I am posting this now, as on the night we fished I forgot my camera and have just received the photos from this trip.
Since taking delivery on my boat in January, I have avoided visiting the darkside because I knew as soon as I did it would force me into supporting the tackle industry in South Florida on an entirely new level. On July 22nd I gave in and went with Pumkineater out into the dark on my boat using his gear.
We stopped at the usual spots and grabbed some live bait and headed out to get set up as the sun went down. The first drift didn't seem to be too productive, so we decided to reset in a little different position. Just as we pulled the weight off the first line, we see a fish come up in the Hydroglow chasing the live bait. It was slashing at the bait and the bait was running for its life. It was really a cool thing to see, and watching it really explained why you often see fish come in with the leader wrapped around the bill. This went on for a couple of minutes with the bait continuing to be successful at eluding the impending doom. Once the fish left the glow of the light, we dropped the bait back down and decided to give the drift a few more minutes to see what would happen. About five minutes later we have one of the other rods come tight and we are on. From the fight, it seemed like a quality fish but when we got it to the boat it had become fouled on the dorsal fin and we were pulling it in sideways. The fish would have probably been released, but it didn't appear to be in very good shape and was legal so we boated it. It measured 56".
Since we had cleared the lines anyway, we decided to go ahead and move a bit before setting up for another drift. When we dropped the Hydroglow in the water for the second drift we were pleased to see that we were in the midst of a huge school of bait that stayed with us for hours. The water was literally filled with live chum all around us. After about an hour, one of the long rods made a little noise. Steve (Pumpkineater) grabbed it and as soon as it came tight the fish started a blistering run that dumped about half of the line off the 80W before it slowed. We got the rest of the lines cleared and began following it. After a few more runs it looked like we were making progress and getting it headed our way. As the fish came into the glow of the light, it first looked like a large hammerhead. The fish had gotten itself tail wrapped and was coming in backwards. We got it along side of the boat, got a gaff in it and proceeded to wrestle it into the boat. This fish measured 75" and we decided to call it a night.
I have spent the month since this trip reallocating my fishing budget and should be good to go with my own gear by next weekend. I still have a few more purchases to make, but have secured a basic setup that will allow me to feed this addiction.
08-28-2006, 09:34 AM
Late July Report from KC
Nice fat lady there.
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