Best 2014 Sunrise…
2014 Tips of the day:
Support our local offshore buoys by writing a letter to them. They are a key ingredient for our safety and local information. The monitor sea temperatures, wave heights, wave separation etc… Without funding from the Army Corps of Engineers, these buoys stand a chance of being removed. Please contact Lynne Arrott at this email address and she will send you the information she needs to help keep the funding coming.
CDIP Contact: Lynne Arrott: [email protected]
Here is a link to our local offshore buoy:
http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=41114
Don’t trust those signal horns you buy in the can. I went to check mine before I had my boat USCG inspected, I found that even though I had not used it for the past year, it was dead. I picked up a new one and will inspect it every 3 months to see just how long it lasts and will report back to you in the future just how long it actually will last. I learned from the USCG inspector that you must have the horn out of the package. If I had been pulled over on the water and it was not out of the package, I could have been ticketed. Thanks for the heads up Gary Bowerman (USCG inspector).
After my last trip I took a tip from a fellow forum member RockNReeler and picked up one of these. Protect your hand while you fillet your fish unlike what I did last trip out and sliced my thumb open… Thanks again to the Undertaker for helping my crew clean the fish.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001NXC7RM/ref ... _hist_link
Always have some chunk bait at the ready. Today that fin killed the short bait and didn't want it. I tossed out some chunk bait to keep him around. When dropping him into the fish box he spits out a piece of that chunk bait.
Be cautious when keeping that fish that measures exactly the limit size
http://www.saltwaternow.com/shrinkage1.html
Take out a vet fishing. Thank You Lou for serving our country. Much appreciation for you and all fellow serviceman and woman.
Today marks #60 Sailfish caught aboard the Alwaysforward. Congratulations Laura and Thank You. My tip is for catching Sailfish. 80% of the sailfish caught aboard the AF is using sardines and putting that sardine way out there. I dump a ½ a spool of line. I also use a handmade wire rig (3-4” of wire to a #6 Matzuo live bait hook) and keep the drag set just enough to allow the sail to slap the bait and come back around to nail. This method has always worked for me… Try it sometime when you’re in scattered weeds and let me know how it works for you.
Here is a snap shot from my fishing log showing month by month the Sails we caught since 2007.
Tag & Release to help research our favorite offshore fishery. Mahi Mahi…
Click this link an join. http://dolphintagging.com/
Takes your kid & family fishing. Today was a prime example. The morning was pretty much without action with exception of Andrews two mystery fish. It was a typical run & gun day from then on of long runs hunting for debris. An then we spot the 5 gallon bucket lid in 1000ft covered up with tripletail and tons of other baits. I knew at that time it was quickly going to turn into a Chinese fire drill. During this time the family bonded. All pitching in to help each other out. Re-rigging lines and keeping one fin in the water while others hooked up. Even Amanda performed a hook extraction on a large fin that required two hands to hold it. I might be speaking out of turn but I think that they will remember this day the rest of their life.
When fishing around large mats of weeds and your keeping one fin on the hook and rotating them into the box and find yourself with one left and no others around. Instead of boxing it or releasing it, drive it back to the mat and let it (while still on the hook) dive down deep below the mat and slowly reel it back up. If there are fins down there, they will follow it back to the surface.
When making your rigs, always end each of your rigs with the three loop method. Take the non-business end (the loop that connects to the mainline swivel) and loop it through and around the wound up rig three times. Do this on all your rigs and when you’re in the heat of battle and need to replace rigs quickly, this makes the re-rigging much quicker. Just knowing it take 3 times to unwrap your rigs no matter what rigs they are will make it simpler. This can be done on any rig you have. Trust me, when the bite is on, this makes those tense moments, less tense. A good friend of mine (Kevin Shaffer) taught me this years ago and when you’re in the middle of a Chinese fire drill with fins around the boat, you will be happy you know this little tip.
Running & Gunning for fins. Have everyone onboard, onboard with the idea. Let them all know upfront and all agree before doing this that it takes all eyes onboard to help locate that floating debris or patch of weeds that can make or break the day. Everyone must have their heads on a swivel and eyes scanning the surface both far and near the boat.
Looking forward to future trips with all the friends I have met on this forum. Tight Lines and calm seas ahead.