You always here guys talk about how to become a better fisherman by saying that you just need to spend time on the water, I couldn’t agree more. I recently heard someone say, “if it’s raining go, if it’s a bad tide go, a good tide go – just go”. The point is that’s what I did last week and boy did it pay off.
I was going through emails on a pretty unremarkable Tuesday when I got a call from Brent Schirmer inviting me offshore to go chase bonita on fly and ultra light tackle. I love offshore fishing, however, because of my lack of access to an offshore boat I spend most of my time chasing redfish and snook, so when I got the call I was very excited.
We were also joined by Captain Tate Freeman, who is always a good time and accomplished angler as well. After we gassed up and caught our bait we made the run and got to the spot at 2:30. Normally my fishing days consist of starting before the sun comes up, but remember what I said about “just going”?
Our plan was to live chum for Spanish Mackerel and bonita, specifically to catch them on fly and a $15.00 My Little Pony push button rod – just to see if we could. We didn’t even have to live chum and fish were coming over the rails, Spanish after Spanish smashed greenbacks and clouser minnows. They certainly put up a great fight.
Finally Fishing
When we did live chum, it made things even crazier. With a insane veracity these fish were practically nipping each other’s tails to eat our baits, finally, a few bonita showed up and I was able to feed one! When this fish hit I immediately knew that it was different, the weight of the strike, but also the fact that it immediately dumped me to my backing. He took me to my backing two more times before he started to circle and was landed.
After boating tons of Spanish we decided to tangle with some goliath groupers. A long and back breaking fight may not sound like a good time, but when you hand line these fish it’s totally different. You’re battling a 200+ pound fish with a hook tied to 500 pound line which is then connected to a rope, it’s your pure muscle against his.
We caught two goliaths and I broke off a shark at the boat that was in the same weight class as the goliaths – a monster.
In this grainy video below, you can get a look at the size of these fish.
In Conclusion
After thoroughly wearing ourselves out we headed back and were at the dock cleaning the boat by 4 o’clock. We caught roughly 50 Spanish, some bonita, goliaths and saw a few big sharks, the My Little Pony rod stood up marvelously to some pretty impressive mackerel and we each ended up with some amazing fish dip from the macks we harvested for the smoker.
Sometimes you just have to go get after it, you won’t catch anything or learn anything from the couch!
To watch the awesome video that Brent filmed for his YouTube channel click here and be sure to give him a follow for more awesome videos! To put it another way, he slays.
If you enjoyed this post, then check out some of my other posts such as, “The Scum Pond Chronicles: Redux” and “Cold Days and Hot (snook) Fishing”.
Until next time, Tight Lines.