Original price for a 3.5" lure was kinda ridiculous imo, but at this sale price ($8) I picked up a couple (probably give one to my brother) to have when fish are focused on small baits (dont use when bluefish & kingfish are around https://www.walmart.com/ip/Shimano-...LU-PNK-IDN-Sinking-Pencil-OS090BABP/455370463
Went yesterday and did pretty good. Put 14 Bonita and 5 Blues in the cooler. I'll be using the bellies of the Bonitas for bait in Pulley. It was a blast jig fishing for them and the blues. Heard my drag sing for the first time in ages as I was using light jigging tackle for them. 5 days to Pulley and Buoy Weather showing green for the trip. Been gearing up the trip. 4 Rods. 2 Batteries, 3 Electric Reels, 1 Manual AVET LX Raptor reel. My Jig bag is heavy with 300gm+ jigs and I'll be packing roughly 2-5lb, 2-4lb, 2-3lb, 2-2lb. sash weights. I'll also have Salmon and Spanish Mackerel as additional baits.
That salmon and Spanish is for the grill... especially considering those fish in the KEYS never seen a salmon in their lives....
No but it screamed some drag (lt drag and 20lb mono.. trolling).... The tarpon on the other hand ;-) All those bonehads you have should be plenty of bait..... but a box of cuttlefish/squid and sardines wouldnt be bad for the smaller species.
Bait (Squid) is included. I'm hoping they're decent sized. I could bring a box of my own and might. I'll leave the Salmon and Spanish home. Between the Bonita bellies and some Bluefish, I should be good. Sardines??? Hmmmmm....
yeah, Spanish Sardines.... pretty much a bait staple for us. Squid size doesnt matter.... we usually cut em small depending on species
Yeah, I'd assume you can get a box of frozen sardines or cigar minnows pretty much anywhere in FL... https://www.thehulltruth.com/florida-georgia/1021914-best-baits-mangroves-2.html
Just back from overnighter at the Hudson. New prop and shaft worked great. Mechanic found some wobble in both rudder stems and corrected that Cap found boat tracked better. Trolled into West Flats 400’ no love. Pilot Whales and two toned dolphins was all we found. Went North to West Elbow then across the deep to East Elbow and down to 100 Square. Boats were tying up to the fish pots early. Trolled into the dark then set up to chunk. Boated a nice 60 lb Yellowfin at 9:45PM. Using Penn 16 reels 60 lb test with 40 lb leaders 4/0 ringed circle hooks. Chunked thought the night. Drift was weird. Hardly moved from original location due to wind and tide. Finally had a wind change as we approached the deep put out a Sword bait. There were so many boats out there the East wall looked like bumper to bumper traffic on the Parkway. Around 7:00AM boated another 60 lb Yellow. Chatter on the radio indicted the morning bite heated up on the East Wall so Cap ran us over to mug some of the better charter boats. Chunk bait getting slim. Caught 3 more 50 to 60 lb yellows. Total 5 Yellowfin. 10:00 AM headed for the barn. Good trip. Cappy happy with boats performance great crew. Each man takes home 30lbs dressed. TunaTartare to watch the Jets crush Titans!
HELL YEAH.... My brother and cousin got their 1st yellowfin friday, and judging by the pics about the same size as you got. Cousin got his boat 2 years ago and still really doesnt know shit about offshore fishing, so he's super stoked. LOL. My brother brought a sidetracker chain and they got it on that... I didnt fly up due to a work deadline.... but of course the client didnt get their shit together in time anyway Literally just got a text saying he emailed me content (like I'm gonna work on his shit on a Sunday morning) I'm assuming you have braid with a top-shot on those 16s?
Yes, 60 lb Braid with a 60lb mono top shot. The reels being so much lighter than a 50W and 2 speed are really nice for chunking. Poles had regular ring guides no roller guides with cork grips running high up on the pole for comfort. Due to a 40 lb leader though drags were limited to 13 lbs max. The tuna didn't appear to know they were hooked. Just kept swimming around eating chunks till whoops! Even with the light drag the fight didn't last long although a few fish were clearly green when gaffed. We are about to get a blow here so think fishing out there is off for a while.
Just finished the AP 4day trip this morning. Best trip ever! All the snappers and grouper you could bring up. Got my 1st Queen Snapper and 21.5 lb Barrelfish . Will post pics once I get home. Trip is a bucketlist level cruise. Auto train is a winner!
Got some pics from the trip. Thinking next year I will probably do the Dry Tortugas run! This was one of three identical loads off the boat. 18 fishermen, 4 mates, 1 Capt. The American Patriot Marco Island, FL. fishing boat is the real deal! Definetly a bucket list to-do.
