Friday, May 20, 2011

THURS TROLLING
by Robin

Jack and Jeff trolled all day with skirted, feathered, naked, weighted, you-name-it ballyhoo, including some down on a planer and they couldn't buy a bite.

Guys on the radio were frustrated. I know one charter guy who caught 2 mahi.

So, it was a bust. Today turned out to be less than perfect for tripletail fishing, so I postponed my trip until Monday.

Sunday is the day for Superboat races. Yeah. We'll probably be there for that.

Happy Fishing!
Robin

Thursday, May 19, 2011

DIVING & TROLLING
by Robin

On Tues, 5/17/11, Jack and his coworker Chuck and Chuck's son, Adam decided to play in the ocean. Jack used to dive a LOT years ago but has given that up due to his sinuses not cooperating. About once a year, Chuck joins us on our boat for a fishing trip and we always do well.

Of course, it didn't hurt that they were wanting to hunt flounder and it is a fine white meat. It's up there in my top 5 or so list of fish to eat.

Jack headed out early and they first stopped at Damacles wreck. Chuck and Adam dove in. Vis was 10-15 ft. They shot 2 flounder on the first drop.

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While they were resting, Jack rode out to 130 ft and set his first trolling line out. He didn't even get a 2nd line in the water when the first line screamed. Apparently, this bull made 6-10 ft leaps out of the water and crashed hard on its side. It went bonkers. After Jack reeled him back in a 3rd time, Chuck went to gaff and missed (it happens....) and the bull took off a 4th time. Nuts. The 2nd gaff was the charm and he went on the deck floor. (It ended up weighing 30 lbs at the dock scale.)

Now, here lies the problem. They brought the small cooler to stack flounder in. I told him at 5:45 am that he should bring the big cooler. I'm sure he was kicking himself without me saying, "I told you so." LOL. Oh and not to mention, this is the cooler with the broken lid.

With much arrangement of fish & ice, Jack manages to contort the mahi into the cooler and Adam ties the lid to the base with the dock lines. I'm sure it looked funny. I think this is why Jack doesn't take a camera on his fishing trips.

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Ok, so they continue trolling another hour and get nothing. Back to diving.

They head to the Lead Wreck. As Chuck says, "It was a perfect drop right onto the wreck." Vis was closer to 20 ft in spots. Thermocline was still there. Adam shot one flounder that was sitting on another flounder (stacked like pancakes). It caused my underwater excitement as they tried to string them up without the lower one swimming away. Jack said he saw lots of air bubbles and next, a bag of air holding 4 flounder comes to the surface. How cool is that??

So, it was a great day for the guys. Even after splitting the meat, we froze back several bags of fish dinners, plus had yummy flounder sandwiches on Wednesday.

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While cleaning fish at the fish tables (at marina), they would throw over bones & skin. Here is a picture of a sea turtle that grabbed the tail of the mahi.

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Jack is offshore today with Jeff. They were going back for more mahi in 130 ft. I believe he said something about a nice bunch of weeds developing out there.

I think my turn comes on Friday, if Jack has any energy leftover. I want to do some easy tripletail hunting since the water is suppose to be flat. I'd love to get up at the crack of dawn and look for rolling tarpon, but I don't think Jack will be so easy to wake after all day offshore today. ha ha.

God bless & Happy Fishing,
Robin

Monday, May 16, 2011

SHUTTLE LAUNCH & FLOUNDER
by Robin

This morning, we went into the river to watch Endeavour launch for its final time. For the full story, please check over at Raising Fishermen blog for more pictures & the full story. www.raisingfishermen.blogspot.com


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Also, tomorrow, Jack and some friends are going diving for flounder. I can't wait to report back what all they saw & caught.


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Tuesday, May 10, 2011

MOTHER'S DAY in the RIVER
by Robin


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We thought we may have a nice day in the river, catching crabs for a low-country crab boil. Boy, were we wrong. Not a single crab!!

But, Jack saved the day with this very delicious spotted seatrout. Seatrout have to be between 15-20", but you can keep 1 over 20". I think this one was approx 17". Nice little fight, as it went towards those pilings.

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The boys kept working their nets and pulling in these mini-conchs. When they first told me they were catching conch, I screamed, "Keep it!" because I desperately wanted to try my conch recipe again. Then, it was shown to me and Jack explained something about regulations. Oh well. A girl can think big, right?

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We brought in 4 puffer fish (& released).

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And we got to see wonderful displays of dolphin in this small cove. I just missed the jump here.

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The mamas seem to enjoy raising their babies here.

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The dolphin & pelican have a cool symbiotic relationship and follow each other around. The dolphins will drive the mullet to the surface to jump and the pelicans eat without much work.

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I think that sometimes the dolphin don't get as much out of the relationship as the pelicans.

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Then, we headed back through the locks towards our new marina 'home'.

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Here's a little bit of free information for you if you go through the locks. Don't tie your boat up tight to the side railings. The water level changes!!! Let's say that God provides us challenges as learning opportunities. ha ha.

Anyhow, I always keep my camera handy for the locks because we always see something cool swimming through there with us. We had multiple manatees the first time. Nothing on the way back home. Oh!! except for one when we first were pulling up and I was working the back lines. One popped up 3 feet from my nose and scared the bejeebers out of me. It was like Jurassic Park of the toothless, slow & fat variety. Everybody got a good kick out of my scare. I'm glad nobody had a camera on me!

Happy Fishing! On Saturday, Jack starts his long vacation where we'll be fishing as often as our energy holds out. I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Saturday, May 07, 2011

96 Rock and Ladies Tournament
by Robin

Port Canaveral is having 2 tournaments on the same day. One is a very small one to honor ladies on Mother's Day weekend and the other is a jungle of men charged with lots of testosterone and horsepower. (Think Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor w/ fishing as his hobby)

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The Ladies have to pay entry fees for registering the boat; but, for the men, theirs is free. Does anybody else see the irony of this on a Mother's Day weekend??

Jack and I, along with our good friends who have a nice sportfishing boat, are all registered and ready to go for the tournaments. May God bless the best fishermen!

Happy Fishing! Beautiful weather lately.
5/1/11 NEW HOME!!!
by Robin

Most the time, our boat stays at our house and is parked in the yard; but, it is near time for vacation (AKA Mahi season) and more frequent boating. Jack thought it would be great to treat ourselves to a couple months of keeping the boat at the marina.

Quite honestly, every since we were in the accident, hauling the boat to the marina, I've been scared to tow it. I think Jack knows that although he's never made me feel bad for it.

See her in the channel??
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Plus, like he said, while we've got lots of vacation time this month, it is nicer to not have the burden of loading & unloading the thing. The marina we picked out is convenient, reasonably price and they put in an inground pool last week. While we're at the marina, the boys can jump in the pool to quickly refresh after the day's heat. I'm liking that idea too. Being in the salty environment can make you feel so dirty...er... salty.

(Coming down the center)
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Jack is trying to talk me into keeping the boat out there permanently, but we'll how good he is of convincing me on that!