Reel Screamers

Weather was great, seas were great but Mother Ocean did not want to give up her bounty yesterday.

Left Grand Isle about 4:30 AM to beat the crowd that was anticipated. We beat most of the traffic form the NE but there was not a lot of traffic all day. Total looked like about 50 boats on the lump. We had one good run that I would call a tuna but we will never know for sure as several minutes into the fight the line parted and it was gone. My crew did not want to bottom fish and with nothing but belly aching on the radio about how no one was catching fish we decided to run deep.

Arrived at the floaters but saw no surface action. There was bait eveywhere but nothing was there to bother it. We managed one undersized YF then decided to go bottom bumping.

Ended the day with grouper, AJ and an unknown. Tough day fishing but a good day on the water.

Prior to booking this trip, we had worked for weeks on the details of EXTREME TUNA FISHING. With the weather perfect we did not want to pass it up so we called the Cherece IV and they agreed to play taxi to my original crew.

They set anchor on the lump and the kayaks were deployed. Yes kayaks on the lump for EXTREME TUNA FISHING. Danny and C.T. worked on snapper and some small jacks to get the feel of how the kayaks would react then it was time to get serious.

C.T. was trolling a live bait behind him when the big boy hit. Now he was in for what probably amounted to about a 2mile ride as the fish pulled him around anchor ropes and other boats. Danny was able to catch up to him and with the added weight of pulling two kayaks, they were able to slow the fish and gain back some line. It was going good, they were gaining line and it looked like the maiden voyage was going to produce a big fish.

Then Murphy showed up and the handle parted from the reel. The Cherece (mother ship) quickly moved into position with plans of splicing the line onto another rod but as they were doing so, the fish made a run and the line parted.

THe kayaks will be back on the lump before the season is over. Our plan is to work out all the unknows and come spring we should be offering these trips. Imagine paddling weed lines, sight casting at dolphin then having him pull you around the open gulf until you tire him out. Sounds EXTREME and sounds like fun.




Launching from the mother ship



Danny getting used to the fact the Makos sometimes cruise the lump



A view of the lump from sea level

specslayer

that looks like so much fun i would LOVE to go blue water fishing in my yak some day

true-king

I'm there with you. That would be XTREME!

Private Pilot

Very cool!!

Bill Me

How far out is the Lump?

Lickety-Split

I've thought of running mother ship for some yaks to Chandeleur Island, LA in my boat. Fishing for specs and Reds from a yak at Chandeleur Island would be awsome but dont know if anyone would be willing to foot the bill for it? Could prob fit 4 yaks aboard and and I'd cover food to be cooked for the crew to try and make up for the cost. Man, I think that would be awsome!!! Just dont know if it would be too popular with the cost???

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Capt. Brandon Edgar
www.ExtremeOffshoreCharters.com
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Captain Woody Woods

REEL-have you ever been hooked up to a YFT from a 'yak before? Not for the faint of heart. Best case scenario, when he strikes, it is "in line" with your 'yak as opposed to pulling perpendicular. In that case, I surely hope you have your rod snapped to you or your boat, some how. As for illustrating some kind of parallel, imagine being hooked up to the back of a truck and having your buddy stomp on the gas....hope you're ready and have a good, trustworthy crew that can be alongside of you with a quickness.

bonita dan

So let me get this straight,you head out to the lumps in a perfectly sound vessel towing some canoe lookin things,get to the grounds and abandon ship into the canoe lookin things to get into a tugOwar with a volkswagon. In the words of Johnny Cochran,THAT DOES NOT MAKE SENSE! They could put a nice caption on your tombstone,"Well,He Was Extreme"

__________________
Elbow Room
'85 Wellcraft V-20 Step-lift Express
PFF Redfish Regatta Trash Talkin Champion '07,'08,'10. Robbed in 2011!
"Take a fish boating"

Reel Screamers

WHOO ........ that was one of our concerns as we thought this thing out. As we hassed it out true LA. style (over several beers), we elected to go with spinning tackle. A softer rod, better rod management from a seated position, etc. The other thing was that we went with a baitrunner, thus we could control the strike. In other words when the fish hit and began peeling line, you have time to position your yak so that you are in line with the fish as you start to apply drag. from that point on the yak is very easy to steer by adjusting the angle of the rod tip.

It worked fine Saturday,the hook up and the chase, I would call a success and we were making ground in the battle.

I believe that the only reason this maiden voyage was not a 100% success story was because CT insisted on using his rod, equipped with a P O S okuma.

Plan B???? each of the guys in the yaks were equipped with multiple blades so they could cut loose if they felt uncomfortable at any time. They reported the opposite, a very stable platform and a rewarding experiance.

Caspr21

man you are insane!!!!!!!!!!!! great report, but you definatley have bigger balls than Ibowdown