It sounded easy enough.......let your line down to the bottom and wait for a bite. But at the end of the trip there was fellows who had literally wheelbarrows of fish and then some guys that had 2 or 3. I was one of the guys with 2 fish on my first trip. But I kept at it and went at least 2 or 3 times a year. The best bottom fisherman I ever knew took me under his wing........the gentle giant Tom Nickels. Tom helped me immensely and my catch started to go up a little bit each year. I continually upgraded my equipment and tactics and finally some 20 years later I can say with some confidence that I can be in the same league as the regulars of long ago that I so admired. From my perspective there is no other type of fishing that I am aware of that demands such a unique combination of skill, knowledge, strength, specialized equipment and the all important ability to concentrate for long periods of time.
I eventually left the Middle Grounds and so did the majority of the regulars. The boat left the Hubbard families hands and went commercial and the trips declined rapidly in popularity. But the hook was set and the bottom fishing bug had bitten me pretty hard. I had heard about the Dry Tortugas multi day trips and of course had to give them a go. A whole new set of species and new environment, back to square 1and another tough learning curve. Enter the Yankee Capts........
Did lousy catching bait at channel 5 but ran across some guys that had a 5 gallon bucket of 15" jacks that they had caught. I knew a thing or two about making small jacks good table fare and when I found out that the lads didn't even know how to filet fish I couldn't help but lend a hand. In 15 minutes I had disposed of their catch into nice little strips, discarding the foul tasting parts. In appreciation they gave me 4 jacks to use for bait. Nice kids.........but here is the rub, they had caught about 6 or 8 Spanish Macks on live shrimp fished below a chum block. I think next trip I might be bringing some live shrimp when I make a bait stop. Onward to No Name bridge where I had a tough time finding anything. Eventually I found a rockpile a long cast out and cleaned up on big grunts.
I made the boat a little late but still everything worked out well for me. Decent place for my bait cooler and I even managed a few rods down below. Weather had been windy but by the time we left at 10 P.M. it was subsiding. The following seas made for a very comfortable ride out and I slept like a baby. First stop was awesome and I just knew that this was going to be the best Yankee trip ever. I popped 2 dandy Muttons and one fire truck red grouper that went 17lbs. Nice fish and a nice job getting him out of some coral.
But all good things come to an end and our good start ended all to quickly with the rising of the sun. It became calm and hot and the bite was over just like that! I had thought that it would pick back up again come nightfall but no dice.........a front was piling through and the weather went downhill. Still I kept at it but could never really develop any momentum. For every fish I caught it seemed I lost 2. I had sharks take 2 (I reeled in a 1/2 mutton that still went 8lbs), I broke fish off, I missed or I had other people pull fish off the hook for me when my line would tangle in theirs (thank you very much!). It was all sort of frustrating on many different levels but I kept at it. Had a couple hour nap the first full night but hung in there the rest of the trip fishing all night on night 2.
Three big blacks were caught. The Jackpot winner was 46lbs.......nice fish. When I seen the second one come up I purposed to catch one. Down went my sabiki rod and up came a 12" yellowtail. I promptly pinned him to 150lb braid and sent him back down to await his doom. It was not long in coming. I set up perfectly on the bite and them was slammed up against the rail. Even though my drag was all but locked down the big fish powered plenty of line off. Unfortunately the fish had decided to go under the boat to the other side where someone promptly yanked the big boy off the hook. When I reeled my line in I had someone elses line around my hook. Not to hard to figure out what happened. Fish of a lifetime? Perhaps, perhaps........
I also got into a couple of 11ft nurse sharks which took quite a bit out of me. Don't they make those in any other size? Why are they always 11ft long? I don't get it..........
The grunts did OK for me. My new wrinkle may of helped a bit but it sure wasn't a silver bullet. Check this out > Open the mouth of the grunt, stuff a cotton ball down his mouth and fill the cotton ball with some pogy oil. Insert hook to close everything up. Sort of a slick little set-up. I might try it again.
Bottom line? I ended up with 11 muttons, 2 grouper and 6 very nice yellowtails (one taping out at 22"). I generally thought I was just another guy on the boat but when the numbers were called and the fish divided up it was pretty obvious I was high hook. That was a big surprise because I basically thought I stunk on this trip. Add in that the bite was as slow as the mate had seen it all year and I guess I should actually be fairly pleased. The biggest Mutton was 14 lbs and 1/2 my Muttons were 10lbs and over. I almost put it together but missed the mark. I really enjoyed this batch of guys.......most of them didn't really know what to do and I helped where I could.
So that about does it. Par for the course for the Yankee. One day the Yankee and I will put it together. I joked with Capt Greg about the curse finally being over.........We finally didn't get blown off. When I asked the 250lb crusty Capt for a celebratory hug he never missed a beat and said "get away from me". Everyone cracked up over the exchange. Capt Greg, you gotta love him.
So the appetizers are over. Good Lord willing I will see 5 of you in less than a month on Yuris boat. Should be fun as always.
Tight lines
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