SI Offsore 1/26: Light Tackle Sow

Keystroke

We snuck offshore Sunday to do some bottom fishing and enjoy some great sea conditions that had been a long time coming. Jim and I were using our heaviest gear when Sam hooked up on his tiny spinning rod. It doubled over and his drag screamed. I chuckled to myself and thought "here we go again". You see Sam has a history of fishing with under sized equipment and I love to give him a hard time about it when he inevitably loses the big one. But this time the light line held and after several sizzling runs Sam worked the fish ever so slowly to the surface. When I saw the sow snapper I couldn't believe its size and that Sam had landed it on such light gear. I became a little sad as I realized that I would never be able to bust his chops again for his use of baby fishing gear while bottom fishing. Sam became very happy for the same reason. ... We vented her and she swam away strong.

AOKRVs

Nice work thanks for the report and pic
Glad to see some offshore action - We'll be back in 10 days
looks like you were on the mark once again
Huge ARS on light stuff - was that a 4000 series reel

duckmanJR

Nice lite tackle work!...:hail

rlfox24

Yes, I have been the victim of his light tackle. Good job Sam!

Kevin Fay

That there is a prime candidate for a hot oil experiment!! :wink

catchme1

Keystroke wrote: »

We snuck offshore Sunday to do some bottom fishing and enjoy some great sea conditions that had been a long time coming. Jim and I were using our heaviest gear when Sam hooked up on his tiny spinning rod. It doubled over and his drag screamed. I chuckled to myself and thought "here we go again". You see Sam has a history of fishing with under sized equipment and I love to give him a hard time about it when he inevitably loses the big one. But this time the light line held and after several sizzling runs Sam worked the fish ever so slowly to the surface. When I saw the sow snapper I couldn't believe its size and that Sam had landed it on such light gear. I became a little sad as I realized that I would never be able to bust his chops again for his use of baby fishing gear while bottom fishing. Sam became very happy for the same reason. ... We vented her and she swam away strong.

Nice endangered snapper. How light was the tackle?

Paragon1

Looks like a Stradic 5k on medium heavy rod and 20lb test?

samrh

OK �� �� so first off Randy.... Thank you for another great trip. You always know where to go and how to entice the aquatic vertebrates into bitting our line. The weather was incredible for a January day that the NOAA guys thought would be bumpy or at the very least a little lumpy.
Well you know how much I enjoy catching fish on my lighter gear and its not that I don't use heavy stuff. I suppose I just get board with reeling up sea bass, trigger and sharks on a sixty pound outfit. I guess ( I know ) my real problem is patients. It is proven every time I fish along side you. I'm all over the boat casting, baiting, tossing, reeling, retying, drinking.... you would think I'm aaADD or something. I just can't soak that beautiful chunk of Bonita strip as long as I need too.
If I was to learn anything from you it would be that patients pays off. I have watched you pull up Mango after Mango by letting that bait just set still for five more minutes. I have watched you get the biggest Yellow Tails Snapper time after time by letting out eighty percent of the line on your reel only to have a sweet six pounder gulp down your hook well after even you say " Well I should reel this thing in ". And Grouper is your specialty. For you to know exactly how, when and were and grouper bite is going to come is beyond me. All along " PATIENTS " is the key. I'm a McDonald's guy you know and a phrase i like is from our founder.
" Success is two fold, Being in the right place at the right time, and Doing something about it."
Right there in that saying lyes the essence of your REPEATED success. Some day Im going to learn patients.
But on this day LUCK was on my side.
Oh i brought my Diawa Saltist LD50 and my Saragosa 8000 all ready to catch that nice Grouper or Red Snapper. But on that day our target species was Mango Snapper. The best eating bottom species fish on the menu this time of year thanks to State and Federal fisheries management.
Well as so often I do...... I got relaxed with all the trigger and sea bass catching and decided to take out my favorite, go with me everywhere rod and reel. My Gloomis Bronzeback 6'9" 1/8-5/16 6-10 lbs. rod fitted with a Stradic 3000 loaded with 15# power pro and a 20# fluorocarbon leader. It already had a yellow quarter ounce DOA cal. jig head on it and I was just looking for quick and easy. So I slammed a half of squid on there and off I went. I must admit, and I believe i even drew your attention to the fact that, it look like quite the enticing morsel. Now I know a quarter ounce is not much weight but you had us anchored parallel with the reef and all i had to do was toss it up current and let it gently fall to the bottom.
Well the rest, as they say, is history and a picture tells a thousand words so with that all I say is ---
What a great day of fishing with Jim and yourself,

Thank you very much and I very much look forward to it again.

lbud

Nice catch!! BTW it's patience..

samrh

lbud wrote: »

Nice catch!! BTW it's patience..

OK :wink So I fish:fishing and Work at McDonald's:rolleyes

---

heres your " A "

Keystroke

So for the record its: Stradic 3000 15# braid and 20# leader on a 6-10# g-loomis that doubles over when he catches a seabass. Talk about patience...

Boulder

I watched the entire fight. Sam had the behemoth in 75'of water. At times his little Loomis tip was under the boat. Guides, rod and reel all screaming. I often thought the guy who refurbished his rod last spring did one helluva job. :cool:
There's something to be said when the lightest rod on the boat caught the only fish all day that required the use of the net to land it....

Good job Sam

REEL NATIVE

Nice job guys! I love using light tackle offshore...

Final Point

Stud fish Sam!! Front page of FS forum and everything.....:hail