Me and JEC crossed the state line this morning with thoughts of tripletail. We met up with our guide around 7:30 and started fishing. We gave away 2 baits at the first stop before I drew first blood but it wasn't what we were hoping for...
It was about a 6 lb. sheepshead (total guess on my part based on one I caught this spring of similar size that I weighed with Capt. Wes's Boca Grip). JEC is a fairly big boy and he refrained from throwing our host overboard when he cussed that it was "only a sheepshead." The captain was of course joking, but he was upset that it wasn't the target species.I however was vindicated as I had already lost 2 baits to that little thief before I finally caught it.
Next stop I actually saw my first tripletail ever. I was wired like I saw a tub club cobia or something- it was fun! I threw to the fish but then thought I had snagged the piling- tripletail are big tough fish. It wasn't the piling I snagged, it was the fish, and here it is...
JEC is holding that small fish on the left- it was 27 inches long and the guide said it was probably 18 lbs. or so, but my fish was definitely larger- must have been a bad camera angle!
Well, I wanted Jamie (JEC) to catch a fish so he took on the next one. Those of you that know Jamie know he is a meat fisherman and does not play. Those of you that know me know that I am out there for fun and don't care if I keep fish or not. Well, JEC hooks that 27 incher in the photo above and it's the biggest fish he's ever caught- he's cupping the spool to keep it from running and the guide is yelling at him to let the fish run before the hook straightens and it's basically pandemonium. I just hang out laughing my arse off and take some photos...
Well, we are havinga great time and the action gets better- we are finding fish at every spot and marveling at our guide's ability to see fish- I spot a few and JEC even spots some despite his lack of polarized glasses- that boy needs some Costas! I hook up a fish and the fight is on- we can see the fish AND I PULL THE HOOK! !@#$%^&*(). The fish was running drag and I thought it was as good as caught when the hook pulled. Dang it! I caught one more and Jamie got another one (bigger than mine %!@#$&*). I was reminded of the cobias I lost while tournament fishing with Gump- bummer. But we finished out the day with a HUGE heavy bag of pearly white fillets and had a great time. We'll be going again.
A great day on the water came to an end but we were looking forward to making a post on the forum. Thanks for reading and please reply with any comments. If you want to go contact Captain Will Manci at 251-269-7463. Also at
http://www.easternshoreoutfitters.org/.
mdrobe2