I guess it will be a while before I learn all the in’s and out’s of fishing and boating because it seems like every time out there is some little glitch that is frustrating as hell but definitely serves as a lesson.
We headed out of Matheson Hammock around 7:15 AM, My assistant coach Mike Castro, My Son Albert, and myself; we were headed for Bug light to catch some live bait, and I could see from very far away that there were tons of boats with the same idea that were already there trying to get their share. It really was too crowded for me because in that situation you need someone to be at the helm while someone else fishes for the bait. Unfortunately Mike has NO experience driving a boat, and my son is only 8 years old so obviously he could not handle the job either.
“Screw it” I said, lets just head for the Whistle Buoy and catch some Yellow Tails, it should have been my plan all along with two rookies on board, my plan was in fact to teach both of them how to fish, mind you that I am still learning myself. Still, Yellow tailing is the one thing I know how to do pretty well so it should have been my goal from the beginning.
So off we went, 17 miles from Bug Light to the Whistle; the seas weren’t too bad, mostly 2’s and 3’s with an occasional 4, my little boat cut’s right through that stuff and we were cruising at around 23MPH so it was a 35 to 40 minute run. Just 3 miles from the Whistle I look down at the gauges and OH! NO! The OIL LIGHT is flashing. Frack this! I can’t believe it, how frustrating. So what could I do, there was no thinking involved the trip was over. My only hope was that the oil light as it often is with cars will come one when the level is low, but not dangerously so, that the engine would not be damaged. I gave Mike and my son the bad news, to which my son of course reacted with a big NOOOOOO!
I did not push the RPM just in case; we cruised back to Matheson at around 17 MPH and made it back without any further problems. It was still early and I thought “if I run to West Marine and get some oil, I can still get back out and fish." On the way there, I called Suzuki; the guy asked me if it was a new engine, “YES” I said, then the bomb. He told me it was not an oil problem; he told me the oil light comes on when the boat needs its first service at 20 hours. DAMN! What an IDIOT.
So I was still determined to fish, and since I was already on US 1 I asked Mike if he was still in? He had to be at a wedding and I had to have him back a the dock by 4PM, but he said yes right away and we headed for Homestead Bay front.
We were out at the Whistle in 35 minutes; I anchored poorly the first time but soon picked up and re-anchored. Much better spot the second time, I could tell from the bottom and the fish it was marking. We started chumming and not 5 minutes later BAM! Nice tail! In the 16 inch range for sure. We chummed some more and next drift BAM another one, this one a FLAG (the biggest one of the trip as it turned out). I started teaching Mike how to free line for tails, but as it always is with beginners, they want to slow down the drift or stop it altogether because they think the fish will just come to them. I took the rod from him and told him to watch me, BAM! Another nice tail, I handed him the rod and showed him how to work it, tip up and reel down, tip up and reel down. Great job for his first tail, I could see the excitement in his eyes, I think he will want to fish again soon.
Back in with another drift; Bam! This time I hand the rod to my son, he’s just a little guy and those tails were nice size and smacking the rod to try to get off. He got it in by himself (great job by the little guy as well), he was a little tired but it’s because he forgot to breathe when he was reeling. He wants no part of the fish once it’s on board though, that is the next thing I have to teach him, he needs to learn to take his own fish off the hook and toss it in the cooler.
They each caught a couple and then I went back on, I caught another nice one and was right back in the water with another drift. Bam! I hooked a nice one, could be bigger than the biggest one because it actually got some line off my spool. I tightened the drag a bit and started her towards the boat, not 15 feet from the boat a Bull shark comes in blazing and takes my tail. Well, that turned off the bite, and it was now 3:55 and Mike was going to be late.
It took a few minutes to get the anchor out, the tie wraps I am using are a little big and it took some motoring to break the anchor free. We made it back to the dock around 4:45PM, content with 7 tails considering we could have had nothing, and we only fished for a couple of hours.
I forgot to take my camera on the boat so there are no action shots, but here are some pictures of my Boy and the Tails.
P.S. A side note, A cobia came broad side to the boat and started feeding off the chum bag, I did not have any rod rigged for that size fish, (I estimate it was around 60 lbs) I have heard of my Friend Mike Murias of Off Limits Charters do this so I thought I’d try it, I took out my gaff and attempted to free gaff the Cobia. I hit it good and brought it over the gunnel, unfortunately it was too big and it bent the hook on my gaff, it fell off, hit the gunnel and bounced out of the boat. It would have made a great story if it had landed inside the boat but whatever …
Check back next week, I’m sure it will be another adventure.
Till then…
We headed out of Matheson Hammock around 7:15 AM, My assistant coach Mike Castro, My Son Albert, and myself; we were headed for Bug light to catch some live bait, and I could see from very far away that there were tons of boats with the same idea that were already there trying to get their share. It really was too crowded for me because in that situation you need someone to be at the helm while someone else fishes for the bait. Unfortunately Mike has NO experience driving a boat, and my son is only 8 years old so obviously he could not handle the job either.
“Screw it” I said, lets just head for the Whistle Buoy and catch some Yellow Tails, it should have been my plan all along with two rookies on board, my plan was in fact to teach both of them how to fish, mind you that I am still learning myself. Still, Yellow tailing is the one thing I know how to do pretty well so it should have been my goal from the beginning.
So off we went, 17 miles from Bug Light to the Whistle; the seas weren’t too bad, mostly 2’s and 3’s with an occasional 4, my little boat cut’s right through that stuff and we were cruising at around 23MPH so it was a 35 to 40 minute run. Just 3 miles from the Whistle I look down at the gauges and OH! NO! The OIL LIGHT is flashing. Frack this! I can’t believe it, how frustrating. So what could I do, there was no thinking involved the trip was over. My only hope was that the oil light as it often is with cars will come one when the level is low, but not dangerously so, that the engine would not be damaged. I gave Mike and my son the bad news, to which my son of course reacted with a big NOOOOOO!
I did not push the RPM just in case; we cruised back to Matheson at around 17 MPH and made it back without any further problems. It was still early and I thought “if I run to West Marine and get some oil, I can still get back out and fish." On the way there, I called Suzuki; the guy asked me if it was a new engine, “YES” I said, then the bomb. He told me it was not an oil problem; he told me the oil light comes on when the boat needs its first service at 20 hours. DAMN! What an IDIOT.
So I was still determined to fish, and since I was already on US 1 I asked Mike if he was still in? He had to be at a wedding and I had to have him back a the dock by 4PM, but he said yes right away and we headed for Homestead Bay front.
We were out at the Whistle in 35 minutes; I anchored poorly the first time but soon picked up and re-anchored. Much better spot the second time, I could tell from the bottom and the fish it was marking. We started chumming and not 5 minutes later BAM! Nice tail! In the 16 inch range for sure. We chummed some more and next drift BAM another one, this one a FLAG (the biggest one of the trip as it turned out). I started teaching Mike how to free line for tails, but as it always is with beginners, they want to slow down the drift or stop it altogether because they think the fish will just come to them. I took the rod from him and told him to watch me, BAM! Another nice tail, I handed him the rod and showed him how to work it, tip up and reel down, tip up and reel down. Great job for his first tail, I could see the excitement in his eyes, I think he will want to fish again soon.
Back in with another drift; Bam! This time I hand the rod to my son, he’s just a little guy and those tails were nice size and smacking the rod to try to get off. He got it in by himself (great job by the little guy as well), he was a little tired but it’s because he forgot to breathe when he was reeling. He wants no part of the fish once it’s on board though, that is the next thing I have to teach him, he needs to learn to take his own fish off the hook and toss it in the cooler.
They each caught a couple and then I went back on, I caught another nice one and was right back in the water with another drift. Bam! I hooked a nice one, could be bigger than the biggest one because it actually got some line off my spool. I tightened the drag a bit and started her towards the boat, not 15 feet from the boat a Bull shark comes in blazing and takes my tail. Well, that turned off the bite, and it was now 3:55 and Mike was going to be late.
It took a few minutes to get the anchor out, the tie wraps I am using are a little big and it took some motoring to break the anchor free. We made it back to the dock around 4:45PM, content with 7 tails considering we could have had nothing, and we only fished for a couple of hours.
I forgot to take my camera on the boat so there are no action shots, but here are some pictures of my Boy and the Tails.
P.S. A side note, A cobia came broad side to the boat and started feeding off the chum bag, I did not have any rod rigged for that size fish, (I estimate it was around 60 lbs) I have heard of my Friend Mike Murias of Off Limits Charters do this so I thought I’d try it, I took out my gaff and attempted to free gaff the Cobia. I hit it good and brought it over the gunnel, unfortunately it was too big and it bent the hook on my gaff, it fell off, hit the gunnel and bounced out of the boat. It would have made a great story if it had landed inside the boat but whatever …
Check back next week, I’m sure it will be another adventure.
Till then…
Albert with the biggest Yellowtail
2 Nice ones
19 1/2 inches nose to the tip of the tail
7 beauties await the knife
Cleaned and ready for the Friar
One last Line-up
2lbs 4 3/4 ounces Clean
2 comments:
Practice makes perfect and little Albert will never forget these days; the good old days of tomorrow.
Jorge
What's up Jorge? Just 3 more weeks for the keys, can't wait. Thanks for the encouragement, and it means a lot to me that you have taken interest in the blog and actually read it, I appreciate your input. "The good old days of tomorrow" I like that. Hope to see you and Bob soon,
Al
Post a Comment