Inshore and offshore were productive over the Thanksgiving Holidays. Inshore redfish, sea trout, flounder, and a few sheepshead were tightening lines aboard the Reelin & Chillin. Offshore king mackerel, and amberjack tightened lines making for great light tackle action.
Inshore species were mostly caught on live select shrimp for bait. Tackle was ten pound test on the reel, eighteen inches of twenty pound test mono leader, and a number four Owner MUTU circle hook. When a pin fish was caught I would use chunks for the big reds. This is a good idea because at times they won't take a shrimp. When changing to the pin chunks it can turn them on.
Offshore species I used live select shrimp for bait. Tackle was fifteen pound test on the reel, thirty six inches of thirty pound test mono leader, I would make wire leader using a small barrel swivel, twelve inches of thirty one pound hard wire, and an Eagle Claw 1/0 2X long hook.
A couple fish tails enjoyed aboard the Reelin & Chillin:
On a double father son trip Ernie, and Josh Kahn fished with David, and Joe Bauer. It can't tell you why, however the Dad's really cleaned up on the sons. Ernie started with a nice flounder close to seventeen inches, followed by Joe's eighteen inch trout. Catch of the day was Ernie's thirty inch redfish caught on ten pound test line.
Ben and Kellie Evans with Grandpa Bill picked up some nice reds for dinner both putting one in the live well to twenty four inches. Ben caught and released a nice twenty nine inch red, great fun on light tackle. Kellie fought a big red then something cut the line above the leader. We were catching bluefish in the same area, my guess is a blue seeing the line rushing through the water thought it was a piece of bait and bit the line.
The next trip was split with the guys fishing the first three hours in the morning looking for dinner and the gals spending the last hour for a quick cast of the line just for fun. There was room for two guys in the last hour so they jumped in the boat also. Anyhow as luck would have it the guys caught lots of fish in the morning, however couldn't get an eater in the live well. We picked up the ladies and in the last hour Julia Nuss picked up a nice pompano, sister Emily landed a twenty nine inch redfish (released) and Lyle save the day with a nice twenty six inch redfish. Not enough dinner for all to have just fish, however it made for a great surf and turf dinner.
AJ Menard with his brother Andy enjoyed both offshore and inshore action. With the water laid down in the Gulf of Mexico I headed twelve miles out of New Pass to an artificial reef. We first ran into just about all the king mackerel you would want. Not really big ones, however using fifteen pound test line it made for great action. We had our limit of two each in about forty five minutes then caught and released for a couple more hours. Andy picked up two amberjacks one under at twenty seven inches and one in the slot at thirty five inches. You think that wasn't a battle on fifteen pound test - what a blast. Moving inshore it was a little slow, but A.J. had the big inshore catch of the day with a thirty inch red on ten pound test - nice fishing all the way around.Captain's Tip - Going Light on Tackle
When you read the above offshore paragraph I'm sure many would think "man he goes light for offshore". Your right, that is light, it's not they way I prepare every time I go offshore, however when I target certain species I go light for the great action and sport of fishing. Catching a fish heavier than the pound test your using is a reel challenge, also it's a blast if you have to release the anchor and chase this fish to get more line back on the reel. A few simple things I do to make it work are the rod and reel setup along with my release anchor setup. First I'm using an Okuma guide select rod medium heavy seven foot six inches. An Okuma Inspira IA 45 reel. This reel holds one hundred fifty yards of fifteen pound test line. Second I have an anchor setup with a fender buoy on the end stored in a three gallon bucket. This way if the fish screams off to much line I can quickly untie the anchor line, throw the buoy out away from the boat, crank up the engine, and chase the fish. Yes it's like a fire drill, everybody is reeling their lines in as fast as possible, the captain is getting the boat started and moving towards the fish, the angler is moving to the front of the boat trying not to fall in - what a blast, sport fishing at it's best.
Tight Lines & Good Times,
Capt. Terry Frankford
Reelin & Chillin Charters Inc.
941-228-7802
terry.frankford@verizon.net
www.charterfishingsarasota.com
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