So I had been thinking for a while now of ways to give back to my church and have fun at the same time. I am blessed to know a lot of great guys in this fishing community we have here and came up with the idea to try and hold a church fishing tournament. My thought was to try and get three captains to take four anglers a piece fishing for the day and with this also raise money for various charities the church participates in. TO make a long story short we did just that and could not have asked for things to go any smoother, well except the seas the first part of Saturday morning.
I asked three great guys and there was no hesitation at all to help me with this. Capt Earl on the Wattever, Capt Ron on the Renovator and Capt Steve on the "New" Sea Snake. Steve even offered to supply some awesome Dandee sandwhiches and subs for everyone!!! Who says there is no cuh thing as a free lunch, that cuban is good bro!! You guys are awesome and I am in debt to you for helping me to pull this off. You are true friends and hope I can repay the favor one day. With out you this would not have happened. Three great Captains with three great boats, what more could you ask for!!
I also needed terminal tackle to cover 12 guys for bottom fishing as I did not expect the captains to use their own personal gear on strangers. We all know how much it can costs to cover yourself with weights, hooks, swivels, leader, bait, ect....let alone for 12 people. Well I had been asking Steve and Brian at C&H what I was trying to put together for the last couple months. I asked if they could help and they both just kept saying come see us when you are ready. So my dad and I went to go see these guys a couple days before the tournament to see what they could do to help. Both just said grab what you need and let us know when your done. When the we had laid everything on the counter I was a little worried as I know how much this stuff costs and there was a lot of it. This was coming out of our pocket to help make this happen. I had a number in my head and was just hoping I could get a little help, I mean I am just trying to put togther a fun day and raise $ for my church. Well when the everything was totaled and all said and done it was half of what I thought it was going to be!! Steve and Brian, you are a class act and I thank you for helping me with this. I hope I can repay the favor one day!!
Finally I needed 12 rods to cover the each angler for bottomfishing for the day. Luckily most had their own gear, Ron had his whole boat covered, but I was still short three rods. I called Mark (Seachaser220) and no questions asked. He gave me three extra rods to help me cover the last remaining guys. Mind you this is after my fiance dropped one of his brand new set ups over board a few years ago. Mark, I appreciate it brotha!! You are always there when I need you.
So, with three captains, three beautiful boats, all the tackle, baits and rods, we were finally ready. We all met up Saturday morning at Mayport. Four anglers stepped on each of the three boats and headed out of the jetties. There were plenty of sea bass caught, b liners, triggers, sharks and one real nice cobia. We all lost grouper in the rocks, fishing was good. In a nutshell it was a great day on the water and fun was had by all. We even had a fish fry the next day to reminsce and tell fish stories. Here are a few pics from the day, still waiting on a few more. I cant thank all of you enough for helping me pull this off!!!
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Originally Posted by Offshore32234
....while John was getting taken to the rail, I grabbed another angler's leader and pinned a pogie in the back with a hook and sent him out to the second cobia who was still next to the boat....and of course he sucked it down....and as he turned swim away I set the hook with a little tug and POP !!!.....Sonofa....(but I had to stop myself, as I was with church dudes 
)....the dang leader was too light and stupid me didn't even check it, or it was probably frayed, more likely....but the cobia was still just hangin around, so for the next 20 minutes we tried to feed him everything but he wasn't having anything with a hook in it....I guess he didn't like the lip ring he had newly acquired, so he wasn't falling for those tricks again.
There is a pic above of that cobe.
