SW FL-Bonita Beach: Another tuna! Kingfish, shark, gag, snapper

[fishbuster]

[cool]I was in port on Monday, but I fished Tuesday in 80 feet on a 265 heading out of New Pass with anglers Jim McCarthy and friend, Dan. We had one great day fishing. Baited with live shrimp, we began catching some nice yellowtail snapper to 16 inches, landed about eight of those along with keeper lane snapper to 12 inches. We kept four of the latter and released the rest. We also released ten nice-sized banded rudder fish, two king mackerel at 26 inches and 40 inches, and short grouper to 20 inches. Our best catch was a 25 pound blackfin tuna, which we caught, believe it or not, on half a shrimp (see photo.) We got that big boy boated, and I put a hunk of squid on the pole while I was getting the tuna on ice. Suddenly, the rod screamed--I thought it was another tuna. It spooled 200 plus yards of Power-Pro line. For 35 minutes with one angler on the reel and one on the top of the rod, we fought that fish. At the end of a long run, with no line left, I lifted the rod-tip ever so slightly. There was a big thrust on the end, and a 7 foot bull shark snapped the rod in half just under the big guide. With both pieces of the pole held fast, we fought that big boy to the end, thanked him for the fight, and released him. The thrill was well worth the damages!

Wednesday morning, my old friends Chris and Lissa Dillon from Indiana were in town for business, and they managed to reserve some pleasure time, along with friend Ed Bosch, to fish offshore with me. We headed out about 15 miles on a 260 heading from New Pass with some shrimp and pinfish in the bait well. We caught twenty keeper-sized lane snapper, Spanish mackerel to 20 inches, a 28 inch kingfish, porkfish, whitebone porgies, a 25 inch goliath and grouper shorts to 19 inches. We caught one keeper gag grouper at 23 inches on a pinfish. We released all but the keeper gag and a few lanes.

I fished with Jim McCarthy and Dan Gilbert again on Thursday, about 37 miles out of new Pass on a 260 heading. No tuna this time, but our shrimp and squid served up five mangrove snapper to 17 inches and ten keeper yellowtail snapper. We released gags just short of legal to 21 inches and red grouper to 18 inches, along with porgies. We had two big sharks cut lines a couple times, but never close enough to see what kind.

Saturday, I headed back out to the same area with Jim Ozark and two of his friends. We used shrimp and squid to catch a dozen keeper yellowtail snapper, a half dozen lane snapper, grunts porgies and triggerfish. We released a variety of grouper shorts—reds, gags and scamps.
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[Tarpon4me]

Nothing says broken rod like a big shark, but aren't they fun? Sounds like the Power Pro got the best of the rod. I know I switched to power pro on alot of my reels so I could use a smaller reel for bigger fish. I can use a 4/0 size reel for what I was using a 6/0 size reel for in the past. The problem is that the line has a tendacy to be the strongest part of the outfit. LOL That line is wicked tough. []

I'm going to try it this weekend if that nasty storm comes through in time. We've got 5-6' seas INSHORE! it's like 10+ feet offshore, crazy stuff.
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[CaptJoeVerdino]

Watch out Dave, pretty soon you will get spoiled. That's what happened to me and now I'm going further and further on each trip. I used to fish 30 miles or less now it's 30 miles minimum, with 50 being the average.[]
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[fishbuster]

I hear ya Joe--probably not so likely with me because I get so many half-day trips...and, the pump price ain't lookin' so good either. But my full-day trips will probably be going out there!
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[fishbuster]

Yep, same here Tarpon4me...I like the thrill of light tackle catching. You are right about the Power-Pro. I'm in port today--NOAA said 3-5, then 4-6, but I'll bet it's worse than that--there are whitecaps in the river! looks like this blow is supposed to last a couple days too[]
Hope it lets up and you get to get out there. Later, Dave
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[Tarpon4me]

I said 10' seas, but I was WAY off. Check out our current offshore forecast. HOLY S*%$!!!!!! 30' seas!

[#ff0000][size 4]HURRICANE FORCE WIND WARNING[/size][/#ff0000]
...N WALL OF GULF STREAM NEAR 31N 79.8W...31.8N 78.9W...32.1N
79W...31.9N 77.8W...32.1N 77.2W...33.3N 76.7W...

[#800000]THIS AFTERNOON[/#800000]
N TO NE WINDS 30 TO 45 KT...EXCEPT 45 TO 70 KT
FROM THE GULF STREAM E EARLY...BECOMING 35 TO 50 KT...EXCEPT 50
TO 65 KT NEAR THE GULF STREAM LATE. SEAS 18 TO 30 FT...EXCEPT
BUILDING TO 30 TO 36 FT IN THE GULF STREAM...AND 13 TO 18 FT FAR
SW PORTION. SHOWERS AND TSTMS OCCASIONALLY REDUCING VSBY BELOW 1
NM.

[#800000]TONIGHT[/#800000]
WINDS BECOMING N TO NE 35 TO 45 KT...EXCEPT TO 55 KT
IN THE GULF STREAM...AND E TO SE 25 TO 35 KT E OF 76W LATE. SEAS
BECOMING 15 TO 22 FT...EXCEPT TO 30 FT IN THE GULF STREAM.
SCATTERED SHOWERS AND TSTMS.

[#800000]TUE[/#800000]
W OF 1000 FM...N TO NE WINDS DIMINISHING TO 30 TO 40 KT.
E OF 1000 FM...E TO SE WINDS 25 TO 35 KT. SEAS SUBSIDING TO 13
TO 18 FT THROUGHOUT...EXCEPT TO 21 FT IN THE GULF STREAM.
SCATTERED SHOWERS AND TSTMS THROUGHOUT.

[#800000]TUE NIGHT[/#800000]
W OF 1000 FM...N TO NE WINDS DIMINISHING TO 25 TO
35 KT. E OF 1000 FM...E TO SE WINDS DIMINISHING TO 20 TO 30 KT.
SEAS SUBSIDING TO 12 TO 18 FT THROUGHOUT...HIGHEST FROM THE GULF
STREAM W. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND TSTMS THROUGHOUT.

[#800000]WED[/#800000]
WINDS BECOMING E TO SE 15 TO 25 KT THROUGHOUT...HIGHEST
SW. SEAS SUBSIDING TO 7 TO 10 FT...HIGHEST W.

[#800000]THU[/#800000]
E TO SE WINDS DIMINISHING TO 10 TO 15 KT. SEAS SUBSIDING
TO 4 TO 6 FT LATE.

[#800000]FRI[/#800000]
E TO SE WINDS 10 TO 15 KT. SEAS 3 TO 5 FT.

.FORECASTER BANCROFT. OCEAN FORECAST BRANCH.
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[fishbuster]

Not too encouraging...stay safe--Dave
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