# Just red snapper



## capthoop (Oct 28, 2007)

Had a trip that was a disaster from the start. I had a deckhand trip on a 36 contender with trip 250s. We are the first boat to get fuel in the morning. At 100 gallons the marina is out of fuel. Somebody that was to take readings at the end of the day messed up big time. They have trucks come in at night all the time but nobody called them because nobody read the tanks at the end of the day. First sign.










We had enough fuel for our day so we went with what we had. We start down the river with threatening clouds of building storms. the forecast was for 1-2 seas and a slight chance of thunder storms. Yea Right! All the storms were at the mouth of the river. If we broke through we would be fine. About 10 miles down the river the boat is not running right we are loosing plane. A check of the boat shows we are taking on water. As the captain is getting the pumps working and keeping the boat going ahead I investigate and find the live well pump has come off and the water was freely coming up the intake line. We close the line and put the pump back in place. Another sign. 

We get up and start running but now there is a funny sound from the center motor. We have reverse but the forward gear is grinding and knocking. Lower unit blown. Another sign.

At this time tuna is out. We have 2 options head back to the dock or ease down the river on 2 motors and at least get some snapper. We could even troll the mouth for some kings. Seeing we were this far down river they wanted to at least try for something. Once at the mouth the seas were not what the forecast stated at all. There was a bunch of storms in the area causing some locally rough conditions. One of the 5 went down almost at once. The poor kid got violently sick and could not overcome it at all. Another sign. 










We trolled for kings but all we found were jack crevalle. After 4 or 5 of these and with nasty looking weather all around us we tucked into a small rig for some snapper and protection. Once we tied up another guy fell victim to the sea conditions. Damn good thing we did not run for tuna. The snapper were slow to start but once we dialed in it was game on.










As we were finding some good snapper one of the storms hit us direct. It was so nasty we stopped fishing for a while. The lightning was heavy and thank god for the rig above us acting as our lightning rod. It took a hit for us. The light and sound were together. The lightning was crackling as it hit the rig. Another sign.

After things settled down we topped off our limit and everybody was in favor of getting back to the dock. We ran a bit out of our way to avoid other storms in the area on the way in. This was a day I was glad to see come to an end. Much to our surprise something else would not go right before we were done. 










It is here in the picture. Another sign. 

We had 5 guys and during the storms and everything else happening we missed the count by 1 fish. Our limit was 10 and we only came back with 9 fish. Just that kind if day!

The other morning I wanted to go out for an hour or 2 and asked old Charlie if he wanted to go for a boat ride. He finished his beer and came with me. I saw 3 boats sitting on a school of trout. Looks like they were doing well. I ran to a place I had not visited since spring. I only found one keeper trout there. All the others were well undersize. We moved to the rocks outside Empire and the tide was just ending. The guys that were on the trout earlier had finished because the bite stopped. Charlie and I went to a nearby rock pile or wreck that I know of. It was loaded with fish. Guess what kind.










This guy had a rough life already with a messed up jaw and missing part of a fin but he was undersize and went back. this small dome is in 32 feet of water. It is holding a bunch of juvenile snapper. We weeded through a lot of shorts but we managed 4 at 16 1/2 to 17 inches before heading in. By this time it was about 11:00 and Charlie was dehydrating from lack of redwiser. I had to mow my 4 acres I take care of also so we went is at a smooth 43 mph.










Life is Good! 
Fishing is not a matter of life or death. It's more important than that.

CAPT HOOP -- OUR FREEDOM


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## Bravo87 (Jun 19, 2014)

Perseverance! Those are the days that builds character


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