S.C. fishing report

[Tarpon4me]

[size 1]Well, even though it was calling for 2-4' seas, it was calm as could be the first half of the trip. It was nice and warm with a slow, cool breeze. We managed to get out on the reef around 9am, as we waited for the air temp to climb to a comfy level. I hit the mark the first drop of the anchor and the boat drifted strategically over the reef. We instantly began catching fish using squid on a two hook drop rig. We had plenty of bait for the live lines all day. I was surprised to see the pinfish on the reef this early. The sheephead were hanging around, but you really had to work for them. I even went to a smaller hook with a Flurocarbon leader, still it was very slow. We did manage to snag a few keepers though. [cool] We also schooled the seabass with a few nice keepers. Among the action, we manage to snag a few nice sharks and a couple dogfish. My father in law lost something pretty big on his live bait rig, I could only imagine what that was. The water temp 4 miles out was 62 degrees according to my tale-tale sonar. All in all, a pretty good day. Around 2pm, the wind shifted and tripled in speed. I decided to make a move to another spot, BIG mistake. The wind made it almost impossible to hit the spot, and after 3 times of hauling up the anchor because of missing the structure, I decided to leave well enough alone and head to the hill. Nothing can ruin a great day of fishing like a shift in the wind. Atleast it was a dry ride back. [cool]



Here's my son (sailfish4me) battling a shark he hooked off a live pinfish w/ a hair cut. []



Here's the first fish Mike caught off his new Penn 330 GTI we got him for Christmas. That's it in the picture spooled with 40lb Calcutta.



This is my father in law with a juvinile sheepshead he caught off of squid. LOL, yeah, squid. He'll be good table fare along with the others. [cool]



Here's my son rocking the BFT hat along with one of our nice keeper seabass. He's fishing with an ultra lite Penn spinning reel w/ 20 lb power pro on an Ugly Stix lite. They really rip that little reel.

Now i'm just looking foward to the fish fry. [cool] [/size]
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[CaptJoeVerdino]

Sounds like it was a good day. The kid is a keeper for sure but the ole' man, I'm not too sure. I noticed he didn't have on even one piece of BFT gear.[sly]

That wind shift is a killer, I had the same thing yesterday. Strong winds kept me from running deep in the morning. Then they calmed a bit so we continued out from 30miles to 60 miles. At 60 miles I set up anchor and the bite was on. Then 20 mins in the wind shifted an blew me off the mark. Not enough time left to reanchor so I motored over the spot with the anchor still out. We got 5 hook ups 4 AJ's all lost, 1 cuda boated.
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[Tarpon4me]

LOL< I just gave him another BFT shirt the next day after the trip. I'm hoping he'll wear it my next trip out. I'll probably hit the river this next weekend, unless the water conditions just look too good. I've gotta get a few pic's for the contest comming up. LOL, I hardly ever get a picture of myself. It's alway either the old man or my son. But, it's hard work for me on my boat. I'm the captain and the mate all at the same time. [unimpressed] Hard "bass" work.

Did you notice the fighting chair that I installed in the boat? LOL Funny having a fighting chair in a 21' boat huh? LOL [] It makes it alot easier for the older and much younger to battle big fish. I didn't pay but 50 bucks for that chair, well worth the money. [cool]
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