ATOT Official Fishing Thread 2016

[Jeeebus]

We had a 2015 fishing thread, so why not a 2016?

We finally got some good weather with winds and seas calming down, so buddy and I headed out yesterday from 3pm till about 11pm. Steady action the whole time. Landed around 60 fish, kept 29. Took a solid hour between the two of us to fillet everything today.

At one point we were getting hammered by huge blue runners (junk fish but a good fighter). It was one after the other. I was tired and ready to call it a night when I had one on my line, told my friend I was done once I got it in the boat. Got it near the boat when a huge white shadow emerges, grabs the fish, and then I spend the next 30 minutes fighting a losing battle with a shark. Fun times.

 

[Jeeebus]

After a couple months of big winds and bigger waves, it looks like the fishing season is back. We managed to get out last night and load up the cooler.

 

[ponyo]

That is paradise. Damn, I'm jealous.

 

[DrPizza]

No pic, but it would be similar to the pic above. Only been out once. Fished from the kayak. Ran out of bait. Large perch and crappie. Great eating!

Two family members were with me and combined for zero fish. And they talked to a lot of other people, no one was catching a thing. So, when I was out drifting around in an ice cold breeze, they couldn't figure out why I didn't give up. Apparently, I was the only person who caught anything. Took quite a while to figure them out. They weren't hitting minnows. Finally, they were hammering white jig head, 1/8 oz, red eye, white twister jig, tipped with a minnow.

 

[Jeeebus]

No pic, but it would be similar to the pic above. Only been out once. Fished from the kayak. Ran out of bait. Large perch and crappie. Great eating!

Two family members were with me and combined for zero fish. And they talked to a lot of other people, no one was catching a thing. So, when I was out drifting around in an ice cold breeze, they couldn't figure out why I didn't give up. Apparently, I was the only person who caught anything. Took quite a while to figure them out. They weren't hitting minnows. Finally, they were hammering white jig head, 1/8 oz, red eye, white twister jig, tipped with a minnow.

Very nice. I toyed with getting a kayak last year for going fishing offshore. Opted against it when I saw a video of a local guy here being circled by a 12 foot hammerhead that started attacking the kayak. I think I prefer a little more than 2" of separation from the sharks.

Still going to get a kayak mostly for exercise in the canal system we live on. Will be a nice way to get my son and daughter out fishing for bass.

 

[Jeeebus]

Not the greatest night last night, but still did ok enough for a few meals. One of the engines died on us at the dock, so our plans of heading to our usual spots was a no go as we were basically limited to 10 - 11 mph with the one engine. Mehh.

There was absolutely no current last night, meaning that the snapper bite was nonexistent. We anchored up on a few spots, drifted a bit, and called it quits around midnight. Good size mutton snapper, red grouper, couple vermilion snapper, triggerfish, etc.

 

[MongGrel]

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Even in a canal system you have to watch it a bit, had a guy dived off his dock this side a few years ago on a canal and a 12 foot bull shark chowed on him.

 

[RelaxTheMind]

is that small striped bass on the pan?

 

[Jeeebus]

is that small striped bass on the pan?

just a grunt

 

[MongGrel]

I personally think grunt is almost as good as grouper myself.

We never threw them back, they are pretty good eating.

 

[Jeeebus]

I personally think grunt is almost as good as grouper myself.

We never threw them back.

Ya it's basically a snapper. I only keep them once they hit a certain size as they can be a pain to fillet. Delicious fillet, just more precision required when they are smaller.

 

[MongGrel]

Yeah, I imagine the smaller ones we might have, or just cut em up for bait. But when you were in bigger grouper area you'd run into large grunts most of the time.

A lot of small fish became bait at one time, one guy used to swear a Black Sea Bass head was the best grouper bait.

We used to stop on the way out and get the light poles out and catch needlefish for bait on some trips, when the Kingfish were running.

Normally if we were fishing off the bottom we'd have some pretty large hooks on, small grunts would just pick at/steal the bait, and if we weren't catching grouper we'd move a bit.

 

[Kaido]

I caught a fish that was thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis big!

 

[Jeeebus]

Friday night is fishing night. Conditions were not ideal but we got it done. The big snapper is a mangrove snapper and the biggest I have ever caught. To provide context, the one underneath it is also a mangrove snapper... legal/normal size. As usual, we had to pay the shark tax on quite a few of them.

 

[purbeast0]

havent had any time to go fishing yet this year been really busy trying to finish up this software for my startup . hoping to get out at least on fathers day for a few hours.

i'm going to san diego end of july and we are taking a charted trip 3 hours into mexican waters to go after yellowtail. my buddy who lives out there caught 7 last time he did it so i hope we can do something comparable.

 

[DrPizza]

I think I prefer a little more than 2" of separation from the sharks.

Friday night is fishing night. Conditions were not ideal but we got it done. The big snapper is a mangrove snapper and the biggest I have ever caught. To provide context, the one underneath it is also a mangrove snapper... legal/normal size. As usual, we had to pay the shark tax on quite a few of them.

Out of curiosity - in your pictures, those almost look like rigor mortis has set in. Is it harder in the hotter weather to keep them alive until filet time? I've always thought that decomp started pretty quickly if you didn't filet them right away, else keep them on ice.

Per the 2" - I have a sit-in kayak. So, it's about 1/8" between me and a shark's mouth. If I ever had a shark attack my kayak, I'd have my kayak mounted above the mantel with the teeth marks on it, and would tell the story to the grandkids every time they came over about the time I was out in the ocean and was attacked by a shark.

 

[MongGrel]

I would think they would have been in the cooler the pics were taken on top of, otherwise they will go bad fast.

 

[Jeeebus]

Yes. As soon as they come into the boat they go into the ice. Once we get fish we mix the ice with saltwater to loosen it up a bit and allow the fish to get under the ice. The faster you can get them cold the better. In our weather it would be pretty bad to not ice them. I've seen guys just throw fish in a bucket with no ice. That's a 1 way ticket to a belly ache.

 

[Jeeebus]

Also... it would be best to fillet them right away, but Florida law requires you bring them back to dock whole and that was 1am. Not putting a fillet knife in my hand at that point as I prefer all my fingers coming home with me.

 

[isekii]

wow! i'm amazed at the amount of fish you're catching.

 

[Jeeebus]

Went out 5am - 11am today. We were hoping to target king mackerel but conditions were not ideal. This was more of a "fun" fishing day than an "eating" fishing day. Nonstop action of hard fighting fish, most of which were junk/sport fish that put up a hell of a fight but are not good table fare.

Three on the left are bonito (basically a not good eating tuna). One on the far left is the biggest of those I've ever caught - weighed somewhere around 25 - 30 lbs. We cut them up in strips for bait. Also pictured is a nice amberjack as well as a couple snappers and a porgy. Fun day on the water.

 

[Jeeebus]

Another successful Friday night. More than enough for three solid dinners.

At one point bait fish (ballyhoo and flying fish) start erupting all around us. Flying fish were hitting the boat trying to get away from something. Big brown/white shadow emerges behind the boat... I'm assuming 10+ foot shark. Yikes. Of course I hook a snapper 30 seconds later and it's on the line maybe a few seconds before a shark grabs it and insta-slices the line.

 

[Chaotic42]

Mic drop:

 

[Chaotic42]

 

[Chaotic42]

Another frog bass:

We caught a bunch yesterday. I got two on poppers, two on frogs, and one or two on senkos. We came up on a huge school of bass. My friend caught maybe five of them on a crankbait. I ended up with nothing.

By the way, to all you pleasure boaters, if I can cast into your boat, you're too close. I really should have been recording some of these fools for the cops.