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Sea-Squatch
Posts: 2,117 Captain
Mahi Ledge Trip - 5/29
Sea-Squatch
Posts: 2,117 Captain
I've been seeing all of these great mahi reports on social media, and really wanted to get out there. Luckily, I have a friend that just did a complete rehab on a SeaVee 29 w/ all new engines, electronics, fuel tanks, and etc. Only problem is he lives on the gulf coast. Well, he decided to trailer his boat over, and take us out to the ledge after those mahi.
Here's his sweet SeaVee...
We left Mayport really early, but of course it was a little rough on the way out, so we didn't start trolling until about 8am. We ran past the ledge, passing scattered weeds, to hopefully find something more organized. We finally stopped in 1500' after never finding that perfect weed line. We went 2 for four on strikes in about 2hrs of trolling. We started running back in thinking we had overshot the fish, and stopped at a weed mat in 600'. We threw out a little chum, and mahi came out from under the mat. We ended up keeping 8 fish between 20.5"-28". They quit biting, so we ran to another thick patch. This time the fish were a little bigger, and my 14yr old son pitched a bait to a real nice bull. I caught the cow, and the others on board caught a couple fish too. A pesky T-storm moved in, so we decided to run that 65+ mile ride back home.
Here's a pic of the deck before we buried the fish in ice...
We ended up w/ 14 keeper mahi in total. It was a super fun day!
Here's my favorite pic. It's us all posing w/ that bull my son caught...
Making memories...
Here's his sweet SeaVee...
We left Mayport really early, but of course it was a little rough on the way out, so we didn't start trolling until about 8am. We ran past the ledge, passing scattered weeds, to hopefully find something more organized. We finally stopped in 1500' after never finding that perfect weed line. We went 2 for four on strikes in about 2hrs of trolling. We started running back in thinking we had overshot the fish, and stopped at a weed mat in 600'. We threw out a little chum, and mahi came out from under the mat. We ended up keeping 8 fish between 20.5"-28". They quit biting, so we ran to another thick patch. This time the fish were a little bigger, and my 14yr old son pitched a bait to a real nice bull. I caught the cow, and the others on board caught a couple fish too. A pesky T-storm moved in, so we decided to run that 65+ mile ride back home.
Here's a pic of the deck before we buried the fish in ice...
We ended up w/ 14 keeper mahi in total. It was a super fun day!
Here's my favorite pic. It's us all posing w/ that bull my son caught...
Making memories...
Replies
We got a bull about the same size, but only one other peanut at the ledge out of Vilano. Question on the chum - when you hit a weedline, do you troll it first, then chum to see what comes out? Or if it's just a mat, chum that, but troll a solid weedline? We've only been trolling, but had pitch rods ready. I didn't think to bring chum.
It's damned expensive to get out that far! We burned over a hundred gallons. Fortunately, it's on a trailer, so we don't have to pay the marina premium, but ****. $4.59/gallon is expensive mahi if you don't roll 'em up like you did...
You should always have chum ready when mahi fishing. I'm not talking a chum block, but small pieces of cut squid or ballyhoo ready to throw. Yes, we usually troll an organized weedline, and "run & gun" to weed mats. We throw a few chum pieces at the mat, and the small bait fish usually come out. After a couple of minutes, if there's any mahi around, they'll show up. Then we start pitching to them, and periodically toss out more chum bits to keep the school at boatside. This method works very well if there's fish around, and the weeds are scattered.
here's a short vid of the trip....