Nearly flat sea made this trip about as good as you could ask for (a little cooler would be nice). Like Tuesday's trip we headed out for AJ's. This trip had a Husband and Wife with two teenagers along. This was their first offshore fishing trip. Though they had plenty of freshwater experience, including tournaments, the AJ experience would prove to be quite different. With them traveling to get to the port, we did not get as early a start as normal, but once at our target, we quickly limited both AJ's and Almacos within an hours time. The fifth (our limit) keeper size AJ caught we released, so as to keep an open slot for a larger fish. We did manage a few hook-ups on large Pinfish on a conventional rig, but all managed to break off before boating them. Most fish were caught with vertical jigs, from the small needlefish style to 6" models. We used a jigging rod for the largest jig, but spinning rods for the others. In all we caught about 25 AJ's for the trip. We never boated the real big one, so we added a fifth to the cooler which was about 25 pounds. With that many AJ's caught, you could only imagine how sore the arm were at the end. Our jigging drew these fish, both AJ's and Almacos right up to the boat. When they were up, we would cast a small Cobia jig out, and let them hit it on the surface. We spent most of this trip playing with these fish, before going to play with the Cuda. We found lots of Cuda, but hey were not as eager to eat, though they were very curious, following the bait each cast. This was the hottest part of the day, so that may have contributed to the lack of appetite. When we do this early in the day we hook-up with nearly each cast. Back to port again with plenty of fish to clean. Vertical jigging of corse catches more than just AJ's. Drop it to the bottom, and most bottom game will bite from Sea Bass to Grouper and Snapper. Red Snapper were caught this trip. Its sad to think that by the years end his type of fishing could be closed for an indefinite period of time. Then 8A and Pelican Flats will become the only bottom spots left, until they are quickly overfished as a result of the fisheries mismanagement. Until then its "Fish-On".
Heading out for a little vacation, but will be back for another trip next Wednesday. I think I know where I will be heading!
Captain Henry
"Wile E. Coyote"
ACME Ventures Fishing
www.ACME-Ventures-Fishing.com
321-794-7955 / 407-349-1546 |
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