# 7/26 Offshore trolling run report



## panhandlephinsphan (Aug 25, 2008)

I looked for the Green Water section but could not find it- kinda like my search for Blue Water this past Saturday.....

I was fortunate to have a full boat Saturday with Mark (WhyMe- Mako my Dayo), his son Parker, and Kaitlin (Gael). Headed out Saturday AM around 4:15 from Gulf Breeze. ride through the bay was awesome! then we hit the pass. I then proceeded to torture my crew for about two hours to what Kaitlin described as the "roughest ride I have been on". But my thinking was we have some lines the Roffs has pointed out- we need to be there as close to early AM bite as possible and maximize fishing time. I was also thinking that NO ONE would remember the crappy ride once we start catching fish. My last disclaimer: I could not find a sweet spot that made the ride comfortable other than SSSLLLOOOWWW- it was either 12 knots or 21-23. Ok- moving on- so we get to our area that should be holding fish and we are all as wet as the fish at this point either from rain or spray. 

setup trolling lines trying to find a line that was between blue/green and green with a .5 degree temp change- never found it. Kaitlin even offered up one of her powdered donuts to the fish as a sacrifice but they wanted nothing to do with her old Irish tradition. We kept seeing what we named a banana weeds. They looked like a banana peel floating. Once we realized what we had named them we decided it was best to move on- even the concept of bananas killed any fleeting chance of catching a fish! They were actually Water Hyacinth from the Mississippi if I understand correctly from a friend of mine. Decided to leave that line and head down from area southeast of nipple to find a line north of spur that was suppose to have a 1.1 degree temp change and a color change to blue. Never found it either. I think Roffs sent me the report I wanted in my head instead of what was out there! 

Trolled southeast again looking for that change thinking it moved a few miles- after 2o miles or so I gave up and we turned around. We DID run into a few small bait balls that the birds were hitting with some smaller tuna popping up here and there from what we could see. Dragged my long line right over the school and had a boone bird in front of the lure- NOTHING- not even a hit. did it on two different bait balls 2 different times. Same results. moved on.....

Adjustments I made on this trip as part of learning curve: Teasers off transom- string of 5 birds- one got eaten so now I only have 4. Also running a squid chain- That had 5 squid at the start of the day and now had only 3. Those will be a bitch to digest! Dropped the size down on flat lines to regular bigguns instead of super bigguns. Dropped down 1 size on riggers and one size on shotgun. also changed the layout of the spread just a little. 

OK- back to the troll- ran into no weedlines, no visible rips, and if we kept heading south, we would have run into no gas! so we turned around southeast of Spur, set the GPS to Pensacola pass, and turned the autopilot back on for a long troll back to the edge. Had been seeing a bird or two every minute or two so I was getting excited about seeing some life. 

about 20 minutes into our turn around, I hopped in the bean bag to get a little rest- ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ went the starboard rigger instead of me... but it was gone rather quickly after the initial hit. So I hop back in bean bag and close my eyes and ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ- starboard rigger hit. Kaitlin is on and fighting something peeling off drag. Cleared a few lines, got a belt on, and hunkered in for the fight. She got it about 35-50 feet from the boat- never jumped, never shot down to the depths, just a few good runs and headshakes, and spit out the hook. The line was tight, fish just came unbuttoned. 

Trolled on up past nipple, past edge, Zing! King skies one of our flat lines and gone. A few minutes later another...then something takes the starboard rigger and runs. We are only in maybe 80 feet of water. Mark starts that fight. then the port flat takes a hit, Kaitlin spools it back a little and whatever it was came back and nailed it. double hookup as the sun is heading down- very cool! Kaitlin gets hers to the boat first- I was so excited to finally get a fish to the boat I popped a rather active cuda over the top of the tuna door and into the cockpit with the rest of us- what a dork! No one got eaten fortunately and I threw him in the cooler with the idea of Pics and crab trap bait. Mark fought his a few more minutes and ended up losing it and getting hooked in another line we neglected to clear. 

We put out a few of the non- tangled lines and then focused on the tangled ones and the lure in the face of the cuda in the cooler. Mark looks up and realized something had stripped off about 750 yards of line from the shotgun- clicker not on so we had no idea as we were focused elsewhere. So I start reeling in and it feels like dead weight. Just as suspected- as the bird gets sloe I see weeds. and I thought- no way 750 yards on weeds? Then I see the lure and there IS a fish on it! a football sized bonita and a single sized order of salad stripped off 750 yards of line!!

well- that made us call it a day. Sun going down, time to head to the barn.

filled up with some fuel from my cans about 3 miles outside of the pass and got back into the bay at dusk.

Come under the 3mb and turn towards the dock. I hear a loud smack!! I look back and Mark is doubled over holding his forehead- Somehow- a fish managed to jump 8 feet high and miss me, Kaitlin, all of the poles for the bimini top, bounce off of Mark's forehead, and out of the boat- never to be seen again! It made me think of the Seinfeld episode where there must have been a second spitter and one magic loogie- but I digress...

Did not clear a single weed off of a lure ALL DAY until we were within 20 miles of the pass. 

Great trip- fun crew- thank you for coming out. Here are a few pics. cannot wait to get out there again. Mark, Kaitlin, Parker- let me know if I forget anything- we had some funny moments out there and a few good hookups. 

I am feeling confident in what we are doing, it's just been a tough year for productivity. It will come.


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## panhandlephinsphan (Aug 25, 2008)

I did some research on what may have tried to remove Mark's face by jumping in the path of a moving vessel and the culprit appears to be a Brazilian Pogo Fish. They are not normally in this area but they are popping up where not expected....bah dum dum...


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## Cap'n Davey (Mar 26, 2014)

Great report David! Thanks for the fun read. Mark got slapped by a fish? Man, good thing it didn't get you in the eye Mark! Glad you guys had an enjoyable trip, and made it back to the dock (relatively) safe! That is a nice Cuda!


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## Reel Estate (Nov 28, 2007)

I agree that it was very rough on the way out. Every trip is different and exciting!


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## MSViking (Oct 11, 2007)

Sounds like a lot of the trips I have had. It's all an adventure, if you can enjoy a trip like you had and you keep at it, things will turn your way. I usually buy a Roff's as well a subscribe to Hilton's but they can be soooo far off that I have just about quit looking for lines unless I clearly see them on Hilton's for a few days in a row.

Thanks for taking the time to post the details!

Robert


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## SnapperSlapper (Feb 13, 2009)

Whenever the Roff's report starts with something like "it has been a challenge for the last few days to get a look at the water conditions, but through a combination of...." it is always a guess. When we can't get a look at the satellite imagery, neither can they. For ADSFR I had a half way decent look at water color. And we just went to where we thought blue water should be and started fishing.


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## DISANTO (Oct 1, 2007)

Hard to rely on roffs when there's cloud cover. Glad y'all had fun. Looks Like the wife is hooked! Congrats. That's what it's all about.


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## WhyMe (Apr 21, 2013)

David, you hit the nail on the head with the report. I also talked to a guy out of Destin who fished the Spur over the weekend resulting in Nothing. We did everything right.
The day will come....great fishing with you and Kaitlin. Until next time.
WhyMe 
Mako My Dayo


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## badonskybuccaneers (Aug 19, 2013)

Thanks for the read, really enjoyed it. We're still holding out for that blue water shift before we try any long trips offshore. Thank God August is almost here, maybe we can put some reef donkeys in the cooler now!


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## Big Perm (Aug 1, 2011)

It was pretty nasty out there. We trolled the same area all day with nothing to show, especially that line ROFFs showed. We named the floating things Magnolias and cussed ROFF's all day! It was a great time with some great friends nonetheless.


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## marlin77 (May 8, 2014)

I can't stand seeing that stuff. I don't think I've ever caught anything with it around. We call it 'duck blinds'.


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## reelcrazy (Jul 5, 2014)

Great write up David! Wish I could have gone... maybe next time. 

 ReelCrazy

*Matthew 4:19 **And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”* 
*PS: It is also OK (and good for you) to Fish for Fish!!! *


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