reelhappy

this is one of those trips you have dreams about. i am still trying to remember it all. and put it all together right. well we started out meeting around 5.00 am on tuesday and launched at navy point in pensacola. was a beautiful day just a little cool around 50 or so not to bad. the crew was me , walt k. , nick v. and the duke of earle, with capt. rog. aboard his fine fishing catching machine a 24' world cat twin 150 honda's 4/stokes. well we look for some pinfish around the docks in the bayou but not to much. so we headed out to the pass. fished clay-doh sceret spot the mass. but still no bait. well we will get some out there. so put the bean bags down on the floor and settle in for a nice ride. the seas were 1 to 2 just like they said how luck is that! moving right along stopping he and there trying to score something to put in the bait well, walt caught some pogies on some jig. i caught a trigger fish on a jig, sweet nice size 16 inches thats a keeper! things starting to heat up the temp was rising and the fish are biting. we started to bring up aj,s and scamp some more bait everybody is hitching up! the fish are hurngy today! we were in 260 to 360 feet the first couple of places we stopped to find some aj,s. some small but we put three nice ones in the boat and some almaco's.

here's the duke with his aj. we caught some on live bait and some on metal jigs and spinning tackle thats what i used most of the day awesome fighting these fish on light tackle. i had won a rod (nice penn slammer ) at our prfa xmas party as a door prize. thank you bob for the donation.went out and bought a penn 750 reel from bob to put on it. i had that and a 850 penn on a shamano rod i won from outcast famliy rodeo three years ago. these where my weapons today and they got a lot of use. well back to the fishing.

that one is nick's he weight 35 pounds nice fish. think he said 42 inches long not sure. we were slamming fish walt brought up a scamp i caught1 too man i love those metal jigs they catch everthing!then nick got this nice kitty mitchell grouper 15 pounder on some cut bonita nice catch!



a few stops and already the box is starting to look good and the seas are laying down flat the temp is about 65 to 70 degs the wind is slowing down the sun is out what a beautiful day. lets see we already have 3 scamp 1 kitty mitchell 3 aj,s 5 almaco's 1 trigger and couple bonita's. this is not what we came for! this was just for fun. the real prize was tuna, so off we went to find the tuna! we were just riding along out to a secert spot when rog spotted some thing sky then i saw it too. it jumped three times but to far away to make out what it was but it was big. went over that way and found two trees floating aqwsome more live bait and look! loaded with mahi mahi we had a blast catching 17 big chicks on spinners. love to fight them. because they put on a show for ya one jumped three times for me. lost some at the boat but there where plenty of them. we put a dozen more live baits in the well and left!



we tryed one more spot but not to much there thing it was 400 feet of water now. well off to the secret spot for tuna we got ther about 2.30 or so and started jigging there were berumda chums all over the place nick andearle were trying to catch them on real light tackle and squid. thats when it started. i hooked up on my green metal jig at 150 feet below the boat. lots of speed and power i was hoping and it was my first yellow fin tuna on the small side but legal! was a blast on spinning tackle!



well here we go nick is on and his yellowfin was bigger than mine.



he caught his on a dimond jig. they are about 150 to 200 feet below the boat and we are seeing bonita and blackfin surfacefeeding on some small fry caught a couple more bonita's and some blackfin when walt hicthed up to something bigger! this is going to take awhile!



well a good time to eat a snack or too while we walk walts fish around for awhile. walt would get some line and the fish would take it back. everybody just can of hanging out waiting for the fish or walt to tryer out. 20 minutes later we can see something way down in the blue water looks to be tunaish. thats good cause nick was saying shark. but walt was hoping tuna,



did i mention it was flat clam seas now i mean slick awesome! well the fish is still not ready to give up saw the boat and got some fight still left in him so we waited some more!



walts still hanging on can't horse him because walt's only got 65 pound power pro and a small metal jig and something big tugging back. well its now or never cause walt's starting to get that burning feeling so one last fight to the boat and capt. rog sticks him with the gaff and tries to pull him up but he's a heavy one so nick sicks him two with another gaff and over he comes in the boat a beautiful 85 pound yellowfin tuna! walt's first yellowfin and his biggest fish every!





now thats a nice fish! wow and caught on a little $8. dollar jig man thats awesome. well now we can get back to fishing now that walt has finished. as we started to move back to our secret spot along came two killer whales could not get a pic saw them three times but the sun was going down and that direction was not enough light to get the pic. but here is the sunset pic did i mention it was beautiful still!



well the duke had caught a nice rainbow runner and not to be out done by walt's tuna he was going to show us how it's done! don't ya know he's got something big and fast now too! but the fight is different it's not going down but around the boat and fast WAHOO! thats right wahoo on a butterfly jig awesome! a quick fight and he's in the boat.



man the box is getting nice! earle also caught a yellowfin that makes four in the boat. well when the sun went down so did the yellowfin bite. but the blackfin turn to fire. we stayed a caught 12 blackfin tuna. had a couple sharks taking one every now and then nick got one in the boat with a nice maul mark on him. we had three sharks staying right around the boat cause of all the blood form the tuna. one shark came up and tryed to eat the scuple hole were the blood was leaving the boat. not a good time for a swim! they were thick it was like fishing in a barrel. we topped off the boxes at 7.pm another boat showed up the 'sweet ride' someone else knows our secret spot o'well hard to keep a good thing quiet.



the boxes were getting full so we bled out the tuna's and cut the heads and tails off for more room. still nice out and flat so we did't have any more room for fish so time to head home. gave the boat a qiuck cleaning pulled out the beans and went to sleep. caught so many fish my hands were cramping up. a 3 hour nap was nice! got back to pensacola about ten o clock pm the bay was slick clam starting to get chilly. left the fish in the boat till wensday to clean i wuold like to thank day break marine for letting us clean the fish there. they also went out and had a nice trip and were just finishing cleaning there catch. it was 11 am wensday now. heres some more catch total pics.



now thats a mess of fish right there!







i know what i am having on th grill news years day! can you say tuna steaks!









thats cobiakiller showed up to check out our booty!



thats coryphaena next to nick. she came down with some nice sheephead to clean and helped out with our mess too! but was really there for nick's kitty mitchell grouper. she is going to do one of those bone things to it! well anyway we gave her a big bag of blackfin tuna for her party on friday thanks for helping out!



what a awesome trip! clam seas , fish were biting , warm temps , all one day before the end of the year! this must be paridise! lets total up the fish here.<UL><LI>12 blackfin tuna </LI><LI>4 yellowfin tuna</LI><LI>17 mahi mahi</LI><LI>5 almaco's </LI><LI>3 aj's</LI><LI>3 scamp</LI><LI>1 kitty mitchell grouper</LI><LI>1 wahoo</LI><LI>1 trigger</LI><LI>1 rainbow runner</LI><LI>7 bonita</LI><LI>5 tried fishermen</LI><LI>10 sore shoulders</LI><LI>1 awesome fishing trip</LI>[/list]
i would like to thank day break marine again for the use of there cleaning station. the pelicans ate good. but most of the carcauses went to a friend of capt. rog he loves them center cut's. and would like to thank rog for another fine fishing adventure in the gulf. the best this year. looking forward to next year already. thank you! and all my fishing buddies and friends who i fished with this year, thank you for your company and friendship had a great year. and looking forward to fishing with new friends next year and all of you here on the forum thank you for your post's and new friends that i've made and still making! thank you and a happy new year to all! fish on!

scot

Huntinman

Nice Catch!!! What a Trip!!! Thanks for sharing!!!

lastcast

Wow what a trip is an understatement!!!! Very nice mixed bag. Glad to see you's had a fantastic trip, thanks for the pics & read.



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Ozeanjager

man what a trip .... did you guys go all the way to louisana ? or is that a rig off the coast of alabama ? i have the shamrock pictured , seems like that trip would be outa range for me .

__________________
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.
Specialization is for insects.

Garbo

Dang.

Congrats.

showme parrothead

All I can say is.......:bowdown:bowdown

need2fish

Holy Cow Scott - you weren't Kidding that was awesome. Congrats guys. What a haul. :bowdown

TCAT

Great job on the yellowfin. Sounds like you guys had a great trip. Poor job on hiding the "secret spot" oke

By the way Nice Boat!

Realtor

Your right, 'that is a TRIP!"

Thanks for posting.

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Jim Summers
www.PensacolaSharkFishing.com

www.PensacolaHouseHunter.com
@CaptFatJax (Twitter)

The Duke

Another trip of a lifetime with Capt. Rog and close friends, good weather, and great catching. As close to perfect as you can get. My first Wahoo and YFT. It just keeps getting better. The Orcas were a plus also.

Again thanks to Capt. Rog, Day Break Marina, and my fishing coachs.