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Not sure how well this is going to go but, since Giles suggested..... (WARNING: I didn't realize I was going to get so long winded lmao )
Let's start with a little background history... I'm very fortunate that my Dad decided to retire from the Air Force at MacDill AFB, Tampa, Fl. So I grew up living in the Tampa Bay area. (Clearwater beach was the demise of my high school education) I started fishing the rock jetty's and piers back in the early '70's when a 9 year old could ride a bicycle several miles and not be concerned with being molested.
My Dad decided he didn't want a wife and kids anymore so at age 9, I was on my own to learn how to fish. I would ride my bicycle while toting a rod & reel and tackle box.. whatever I could scrounge from neighbors or steal from Zayres & Woolco.. Sorry, But it's the truth.
I learned that catching smaller fish and using them for bait produced bigger fish. I used to catch ladyfish, cut them in half and put them on a big rod that my dad left behind and soon I was catching 100+ pound Tarpon as a 10 year old.. Dragging them back home tied to my bicycle seat.. must have been quite a site to see.. lmao.. I was "hooked"
My "babysitter" became the fishing piers and bridge catwalks. Mom would drop me off with a box of frozen shrimp and a fishing rod and come pick me up several hours later or even the next morning. Trout, Reds, Black Drum, cobia,,, You name it.. I caught it. Some nights I would hang a lantern off the pier, just above the water and catch silver trout until my arms hurt.
Owned my first boat, a tri hull w/50hp merc at the age of 15 and would take it out by my self all over Tampa Bay.
This manifested in to 23' Grady White cuddy, 18' Flats boats, and my favorite, a 25' Mako center console with twin 200's.. Still my favorite boat.
I fished Kingfish tournaments all over Florida, From Key West in January to All of the west coast then over to Jacksonville, St Augustine, Ft pierce and everywhere in between.
I've met a lot of people and made a lot of friends. My situation now that i'm in Ohio is that one of my best buds has a 32' Contender w/350 Yamaha outboards. He keeps it on the east coast and I am the rig man/first mate/boat driver for the most part. I fly down several times a year and we chase whatever we can catch. We do a Key West guys trip every April and usually load the boat with Tuna and Snapper. This year we are trying something new to us and that's deep dropping,, electric reels in 500 to 2000 feet of water. Since i'm the rig guy, i'm in the process of learning and making deep drop rigs which consist of 100 to 300lb mono leader with a series of 3 to 5, 12" hook lines with 10/0, 12/0 & 13/0 hooks.
This years trips are shaping up as such..
So far for 2018, my first opportunity will be Key West April 3rd-9th .. Guys trip, Staying on a house boat that we can tie the big boat up to. Usually we stay in a townhouse and keep the boat at a marina and then have to load everything in to the truck, unload at the town house and repeat every day.. We're thinking the house boat might be easier.
During this KW trip, my daughter and her boyfriend are driving down and doing the Key's tour from Key Largo to Key West and I've booked a charter (34' Yellowfin CC) to take them out to the shrimp boats west of the Tortugas for Black Fin Tuna and then to some of the deep reefs for Snapper.
Fishing the shrimp boats can be as awesome and as exciting as it can get.. The shrimp boats drag nets all night for shrimp (duh), then at day break, they dump their nets on the decks of the boat and sort through, picking out all the shrimp and tossing the bycatch overboard.. This creates a chum slick for miles attracting every species in the ocean. We make the 70 mile pre dawn run (which is an adventure all in it's self) and watch the radar screen looking for the little blips that give away the location of the shrimp boat fleet. Since these boats can not leave port with any alcohol on board.. you would be amazed at how much bycatch, shrimp and lobster a 12 pack can get you. (although, the Chinese guys got smart and no longer accept beer and charge $40 for a big bag of very select, pre sorted bait/chum bag.. Definitely worth the $40). We pull up to a shrimp boat, hand over a 12 pack (or cash) and they pass back baskets full of baitfish.. we then drift off a little watching for the tell tell signs of tuna.. When you find a Shrimp boat that's holding tuna, it's a firedrill pitching baits to them with a lot of expletives being shouted .. some trips we have had to use multiple wheelbarrows to carry all the tuna to the cleaning table.
April 27th, 28th, 29th Doing a Kingfish tournament out of Madiera Beach, Old Salts King of the Beach.. It's really more of a giant 3 day cocktail party with some serious fishing mixed in.
Going to do a May Walleye trip again with GERN on Erie and then a Canada Steelhead trip (again with GERN) in July. I will be back down to fish out of Port Canaveral a few times in between but no dates are set.. it's a "weather looks good" last minute thing. And a PA trout trip if I can find a guide to go with.
I'll update with pic's as we go as well as how and what we did, rigs, baits and tackle if you're interested.
Let's start with a little background history... I'm very fortunate that my Dad decided to retire from the Air Force at MacDill AFB, Tampa, Fl. So I grew up living in the Tampa Bay area. (Clearwater beach was the demise of my high school education) I started fishing the rock jetty's and piers back in the early '70's when a 9 year old could ride a bicycle several miles and not be concerned with being molested.
My Dad decided he didn't want a wife and kids anymore so at age 9, I was on my own to learn how to fish. I would ride my bicycle while toting a rod & reel and tackle box.. whatever I could scrounge from neighbors or steal from Zayres & Woolco.. Sorry, But it's the truth.
I learned that catching smaller fish and using them for bait produced bigger fish. I used to catch ladyfish, cut them in half and put them on a big rod that my dad left behind and soon I was catching 100+ pound Tarpon as a 10 year old.. Dragging them back home tied to my bicycle seat.. must have been quite a site to see.. lmao.. I was "hooked"
My "babysitter" became the fishing piers and bridge catwalks. Mom would drop me off with a box of frozen shrimp and a fishing rod and come pick me up several hours later or even the next morning. Trout, Reds, Black Drum, cobia,,, You name it.. I caught it. Some nights I would hang a lantern off the pier, just above the water and catch silver trout until my arms hurt.
Owned my first boat, a tri hull w/50hp merc at the age of 15 and would take it out by my self all over Tampa Bay.
This manifested in to 23' Grady White cuddy, 18' Flats boats, and my favorite, a 25' Mako center console with twin 200's.. Still my favorite boat.
I fished Kingfish tournaments all over Florida, From Key West in January to All of the west coast then over to Jacksonville, St Augustine, Ft pierce and everywhere in between.
I've met a lot of people and made a lot of friends. My situation now that i'm in Ohio is that one of my best buds has a 32' Contender w/350 Yamaha outboards. He keeps it on the east coast and I am the rig man/first mate/boat driver for the most part. I fly down several times a year and we chase whatever we can catch. We do a Key West guys trip every April and usually load the boat with Tuna and Snapper. This year we are trying something new to us and that's deep dropping,, electric reels in 500 to 2000 feet of water. Since i'm the rig guy, i'm in the process of learning and making deep drop rigs which consist of 100 to 300lb mono leader with a series of 3 to 5, 12" hook lines with 10/0, 12/0 & 13/0 hooks.
This years trips are shaping up as such..
So far for 2018, my first opportunity will be Key West April 3rd-9th .. Guys trip, Staying on a house boat that we can tie the big boat up to. Usually we stay in a townhouse and keep the boat at a marina and then have to load everything in to the truck, unload at the town house and repeat every day.. We're thinking the house boat might be easier.
During this KW trip, my daughter and her boyfriend are driving down and doing the Key's tour from Key Largo to Key West and I've booked a charter (34' Yellowfin CC) to take them out to the shrimp boats west of the Tortugas for Black Fin Tuna and then to some of the deep reefs for Snapper.
Fishing the shrimp boats can be as awesome and as exciting as it can get.. The shrimp boats drag nets all night for shrimp (duh), then at day break, they dump their nets on the decks of the boat and sort through, picking out all the shrimp and tossing the bycatch overboard.. This creates a chum slick for miles attracting every species in the ocean. We make the 70 mile pre dawn run (which is an adventure all in it's self) and watch the radar screen looking for the little blips that give away the location of the shrimp boat fleet. Since these boats can not leave port with any alcohol on board.. you would be amazed at how much bycatch, shrimp and lobster a 12 pack can get you. (although, the Chinese guys got smart and no longer accept beer and charge $40 for a big bag of very select, pre sorted bait/chum bag.. Definitely worth the $40). We pull up to a shrimp boat, hand over a 12 pack (or cash) and they pass back baskets full of baitfish.. we then drift off a little watching for the tell tell signs of tuna.. When you find a Shrimp boat that's holding tuna, it's a firedrill pitching baits to them with a lot of expletives being shouted .. some trips we have had to use multiple wheelbarrows to carry all the tuna to the cleaning table.
April 27th, 28th, 29th Doing a Kingfish tournament out of Madiera Beach, Old Salts King of the Beach.. It's really more of a giant 3 day cocktail party with some serious fishing mixed in.
Going to do a May Walleye trip again with GERN on Erie and then a Canada Steelhead trip (again with GERN) in July. I will be back down to fish out of Port Canaveral a few times in between but no dates are set.. it's a "weather looks good" last minute thing. And a PA trout trip if I can find a guide to go with.
I'll update with pic's as we go as well as how and what we did, rigs, baits and tackle if you're interested.
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