TomD
e publius unum
My brother came down for a couple of days fishing so we headed out into the Gulf with breezy but sparkling weather. Unfortunately, snapper season doesn't start until next week, so this was the first of about 40-50 that got thrown back, and that was with us trying everything possible to avoid them; we could have caught 100's, all 15 pounds or more. Some were huge. Funny thing about throwing them back, the local porpoise population has learned about fishermen throwing snapper back; there were constantly three of them lazing around the boat and they were on every one of out throwbacks within seconds. We did toss all of them because the local Game & Wildlife people are hyperactive around here. I get boarded and searched about 25%-30% of the days I go out. This would be one expensive fish if you tried to keep it.
I've been offshore fishing for over 30 years and I've never seen snapper like this spot. If you threw "chum" (oily fish parts) overboard, literally clouds of large snapper would rise up to near the surface. You could see 20 or more around the boat. I've spent my entire life without ever seeing large red snapper near the surface in 120 foot of water.
Not a day to fall overboard, there were huge sharks in the area. They took my line several times when hauling yet another snapper up, talk about trying to hang on, at least until they cut the fluorocarbon leader.
It was a nice day, we were only about 20 miles out. Would have gone another 20 and gone after bigger game but the weather report predicted 20 knot + winds and 4'-5' seas in the afternoon and that makes for a miserable 40 miles on the way back in when you're in a 21 foot boat, even a capable one. Turns out the report was wrong, the day remained perfect all day long. Oh well.
I got some movies of the porpoises, need to figure how to edit and post them. They get close, you can reach out an pet them. A little daunting at first, some are 14 feet long.
The bottom 2 shots were on the way back in, just like them.
These were shot with my little carry around camera, no way do I expose my expensive cameras to a day of pounding and salt spray!
I've been offshore fishing for over 30 years and I've never seen snapper like this spot. If you threw "chum" (oily fish parts) overboard, literally clouds of large snapper would rise up to near the surface. You could see 20 or more around the boat. I've spent my entire life without ever seeing large red snapper near the surface in 120 foot of water.
Not a day to fall overboard, there were huge sharks in the area. They took my line several times when hauling yet another snapper up, talk about trying to hang on, at least until they cut the fluorocarbon leader.
It was a nice day, we were only about 20 miles out. Would have gone another 20 and gone after bigger game but the weather report predicted 20 knot + winds and 4'-5' seas in the afternoon and that makes for a miserable 40 miles on the way back in when you're in a 21 foot boat, even a capable one. Turns out the report was wrong, the day remained perfect all day long. Oh well.
I got some movies of the porpoises, need to figure how to edit and post them. They get close, you can reach out an pet them. A little daunting at first, some are 14 feet long.
The bottom 2 shots were on the way back in, just like them.
These were shot with my little carry around camera, no way do I expose my expensive cameras to a day of pounding and salt spray!
