401 Cay

Decided to head out in search of pretty water on Sun.. left the dock at 0430 and headed SSW looking for a rip that we knew was there on Sat. The morning weather pushed in, so we diverted to the ozark and jigged some AJs whil the weather pushed past us to the south. Finally picke up and ran until we hit scattered then finally somewhat organized line to the SE of the 131. Water was blue on one side and bluegreen on the other. Got the spread out and to our amazement nothing doing! There were pallets floating, birds working, bait all over.. perfect! Just no bites! We kept tweaking the spread, and I took the downtime to show a friend who is new to fishing how to rig a ballyhoo... We rigged it on a blue and white Islander ballyhood and ran it off the port rigger.. 20 minutes later a blue crashed that very lure.. dropped back in him for a quick 5count, shut the door and the line came tight and the acrobatics began! Our friend and his son have never fished anything but snapper, so we quickly got a belt on 11 year old harrison, and put the rod in his hands.. Mark was getting the harness adjusted for him as I coached him a bit.. he did great. 20 minutes into it I took the rod from him as Mark got the harness on him.. he was amazed at the difference that harness makes! As we crept up on an hour into the fight young harrison was visably spent, and made the call to let his dad fisnish the fish off.. The fish had sounded and stayed deep most of the fight but came quickly to the surface for some greyhounding off the transom just as mike took the rod. Another 20 minutes and I had the leader.. the fish looked to be 200-250 but as I got my second wrap of the leaded the hook pulled. The fish swam next to us for a few seconds not knowing he was free.. but turned off away from us, having exausted two anglers! By thisd time it was after 4pm so after a short hit on the center rigger we headed northeast. Stopped for a limit of snapper 25 miles south of the pass and a huge storm hammered us out of nowhere... winds had to be near 60 knots and seas were solid 8's.. pretty hairy for an hour or so.. but it passed and we headed in in a confused 3-5 foot sea.. made the pass at 715 and breathed a sigh of relief and satisfaction from having a great day despite the weather... And as for the two anglers.. well my dock is in filthy water, so we tossed them over the side 45 miles out.. same effect..!

cliff k

i bet the kid was pumped aboout fighting the marlin. just warn him that you dont catch one every time you go out. not too bad for a first time though. wish you had pics of the fight.:banghead

401 Cay

Yea.. we made it pretty clear that it was pretty special to catch one! He was really pumped though! We do have some pics of the fight, but the deck camera caught 2 jumps, we are just trying to make stills from the video.. kinda low resolution though im afraid. Will add some pics when i get them.

nb&twil

great story! the thrill that you gave that kid is something he will have a hard time replacing. i deckahnded a trip out of destin once when a 11-13 year old boy caught a sail on spinning tackle. he could barely talk, his grin was so plastered onto his little face. id rather watch a young coachable kid fight any fish than almost any other scenario.

sounded like a great day of fishing other than the weather. thanks for sharing!

David Ridenour

Great report! What a way to spoil a snapper fisherman on his first time out.

401 Cay

Haha.. aint that the truth David!