New Year’s day Gogie and I jumped in the boat to enjoy a leisurely day of fishing. Gogie with his two hand lines loaded with 90 pound test line (he doesn’t let many get away) in his bucket along with all the necessary items he would need for the day—-you just gotta have a bucket, and me armed with my fly rod. I would have Gogie drop me off on a flat near a channel where I would hunt bone fish while he bottom fished in the deep water. That day was great because every flat he dropped me off on I hooked into bone fish. He caught several mutton and grey snapper but no real big ones.
Yesterday Hank picked me up on the dock early in the morning with his 23 foot Mako called “Miss Eva” and we headed out to the ocean. It was calm in the harbor but once we got out of the channel we were greeted with 4 and 5 foot waves. Our initial destination was the south buoy about 15 miles out in what is called the Tongue of the Ocean. I drove the boat as Hank rigged his rods and lures. When we got to the buoy Hank told me to run close to the damn thing without hitting it. On our first pass he hooked up with a nice wahoo. I thought this is easy and within an hour we should have the boat loaded with fish. Some times it’s bad luck to hook up right out of the starting gate and it proved to be just that for most of the rest of the day. Speedo and Lulu were out in the same area with their big boat. We cruised south to the mouth of the Middle Bight where their boat caught a huge wahoo that weighed about 50 pounds. We never did find any schools of dorado and in those conditions I didn’t think we would. I drove the boat most of the day while Hank kept an eye on his rigs. By the time we got back to the harbor I was totally beat. All day I had one hand on the wheel and the other gripping the rail hanging on for dear life. We would get drenched by one wave and just start to dry off when another would soak us. The fishing was slow and it was rough seas but I had a blast. It was fun watching Hank doing his thing on the back of the boat while trying to keep his balance. At one point a wave caught the boat just right and almost launched him right off the back. From then on I kept glancing back every so often to see if he was still on board.
Today was tough going for bones. It seemed like every time we would spot them the clouds would roll in and they would be ghosts again.
Dan and Nancy have been fishing with Herman mostly in Bowen Sound and have been having great success. Tomorrow they are going to join me in my boat and we will see what the weather is like in the morning to decide where we will go.