# Panama City Beach to the Oil Rigs and Back



## marksnet

Loaded up with last minutes notice and left the dock at 11:00am Tuesday. Headed out about 120 miles and started seeing oil rigs. 

None of us had ever been but, we had the want to.


The 3 of us had a blast and the tuna were hitting the top like bait fish.
For hours we caught Blackfin and got the Unicorn Yellowfin.

Tried all night to catch more yellowfin and couldn't get past the Blacks but, we had a blast.

Used light tackle and caught all our muscles could take.

With our inexperience we changed rigs hoping for the YFT's to be there and made the wrong call. The morning light produced no bounty.

We headed in and made Panama city Pass by 2pm Wednesday.

I know this was a good trip and the next one might be a bust but we had a blast and I can't wait to go again! 350 miles round trip and a wee bit of fuel to spare!!


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## marksnet




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## lastcast

It is a blast isn't it? Congrats on the run.


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## marksnet

lastcast said:


> It is a blast isn't it? Congrats on the run.



I was hooked on offshore before but, now it's gonna be fuel bladder time. Loved every minute of it.

Maybe an hour and a half of sleep and the rest of the time just good ride with good people.

We could have caught more but on spinning reels we were pooped!

I bet we had 4-5 more YFT's on and they just pulled the hooks as they were screaming drag.

Gotta get better on that. Not sure what was up.... Just YFT's I guess. 


About 2am sharks got bad and we waited for daylight. 
Sharks left
YFT No shows on topwater action


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## lastcast

Our scenario was about the same. Dusk was our best chance for YF, but they were about 90' deep. When the sharks and cudas showed up it was 3 out of 4 for them. BF still eat good. No morning bite for us either.


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## Kim

Dang! Breaking yourself in with an ironman run from Panama City to the rigs is awesome! On top of that you put them into the box, way to go there. I'm sure you realize by now that you are hopelessly addicted, tight lines to you guys. Great post and pics!


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## marksnet

Kim said:


> Dang! Breaking yourself in with an ironman run from Panama City to the rigs is awesome! On top of that you put them into the box, way to go there. I'm sure you realize by now that you are hopelessly addicted, tight lines to you guys. Great post and pics!


Thanks Kim!

I remember you chiming in with words of advice on my trolling thread. Thanks for commenting and yes I am definitely hooked for the way out now!


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## Kim

Mark you made a true Blue Water run there!


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## Reel Sick

Wow awesome trip congrats on the catch i bet it was a blast. You couldn't pick a better weather window.


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## Kim

Mark reading your post got me fishing excited and I forgot to ask what you were fishing with. Did you guys throw poppers and stick baits? Jig for them? Did you do any chunking or live baits? That kind of information might make a difference to the next batch of guys that head out there in the next good weather window.


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## marksnet

Hey we caught pretty much all blacks on jigs. Didn't seem to matter what kind either. 

We did chunk some blackfin and sunk strips with it to try to get past blacks and we did and they pulled hooks. 

Any suggestions on upping catch ratio for yft?
They would scream drag and wave bye bye


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## bhudson

You can't say blacks on jigs in the same sentence lol


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## marksnet

bhudson said:


> You can't say blacks on jigs in the same sentence lol


:whistling::whistling::whistling:


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## Realtor

looks like an awesome report!!!!! Those BFT's will tire you out after a while..... I LOVE the top water action there..... Thanks for the pics and report!


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## ollemar

very nice. My bucket list trip.


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## richfish68

Awesome! We will be doing this trip one day as well!


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## bcahn

Great trip guys, that's a life time event! What's your fuel load, you guys went a long ways?


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## marksnet

We had 228 on board. 
Made the trip out and back at 3500rpms and we calculated burn at 1.5 but got about 1.7 consistently. 

120 miles out
120 back
Had a waypoint error that cost us 30 miles or so. 
Spot jumping and idle time
Roughly 320 miles give or take

We could have stopped in destin for more fuel but we knew the weather was bulletproof so we made PCB about 230 Wednesday afternoon with less fuel than I'd like to admit but it was 20 gallons to spare. Haha. 


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## Splittine

Awesome report. Have you thought about trailering over to the west a little and heading out.


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## marksnet

Yeah I have a trailer but I'm looking for a bladder now. Much easier to just jump in boat and head out. 

Also can run to destin out and back and eliminate fuel issues. 

Honestly I thought it was further and fuel wouldn't hold but now I know so I'm good. 

Just don't wanna go when thunderstorms are an issue. 

Winter seems like the right time when the window opens. 




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## marksnet

With the bladder we could pick up speed and let them loose a little. 
30mph is good but 40-45 would have been Better. 



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## bcahn

Mark,
Thanks for sharing, knowledge is king when it comes to safety and fun!


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## Wicked rods

Great report and pictures. Nice fish


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