# Last week, visitor from South Fla



## Kevinwwings2 (Mar 3, 2016)

First I want to say THANK YOU to this forum and some of it's members. You all made it possible for an out of town guy to achieve his goal. If any of you are headed to the Stuart area and need some info let me know. I also frequent the Lucaya area in Grand Bahama, so have some info to share there as well.

2 years ago we did a charter out of Venice to the Rigs. I have been dying to get back out there, but on my own boat. I just find it much more rewarding to do it myself VS paying a guy who is out there every day. We enjoyed the charter but leaving at sun up then you add in catching bait and the LONG run out, it did not give you much fishing time before it was time to start the journey back. So I decided it was time to do it on our own. Instead of Venice I made the call to run it out of Pensacola, yes it is farther but avoids needing a wide load permit in 3 more states, and an out of state fishing license. Not to mention several of my fishing buddies had ties to Pensacola which made it easier.
We left on Saturday morning, towed up, got the boat in the water that afternoon and hit the hotel. Sunday got up filled the boat with bait and gas, then enjoyed dinner with what was the next 2 days crew. We had 6 total for a Monday morning departure with a plan to fish till Tuesday around noon. The crew consisted of myself, my Girlfriend Annette, Rich, his brother, Alex and Nequoya. Of the crew I had not met 2 of them. We got on the boat made then run and started out on a northern rig, with green water, then worked our way south checking each rig as we went. We wound up at Enesco 8505, where we spent the night. We spent the night between Live Bait, Chunking, and working surface baits. The Blackfin's were thick, kept a few but several more made their way to the bait box for chunk bait. We did manage to find a few Yellow Fin's nothing huge but most where in the 40-50# range.
When the sun came up the bite shut off, so we made the call to head in a bit early but we were all exhausted and still had much work to do, between cleaning the boat and all the fish. Our final tally was 4 YFT and a hand full of BFT that were bled and iced down. When we arrived at the inlet the timing could not have been better, as the Blue Angels were up doing a practice run, so we idled for a while so the crew could enjoy the show Apparently we were not the only ones enjoying the show, as FWC pulled up as we got to the inlet. I half expected the inlet to be closed but nah they just wanted to know why my pants were so bloody. They came aboard checked my HMS permit and fish, while being very professional. I really appreciate them doing their job and being true professionals about it. Thanks guys.

Now for the rest of the week. Wednesday we basically took the day off, to refuel the boat, ourselves and hopefully fill the live well. Needless to say there were storms everywhere so we skipped the live well. Thursday Myself, Annette, Keith and Brandon, decided to depart about noon, and then grab bait on our way out. The weather was not our friend but after towing that far and all the prep work we were not about to back down.
We worked hard for 2 dozen Cigar minnows and various other critters.Decided it was time for the 3 hour run. About 80 miles I spotted something but couldn't' tell what it was so in the mind of safety decided to check it out as it almost looked like a life raft or a really small boat. Turns out around here it would have been the end of our trip as likely loaded with fish, but this one was just full of grass. I had decided to try a different rig as the reports off it were pretty good, and it wasn't far from our Monday night home. So we visited Horn Mountain first. While we kept a rod bent the whole time we were there, catching huge Blue Runners, and an occasional Black Fin was not the target, so we left Horn Mountain behind us. We made our way back over to Enesco which was Monday night's home. Here again we found similar sized YFT and some monster BFT. There was obviously some kind of tournament going on as there were several boats working the same area. Throughout the night we got them on live bait, chunks and poppers again. Once the sun came up again the bite shut off so we decided to head for shore, only 107 miles to go. As you can see we encountered a little rain on our way, than you Mother nature for the much needed rinse off. Once we got to the dock the work began.
Pulled the boat out Friday then hit the hotel for some much needed rest. Saturday morning got up grabbed the boat and headed home. 8 hours into the trip one of our crew finally caught up to us.
After looking back it was a long trip, but everyone had fun, and several had a completely new experience, all while making some new friends. Here is an idea of the ground we covered for some fresh Sushi.

Below are some of the pictures, apparently 7 is the magic number of pictures, won't let you add more than that.


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## lobsterman (Sep 30, 2007)

Sounds like you all had a blast and welcome to our neck of the woods here in the Panhandle. I have also seen some of your posts on FS also.


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## cody&ryand (Oct 3, 2007)

Sounds like a awesome trip thanks for taking the time foe the report. wish the pictures were working for me tho


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## Kevinwwings2 (Mar 3, 2016)

If you're a member over at Fla Sportsman forum here is a link to it.

http://forums.floridasportsman.com/showthread.php?225880-Hardly-SE-but-it-did-start-here


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## Keithcooking (Jun 24, 2015)

We were the 28' grady white there early Friday morning. It was the international billfish tourny.


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## Realtor (Oct 1, 2007)

Great!!!!


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## Kevinwwings2 (Mar 3, 2016)

Keithcooking said:


> We were the 28' grady white there early Friday morning. It was the international billfish tourny.


We were right next to you for a while (light blue CC "Flying for Fish". I knew there had to be a Tourney going on. I do have to admit it was good seeing someone else out there in our size class. Was tired of looking at nothing but Sporty's all night long.


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## fishsticker (Jan 11, 2009)

I can't believe you let everyone see your secret weapon.....Tidy Cats. Probably flying off the shelf in Pensacola 
You definitely put the time in between towing the boat and running that far offshore. Congrats on the success.


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## rustybucket (Aug 18, 2011)

Awesome trip!!!


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