# Fat Jax Rig report



## Realtor (Oct 1, 2007)

Well, where to begin....

Met up with Mark (thehiredhand) at about 0900 to startthe loading of the boat process. Okay, nothing super exciting there.... Met Scott (brnbsr) and Ryan (deisel84) at Sherman Cove at 11:00 for takeoff. They were waiting on mark and I after we took a little longer getting ice than expected. we decided to "load the boat" with ice. We took about 300 Lbs, since Tuna burn it up so quickly.:angel

Off we go, smooth flat seas out until about 30-40 miles. Then we get into a wet quarting sea, with the waves and wind coming from the NW. On goes the fowl weather gear. We finally got smart once, instead of being wet for a day or two.....

1st stop is with a school of Bonito, we put 4-5 in the boat before they scream outta town. 2nd stop off at the marathon to see if anyone was home, Withe the 2-3 Ft quartering sea, hard time holding on any type of spot, so we dump that idea. 3rd stop the MP 255, lose several jigs and a couple other lures to toofie things down there..... I have lost close to 300 bucks of tackle on this rig:banghead:banghead over time. I have to stop stopping there.

We make it to the petr, another boat circling the rig, we get in there and not much happening, so, we go west to the marlin rig. Second drift, wham:










this turns out that this is the best Tuna of the trip. After Run Dover and we take turns drifting where we "thought" the fish may be. we decide to run to the Ram Powell. Drift, after drift, arms screaming from the jigging, rocking of the boat, we decide to take a nap. The wind has died, seas calm, snooze time. Mark and I being the "SHARKERS" we are put out a couple BFT's for you guessed it SHARK BAIT! Note, we have 2 50 wides in the T top rod holders:banghead We use a 30W with a small 3FT wire leader and a small circle hook. We must have forgotten about the 50 wides:banghead:banghead

Nite, Nite we all go, about 3-4AM, one of the 2 30's we have out goes for a second. Ryan (I think he may be hooked on sharks now) grabs the rod, and nothing. Now within a second or two, the 30 mark is standing beside goes off in a slower killer kind of way.......

the fish eats the bait, mark slides the lever drag up and allows the fish to hook itself. GAME ON! Out of the water about 10-12 feet (still dark, we just saw the shark silowtte in the light spot in the sky) comes this MAKO Shark. SPLASH, sounds like someone dropped a steel bath tub from a thousand feet! Another jump, again 10-12 feet out of the water, SPLASH. No mistaking what we had on at this point.

Now the shark DIVES, it went straight down with HEAVY drag about 800 Ft in about 8 seconds. Whatta ya know (remember the small leader) TAIL WHIPPED THE LINE, the Mako is out there eatingTuna as you read this.....

We head to the Ram to try the morning surface bite. Nothing home:banghead

We start the troll towards the marlin, NOTHING all the way:banghead

Run Dover is yakking to Recess on the radio, off towards Gene we go, Nothing for us there. After about an hour,2,3 of chunking the BFT (about 10 including the tail less (sharks and cudas) ones))










this is Run Dover notice the 2 guys in the back pointing in the directions they thouht they needed to be going? Now noticewhich way they are going???

we are getting tired. We ask if anyone out there needs any ice, we proceed to dump the ice, no sense in bringing the weight all the way back to Pensacola. We stop at the petro on the way out, and just a bunch of jacks about 5-10 Lbs. Fun, but the sharks and cudas liked them more than us, because they had most of them:banghead

Time to head home, Scott and Ryan get a little shut eye during the ride



















By looking at these pictures you may think we were in the Artic Circle!

All in all, great trip, great PFF friends the whole nine yards. Not lots of BIG Tuna, but just a great time on the water.

I am beat, going to bed and dream about the next time!!!!!!


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## recess (Oct 8, 2007)

Jim and crew It was good to be able to talk with all at the rigs. And thanks for the heads up on the floating logs. We ended up dodging two of them just east of P town. Nice Tuna. Must of been neat to see the mako at night jumping. Cliff will post our report.


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## First Catch (Oct 1, 2007)

Awesome report! :clap Tuna is still on my list of "need to catch".


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## 192 (Oct 1, 2007)

Great report Jim, ya'll got some red meat for the grill!!

Mike


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## on the rocks (Oct 1, 2007)

Sounds like you guys had a great trip :clap



Nice tuna Jim :bowdown if you need help eating it...you know where I live:hungry


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## cobe killer (Apr 13, 2008)

GRETA JOB ON THE TUNA.:clap THERE WERE A FEW BUSTING MULLET BUT THEY WERE GONE BEFORE YOU COULD CAST TO THEM. HOOKED ONE ON A FRENZY BUT CAME AT ME AND COULDN'T GET A HOOK SET, THEN SPIT. THERE WILL BE ANOTHER DAY.I POSTED OUR REPORT IN THE OFFSHORE...HABIT.


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## Deeplines (Sep 28, 2007)

Great Job guys.


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## nextstep (Jun 27, 2008)

sounds like yall fished hard, cant think of a better way to get exercise

good thinkin on the foul weather gear

congrats on that good lookin yellowfin.:clap

i know you sharkers loved hookin that beast of a shark


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## Runned Over (Sep 6, 2008)

Man, you guys rock!!!! I had alot of fun buddy boatin. We arrived to the rig right after you boated the YFT, and when you guys held it up I was stoked. Whoever held it up didnt hold it up long, and when we asked him to hold it up again, I thought I heard cussing, hey, dammit, this thing is f'ing heavy!!!

Fat Jax crew thanks for the company.


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## FenderBender (Oct 2, 2007)

Good work Jim and crew, that's a nice yellow! hope to see you guys out there soon


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## reel_crazy (Oct 1, 2007)

Nice yellow jim and crew..wish i was out there with ya...

rich


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## BananaTom (Feb 16, 2008)

_*Glad ya'll had a great trip !!*_

_*Sorry I could not catch up with you guys. The Playin' House runs a little slower than your go-fast-boat. I was always 12 hours behind you trying to catch up to provide some comfortable sleeping arraigments.*_

_*I had borrowed my brothers aluminium boat to use as a dingy, but then left it behind, as you saw on Blue Angel and Old Gulf Beach Highway. I thought it would slow me down too much.*_


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## Realtor (Oct 1, 2007)

we were wondering if you were planning on heading out with us on that. what were you doing there on the side of the road?looked like you were waiting on someone?

Jim


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## BananaTom (Feb 16, 2008)

> *Realtor (11/30/2009)*we were wondering if you were planning on heading out with us on that. what were you doing there on the side of the road?looked like you were waiting on someone?Jim


_*Yep, I was waiting for my son to usher him to a condo on Perdido after dropping the aluminium at a friends driveway in Grand Lagoon for easy access to Galvez ramp for bay running.*_


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## Ocean Man (Sep 27, 2007)

Glad you were able to boat a nice Tuna, it just wasn't to be for us this time around. Still had a lot of fun and it was nice to know a few boats in the area.


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## brnbser (Oct 1, 2007)

had a blast Jim, thanks for the invite. been a bit under the wx since we got back but without being on the water since before the surgery, it was definately worth it.

here's a pic of Run Dover when we were heading from the Ram Powell back north.......










and another of Jim's tuna


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## Realtor (Oct 1, 2007)

Scott/Ryan,

I hope your not feeling to bad. I know we took a jolt or two over the course of the trip.

We had a blast as well. Looking towards another rig trip.


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## brnbser (Oct 1, 2007)

neck held up fine, got the crud that's been going around though......I knew it was coming on but went anyway, that's alright it was worth it. Thanks again.


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## fishn4real (Sep 28, 2007)

Wow, what a report. Great fishing, and congratulations on the tuna.


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## Clay-Doh (Oct 2, 2007)

Another great rig report! I have GOT to get out there one day


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## diesel84 (Oct 25, 2007)

thanks for the trip it was a blast, you are right about the shark fishing that mako was huge, that was the coolest thing i have ever seen while on the water. and i am sorry for not chumming the water for you guyssicksicksicksick, i know you and run dover were really looking forward to that, maybe next time


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## Runned Over (Sep 6, 2008)

> *diesel84 (11/30/2009)*thanks for the trip it was a blast, you are right about the shark fishing that mako was huge, that was the coolest thing i have ever seen while on the water. and i am sorry for not chumming the water for you guyssicksicksicksick, i know you and run dover were really looking forward to that, maybe next time


Ha Ha, I remember talking to you at one of the Wed nite meetups' abouthow you liked to fish but always got sick. I was asking if you had gotten sick because I was hoping you didn't!!!:letsdrink

I commend your courage!!!! :clap Not to many people (me included),would go that far offshore, for that long,knowing they get sea sick!!

I'm glad you didn't get sick and hope to see you out there again!!


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## NavySnooker (Sep 10, 2008)

BZ for the efforts!!! It doesn't always pay off when ya take a gamble like that.. from what I see, a good laugh was had by all.. that's the most important part.. You'll whoop their a$$ next time boys!!


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## bonita dan (Oct 3, 2007)

Nice yeller Jim. Good to see ya knocked the dust off of Scott and got him out fishing with yall. And yes,Ryan is the chum-o-matic but fun to fish with also when ya get him upright.


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