# Sykes - 10/17 Tale of the... Tripletail??!



## ThaFish (Feb 27, 2013)

After hearing from a buddy that the bulls were out at Sykes last night, Johnny & Mitch & I decided to head out there. We left the apartment around 12:30 & got set up to start fishing just after 1AM. First cast with an 8'' chartreuse twistertail I hooked a slot red in the light strip. Made a couple short runs before I got him up to the bridge, but no one had the drop net ready & he spit the hook after a couple head shakes next to the bridge. Damn, what a great start. But at least it seemed like a promising night! Johnny finally got his Gulp shrimp rigged up about fifteen minutes after we got there & on his first cast he hooked up with something decent. But what was it? After watching him struggle with the fish on his trout setup for a minute, I asked him if he needed the drop net. He said he didn't know what it was, so I ran over to him quick & shined the light down. After shining the light on the fish, I sprinted to grab the drop net & managed to get it unraveled & lowered down around Johnny's catch in no time at all. After setting it down on the bridge, Mitch & Johnny both asked me what it was. I couldn't contain my excitement at that point. I yelled "dude, it's a tripletail, this is sick!!!" Confused but happy, Johnny asked me what a tripletail was. I told him it was an offshore fish & that I've never caught one myself let alone seen or heard of one being caught on the bottom from Sykes. After looking up the regulations on my phone & a quick measurement, we realized that the night was getting even better, because we could keep him! Got a nice shot of Johnny with his prize catch & then went back to fishing. The next few hours were relatively uneventful, with not much to talk about, save for a number of decent white trout caught by Johnny & Mitch. Finally around 4:30, the 209 with a live hardtail on it starts to scream. & when I say scream, I mean SCREAM! This fish took off with the 125 yards of 30 lb. topshot before I even got to the rod. After engaging the reel & holding on helplessly as the monster on the other end burned dozens more yards of line off, I locked the drag & started thumbing the spool to try to turn the beast. Right then I told Johnny & Mitch that this was no fish, but instead a monster southern ray. He ended up taking me 100 yards down to the right & then 300 yards back the other way before I finally got him up to the bridge almost 20 minutes after the battle began. Only problem was that once I got him next to the bridge, he finally realized that he was hooked. & what do massive southerns do when they realize they're hooked? Yup, he dug & dug against the drag & both of my thumbs until he reached the bottom again. Then he sat. & that's when I knew the fight was over. Johnny was pretty discouraged & asked if there was anything we could do. I put it in freespool & set the rod down for ten minutes or so, hoping that he would take off again & that I could turn him & keep him off the bottom long enough to walk him over to the shore, but that wasn't happening. This ray didn't move an inch. I gave Johnny the rod after that & told him he could try moving it if he wanted to, but it was hopeless. Mitch & I grabbed the topshot & started walking slowly backward on the bridge, hoping that our last attempt might get the ray to move. But it wasn't happening, & soon came the sickening "SNAP" sound, followed by Mitch pulling in a ton of slack line. He was gone. Johnny was a bit upset, but I told him that there was nothing we could have done differently & he went back to fishing, proving once again that he was the trout master of the night by pulling up a few more nice ones (& his first flounder!) before we left. Packed it in around 5:15 & headed home to get some much-deserved sleep. 

*Tally for the night:* 

*Mitch*: 2 white trout
*Me*: ......I don't have to answer this question. 
*Johnny*: 11'' flounder (personal record), 5 white trout, & a 16'' tripletail

Tight lines everyone!


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## ThaFish (Feb 27, 2013)

Here's a stringer shot of Johnny with all of his fish. & also a shot of Mitch with his trout (& Blaze, the apartment mascot :thumbup.


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## Bravo87 (Jun 19, 2014)

You're right! I wouldn't have believed it!


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## XxReel_FisherxX (Jul 31, 2013)

You forgot to mention the delicious Fish Cookout we had today. Hopefully we catch some more White Trout tonight! That way we can bring some to Williams!


*I like to think I'm good at fishing*


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## GROUPERKING (Sep 28, 2011)

Way to go on the triple tail ! That ugly lizard would probably make some decent white trout bait.


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## LIM-IT-OUT (Aug 26, 2014)

Wow a triple tail, barracuda, and look downs bro whats next albino sail fish this month has been very interesting I think ill call it bucket list month haha we got to get out there again and fill some fish boxes


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## WAReilly (Jun 2, 2014)

That's awesome guys! How was that triple tail? 

Hopefully my hand will heal enough to fish soon! I'll let you know when I plan to go again. Gag season is almost over, so I need to stock up!


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## ThaFish (Feb 27, 2013)

LIM-IT-OUT said:


> Wow a triple tail, barracuda, and look downs bro whats next albino sail fish this month has been very interesting I think ill call it bucket list month haha we got to get out there again and fill some fish boxes


Mitch said he's gonna make it his goal to specifically target albino sail fish from Sykes tonight.


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## ThaFish (Feb 27, 2013)

WAReilly said:


> That's awesome guys! How was that triple tail?
> 
> Hopefully my hand will heal enough to fish soon! I'll let you know when I plan to go again. Gag season is almost over, so I need to stock up!


Dude, go to the "Recipes & Stuff" section & check out the pictures from our cookout today! I just posted that thread too. Wish you could have joined us! :thumbup:

& heck yes dude, let us know when you wanna go again!


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## jmunoz (Jan 11, 2012)

I was gigging the other night and seen a tt laying on its side in about a ft of water looked dead not moving and didnt appear to be breathing we touched it with the gig and i guess he was sleeping because when we touched him he turned upright and hauled but like mothing was wromg with him


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## cwfinley19 (Jun 28, 2014)

I caught a small juvy triple tail in my cast net off bob sikes 3 or 4 years ago but thats awesome on rod and reel


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## KingCrab (Apr 29, 2012)

Nice mess of fish !  Those guys kill !


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## sling2ling (Nov 14, 2013)

I caught a small triple tail off of the west jetties the other day on fly gear...a very unexpected surprise. but very welcome. awesome catch


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## mystic fishermen (Sep 4, 2014)

nice man i allways see u guys killing it saw u guys doing your thing there a few weeks ago i been catching flonder on bob skies these
the last few nights as well but sweet post keep um comming man tight lines


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## Ocean Master (May 20, 2008)

I'm late reading this post but my first Tripletale catch was at the deep end of Bob Sikes while Flounder fishing around 1976.


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## ThaFish (Feb 27, 2013)

Ocean Master said:


> I'm late reading this post but my first Tripletale catch was at the deep end of Bob Sikes while Flounder fishing around 1976.


That's pretty cool Keith! Guess you beat us by a few years. :thumbup:


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