Jack Hexter
05-26-2009, 10:17 PM
On Saturday morning, I picked up friends Jay and John at 7:00 and headed to my son's house in Jupiter where my boat had found it's new home. The plan was to fish Saturday afternoon, then stay late and go deep for swordfish Saturday evening or, in the alternative, fish a half day Sunday and come home Sunday nite.
We got to my son Corey's home to find him rigging bait, and after watching the weather radar and listening to forecasts, with lots of trepidation, loaded the boat for some afternoon trolling and evening swords. We picked up Corey's friend Andy to round out the crew, dropped the boat in and ran out Jupiter inlet to 80-90' of water where we found some grass. A short time later we were into small kings and bonito and we started using 12#-15# tackle for some fun pulling on the string. I dropped a jig on a Charter Special loaded with 65# braid and hooked a 350#-400# bull shark. I fought this fish for 30-45 minutes before handing the rod to Corey. He fought it for another 20-30 minutes before handing the rod to Jay who finally surfaced the fish. We also had a 7' T-Head following the boat and slick created by one of the bonehead carcasses hanging from the transom. It was fun dropping the carcass back and pulling it away from this fish. John hooked a fish on 12# and it started to spool him. Andy reached over and took a couple cranks on the drag. The fish continued to run and Andy took another crank on the drag resulting in a break-off. 30 seconds later, we saw a sail jumping about 100 yards from the boat. We all got on Andy's case about breaking off John's first sailfish. Jay then hooked a 23# dolphin on a 12# spinning rod. Using the axium, "Too much heat = No Meat" he skillfully brought the fish to the boat and into the box. A short time later, a second dolphin, about 12 pounds swam up behind the boat and Corey quickly baited it. It to was dispatched into the fish box.
6:15 PM Decision Time0: Do we go in or do we head offshore? The winds had calmed enough to make the run to the sword grounds, so we called Corey's girlfriend and she again checked the weather radar and told of about a cell, South of us and moving NE. We had been watching this thundercloud and wondering about it. Corey punched in the coordinated where he wanted to start his sword drift and the bearing took us directly to the storm. A smart decision was made to call it a day and live to fish another day.
Monday AM, we dropped the boat in at 7:00, this time without Andy. We saw some people sabikiing bait very close to the ramp. We got out the net and one throw blacked the well out with hand sized threadfins. Out the inlet to the fleet at 100' and started live baiting, hoping for a sail for John to make up for the one he broke off the previous day. Again we were inundated with snake kings and bonito. After having our fill of fun, we headed offshore and put the trolling rods out. After a lot of searching, we finally put a pair of 10#-12# dolphin in the box. John put the first one in the box, but it jumped out and beat him a little before we got it back under control and covered with ice. About noon, Corey got a text from his girlfriend that they were hosting an impromptu BBQ that afternoon. We pulled the plug and 1:15 to head in and met the holiday crowd at the ramp. A half hour after dropping Corey to get in line with the truck, we loaded the boat on the trailer and drove back to Corey's. After cleaning the boat, fish, and ourselves, we enjoyed a good picnic of burgers, brats and fresh fried dolphin with several kinds of salad made by the neighbors, before starting the drive back across the State. We all had a great weekend, came home with some fresh dolphin and plan on going back for the sails and swords. Jay was the designated camerman for this trip. http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a233/fishingbhar/westpalm%20090526/DSC_0410.jpghttp://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a233/fishingbhar/westpalm%20090526/DSC_0441.jpghttp://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a233/fishingbhar/westpalm%20090526/DSC_0442.jpghttp://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a233/fishingbhar/westpalm%20090526/DSC_0506.jpghttp://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a233/fishingbhar/westpalm%20090526/DSC_0474.jpghttp://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a233/fishingbhar/westpalm%20090526/DSC_0429.jpg
We got to my son Corey's home to find him rigging bait, and after watching the weather radar and listening to forecasts, with lots of trepidation, loaded the boat for some afternoon trolling and evening swords. We picked up Corey's friend Andy to round out the crew, dropped the boat in and ran out Jupiter inlet to 80-90' of water where we found some grass. A short time later we were into small kings and bonito and we started using 12#-15# tackle for some fun pulling on the string. I dropped a jig on a Charter Special loaded with 65# braid and hooked a 350#-400# bull shark. I fought this fish for 30-45 minutes before handing the rod to Corey. He fought it for another 20-30 minutes before handing the rod to Jay who finally surfaced the fish. We also had a 7' T-Head following the boat and slick created by one of the bonehead carcasses hanging from the transom. It was fun dropping the carcass back and pulling it away from this fish. John hooked a fish on 12# and it started to spool him. Andy reached over and took a couple cranks on the drag. The fish continued to run and Andy took another crank on the drag resulting in a break-off. 30 seconds later, we saw a sail jumping about 100 yards from the boat. We all got on Andy's case about breaking off John's first sailfish. Jay then hooked a 23# dolphin on a 12# spinning rod. Using the axium, "Too much heat = No Meat" he skillfully brought the fish to the boat and into the box. A short time later, a second dolphin, about 12 pounds swam up behind the boat and Corey quickly baited it. It to was dispatched into the fish box.
6:15 PM Decision Time0: Do we go in or do we head offshore? The winds had calmed enough to make the run to the sword grounds, so we called Corey's girlfriend and she again checked the weather radar and told of about a cell, South of us and moving NE. We had been watching this thundercloud and wondering about it. Corey punched in the coordinated where he wanted to start his sword drift and the bearing took us directly to the storm. A smart decision was made to call it a day and live to fish another day.
Monday AM, we dropped the boat in at 7:00, this time without Andy. We saw some people sabikiing bait very close to the ramp. We got out the net and one throw blacked the well out with hand sized threadfins. Out the inlet to the fleet at 100' and started live baiting, hoping for a sail for John to make up for the one he broke off the previous day. Again we were inundated with snake kings and bonito. After having our fill of fun, we headed offshore and put the trolling rods out. After a lot of searching, we finally put a pair of 10#-12# dolphin in the box. John put the first one in the box, but it jumped out and beat him a little before we got it back under control and covered with ice. About noon, Corey got a text from his girlfriend that they were hosting an impromptu BBQ that afternoon. We pulled the plug and 1:15 to head in and met the holiday crowd at the ramp. A half hour after dropping Corey to get in line with the truck, we loaded the boat on the trailer and drove back to Corey's. After cleaning the boat, fish, and ourselves, we enjoyed a good picnic of burgers, brats and fresh fried dolphin with several kinds of salad made by the neighbors, before starting the drive back across the State. We all had a great weekend, came home with some fresh dolphin and plan on going back for the sails and swords. Jay was the designated camerman for this trip. http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a233/fishingbhar/westpalm%20090526/DSC_0410.jpghttp://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a233/fishingbhar/westpalm%20090526/DSC_0441.jpghttp://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a233/fishingbhar/westpalm%20090526/DSC_0442.jpghttp://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a233/fishingbhar/westpalm%20090526/DSC_0506.jpghttp://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a233/fishingbhar/westpalm%20090526/DSC_0474.jpghttp://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a233/fishingbhar/westpalm%20090526/DSC_0429.jpg