Offshore June 15, 2012 (Tough Fishing)

tortugadigger

Had a 2 day trip planned for this week (Monday-Wednesday) to go kill some snapper but with the wind forecast for this week we decided to just go for a 1 day trip last Friday. It was not the best fishing forecast with the moon and tides but since this was the only time i was going to be able to get out there, we made it work. We got our crew together on short notice, which is not always the easiest thing to do but we managed to find 5 guys and off we went.

We pulled out of Gordon's Pass right around 3:45am and got on our heading for the 100+ mile run. The seas were perfect and when the sun finally came up we are just about to our area and we were ready to start catching. Needless to say we hadto work for the fish we got. The morning bite was slow so we kept moving all day, go to one spot mark some fish make a drop and if nothing we would move. We were marking fish all day but they would just not bite, we tried live bait, squid, jigs, jigs with squid, and cut bait. We would manage a few here and few there we tried shallower water (120-feet) and out to the deep stuff (290-feet) and just could not find a hot bite!!

At one point we found ourselves just under 140nm from Gordon's Pass, that gives you an idea of how far we ran to find these fish!! I tallied up our miles for the day and fuel burn we ran a total of 415nm and burned about 440 gallons, not bad fuel economy considering we were cruising at 40 knots!!

The hottest bites were on live pinfish here are a few pics of the fish we did manage to get, they are quality fish but we wanted better numbers. Oh well that's why they call it fishing!! All in all it was a good day and of course we all managed to have some fun and we cant' wait until next time.

Here are a few from the day

Mutton Snapper


ARS and Scamp


Scamp


Kill Shot


The Group (Minus 1)

dward

NICE....thanks for the pics. It's fun to have finally made it down to recogize the land around the fort. Just curious how much fuel you hold? I thought my Contender had the standard 400, but after our trip to the Fort, it seemed the gauges read higher than I figured it would....so I called Contender and got the build sheets on the 36cc.......and the boat has a 60 gallon upgrade so I hold 464. (2x125 and 1x212). My economy was the same (about 1.1) but I was cruising closer to 35 knots.

I was thinking I wouldn't want to plan a trip that would burn more than 400, and I also thought I'd use the Gps mileage accumulator along with gauges to determine when it was time to head for the barn. Being new to these long range trips I'm curious how others manage fuel?

Look forward to meeting some time - Dan

JSTickum

Nice Mutton and sweet pic of the lighthouse , how much is to make that run and how can I get in

Indianoutlaw

Love that picture of Loggerhead Key! Looks like you guys did have a really tough bite. I cannot wait to get out there again myself, but I only have one window to fish in the next two months. Here's to hoping for good weather!!

invincible

My weight hit snappers in the head all day!!


Don't pay attention to anything but your burn amount. Depending on your guages you should have a fuel used, trip distance, avegrae burn. Know your range limits with the weather forecasted and head home when you hit you reserved fuel remaining. 475 gallons goes quick in a 20 hour marathon.

CapnAhab

Tortugadigger, I think I recognize one of the guys in your group, second from the left. We used to work at Lover's Key State Park together a long time ago...

Great report. I hope to be able to fish down there one day! Beautiful water.

Colter

Sounds like a fun trip! Way to make the most of it..