FISHING SEASON 2K12!!!!!!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Had my dad in town over the weekend and were due a fishing trip. Unfortunately the weather had other things to say about that. With seas forecasted to be in the 3-5ft range, our initial plan was to hit the pass for sheepshead. I launched at a ramp about an hr away from my house but its closest to the pass. We were greeted by a fierce east wind that had the bay rolling. We forged ahead to the pass only to find out it was like a parking lot out there. Boats were stacked on top of one another. Usually this means the fish are biting but alas this was not the case.

My buddy was suppose to me meet me out there so my dad and I did a few drifts while waiting on him to show up. Finally he arrives and because I didnt see one person land a fish, we made the gutsy call to take our boats offshore in the slop.

He decided to hit a spot about five mile east south east of the pass because with the east wind its better to fight the waves going out then going back in. It was nasty, I mean real nasty and my seventeen ft boat really shouldnt have been in that kind of water. We took it slow and about a half hour later we arrived at our spot.

Because of the waves there was no way I was going to attempt to anchor and risk taking one over the bow so we drift fished. My first drop produced a decent keeper sea bass. I had triggers on my mind so I grabbed a rod I had rigged up with a chicken rig and put on small strips of squid. Because of the wind we would drift FAST over the spot and it was hard to keep my rig down just thirty feet with a four ounce bank sinker, the largest I brought. Never the less I brought up trigger after trigger. Sadly every single one was short, what a bummer.

The waves started building even more and my buddies little sixteen ft boston whaler started taking some over the bow so we decided to make one more pass. My dad is a novice fisherman to say the least, he enjoys it but doesnt get to fish often. I had him rigged up with a simple carolina rig on my Shimano TLD15 which is a lever drag reel. I showed him how to use it but apparently he forgot and on the last drift he got slammed. The fish was peeling off line in the strike setting so I told him to hammer the drag home. Well he some how managed to put the reel in free spool and ended up with a giant rats nets lol. I took the reel from him and noticed the fish was still on so I hammered down the drag and took several cranks of the reel to wrap up the rats nets and passed the rod to him. After a few minute struggle he brings up a nice twenty four inch red snapper, about ten pounds. Of course its not red snapper season so the fish that could have made the trip was sent back.

After the release I looked up to see that my buddy had already left so we packed it up as well and headed back to the pass. The ride back was much faster but surfing a seventeen ft boat in on five foot waves sure was an experience.

Overall we didnt put any quality fish in the box and the weather left us wet and cold and with back aches, but as they say, a bad day of fishing is better then....well anything else I can think of.
 
Good report. At least you got on some fish, even if they didn't keep. I am looking for a $100-$200 gun to take bank fishing with me. Don't know too much about them and I know you are into that. You know of any models I should be on the lookout for? I got a bait shop near my cabin that sells tons of "cheap" ones. Some look like toys and some look ok. No idea on models.
 
Gun, as in shoots bullet gun or some sort of tackle ive never heard about.
 
id spend the little extra and look at some smith and wessons... can get a quality gun that will last a loooooong time for around $300
 
Gun, as in shoots bullet gun or some sort of tackle ive never heard about.

yes, shoots bullets gun.

I dont need it to be anything fancy. Enough to talk the trash out of messing with you late at night and stop them in their tracks if they try anything funny.
 
MonsterFishKeepers.com