit longer picking up a fin on every drift. We moved on to another large matt and finally got our first Chinese fire drill with about 20-30 fins around the boat. Crew did an awesome job keeping one fin in the water at all times while we brought in the fins.
Any fins that measured 20 inches went back in the water as they shrink about ¼ inch when on ice. The bite turned off so we moved on to the next patch. Tons of baits under the matt. We are now on Chinese fire drill #2.
Same scenario. Keep one in the water and sift thru the small ones. Biggest one of the day was 26inches with a majority of the fins between 22” an 24”.
After getting bloody the second time we move on to the next large matt and it’s Chinese fire drill #3. What I haven’t mentioned is that we have been drifting north from the Loran Tower area at 5-6 mph.
We look off to the southwest and see that the Thunderheads are beginning to build. It is sunny where we are but soon to be in the clouds. They wanted to keep fishing so we continued to work this patch until that first crack of thunder.
Time to pack up an dial in the SLI. We are 22 miles from the inlet. We were able to run 30mph for the first 10 miles until we get into the heavy rains and have to slow down to 20mph Thank goodness we had SSW winds keep the waves somewhat at bay. If it was a north wind then that trip would have been a 3 hour tour.
Back at the ramp around 3pm to a crew and I 10lbs heavier due to the water.
Today’s Tally
1 – Barracuda
1 – Large Bonita
22+ fins – 16 keepers
4 soaked fisherman & woman.
How did you all make out today?
Tip of the day
Be cautious when keeping that fish that measures exactly the limit size
http://www.saltwaternow.com/shrinkage1.html
Random pics on the day
