# 4/1 wahoo and tilefish



## nb&twil

With the recent work schedule, I haven't been able to fish much at all, and it has been a long long time since I have been offshore. So, when I got the opportunity to take a day and fish with a few friends yesterday, I jumped on it! Our crew consisted of a couple of the Yamaha guys who were down this weekend for the OB boat show, Chris and Kasey from Sam's in OB, and myself. 
We left out of Dauphin Island around 6:30 on Snake Dancer, a 36' Yellowfin powered by triple 300 Yamahas. Holy moly what a boat! Our plan was to run a while and stop in search of some bait and then head further south to hunt the tuna and wahoo we hoped would be around. 
We came off plain around the 161 area and threw some sabikis around two different rigs and only found a few hardtails. Also caught a 25" cobia on a sabiki. Chris had the brilliant idea that "if one is here, there's probably more" so he threw a jig near the rig and was rewarded with a 15lb cobia. Nice bonus to start he day. 
After giving up on bait fishing, we climbed back into position and headed towards the horseshoe. We grabbed three Penn Internationals and put out some deep divers. Pretty quickly, we had one fish on, it came up to the surface and came unglued just about as fast as we could even get the words out "fish on!" Trolled around for a while longer with nothing else doing. Water looked ok, but not great. We elected to run southeast and see if we could find fish in another location. 
We came across what we figured would be perfect. As we approached some unnamed rig, there was a temperature break, scattered grass and a beautiful color change. So we put the Internationals back in their places and trolled what should have been an ideal spot. Nothing. Quite frustrating, but it's still early and we have plenty of time to get some groceries. 
We ran a few miles to some old deep drop numbers George had historically found some tilefish on. Got everything baited up and dropped two rigs down and drifted. Nothing, and we couldn't understand why. Brought up our rigs to find they had tangled up in each other. No biggie - we spent a few minutes getting straightened out and rebaited with a mixture of squid and chopped up hardtails. Dropped down again and this time we had some fish. We made several drifts over the spot and ended up putting about 8 good golden tiles in the ice box. Several were nice sized and one was the biggest tilefish I have seen (picture if that one coming). I'm sure we could've hit them til the sun went down, but we had plenty. And we still had other fish on our minds. In addition to the deep dropping, I ran a kite bait the entire time to no avail. 
We had a quick town hall meeting at the helm and decided to run further east and see what we could find. Seas were about 2' and that Yellowfin just ate it up as we cruised 45 mph towards some unnamed rigs that "felt right."
We noticed the water was pretty with a decent weed line near by, so we put out the deep divers again and pulled through the area, coming pretty close to one of the rigs. As soon as we got within 50yds of it, we had a triple header. Two fish screaming, and the other just pulling. Unfortunately, we had two pull the hooks and only landed one of these fish. Turned out to be Kasey's best wahoo ever at about 65lbs. We regrouped and pulled back by the rig again. This time it was just one instead of three. Mr Yamaha, who joined us for the trip, landed this 40lb wahoo and enjoyed a few high fives for his first ever bluewater fish. We battles grass for a little while longer until we decided to try one of those stud hardtails in the well. Since the action had come from right around the rig, we set up for a drift with a live hardtail on spinning tackle while Chris and Kasey threw poppers from the bow. After watching everyone else catch fish all day, and manning the kite with no reward, I was happy to be te guy holding the live bait. 
So I'm armed with a Penn Torque on a Bluewater Carnage jigging rod full of 65lb Spiderwire Invisibraid and I realize if one of those 65lb fish was this hardtail, I'm in for a fight! Once again, as we got close to the rig, it happened. I had the rod doubled over and drag screaming and settled in for a fight I have long wanted (a wahoo on a spinning rod). The Torque had way more fight than I did and after battling he fish for a while, I realized I could not get the fish above like 40' deep. Every time I would "get close" and think he was coming, he would dig another 20-30 yards down. Eventually, I got him past his comfort zone and got him to the boat pretty quick where Chris stuck him right in the head and we brought him on board for a few quick pictures and a much needed drink of water. Not only was this my first wahoo on spinning tackle, it was my personal best at 50lbs. I was overly pleased with how the Penn handled the fight. Extremely smooth drag, and plenty of power when I did have a quick moment to gain line. 
We smiled and talked about how our day started slow, but ended great as we slid the third wahoo into the box full of tilefish, and one lonely cobia. We pointed north for a 50mph run through the 2' following seas. 
I'll try to post pictures, but have to go one at a time for some reason from my phone.


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## Baker8425

Wirelessly posted

Dang good repot man. Sounds like a blast. Yellowfin is on my "next boat" list, after I win the lotto!


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## nb&twil

Kasey's wahoo. Fattest wahoo I've seen. It was actually almost funny looking how disproportionally thick it was!


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## Realtor

that is a FAT one!


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## nb&twil

My personal best.


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## TailRazor

That's what she said! Sorry had to... Nice fish for sure...


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## nb&twil

Chris with a big ole tile fish.


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## nb&twil

Kasey and Chris with two more of the tilefish.


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## jcasey

That was 1 fine report. Thanks for sharing. Nice fish and looking foward to the other pics.


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## nb&twil

Kasey's fish boat side as Chris prepares to take his shot. This picture meant a lot to me. Two great friends and experiencing one of their personal bests. Priceless stuff.


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## Chris V

I had a great time with you guys. Hopefully we can do it again soon


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## Baker8425

Wirelessly posted

Good Lord man. Those are good hoo's!


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## Kim

That is a stud Tilefish!


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## nb&twil

It's NOT fun when a fat one flops off the gaf. Even worse when he throws the plug and kicks it at us! But well worth it.


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## Obvious

Awesome report. Can you tell me what size Penn Torque that is and what action rod you have it paired with?


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## bigtallluke

Wow, what a great report!! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one.... And some excellent pics to go with it! You guys came back with some PREMIUM GROCERIES! Excellent job, congratulations, and thank you for sharing.


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## sniperpeeps

Dang, looks like an awesome day.....if only you could get the funny looking dude with the AFTCO visor out of the pictures


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## my3nme

Awesome report


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## nb&twil

Obvious said:


> Awesome report. Can you tell me what size Penn Torque that is and what action rod you have it paired with?


The reel is a 9 size. The rod is a 6'0" Bluewater Carnage jigging rod rated 80-130.


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## Chris V

sniperpeeps said:


> ....if only you could get the funny looking dude with the AFTCO visor out of the pictures


 ^^^ I don't approve of this message


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## hjorgan

Fishing with Chris V seems to be money. Great report


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## Chris V

hjorgan said:


> Fishing with Chris V seems to be money. Great report


I can't possibly take the majority of credit shares this trip. Captain George Mitchell is one of the best out there and I just helped where I could.


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## Xpac

awesome report! that tile is insane!

Chris, i think im sold on those torque's.


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## Tim_G

Sounds like a great trip fellas. Good job!


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## Joerob5

Will, 
Thanks for the awesome report. Man! What a tile fish!


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## nb&twil

Thanks Joe! It was fun. 
I'm pretty sure Chris doesn't want his share of the tile fish. You can probably just have his portion


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## badonskybuccaneers

Like the report and pics.... Looked like a great way to shake off the stress from this weekends sale at the store Chris. Especially after Fridays weather and Saturdays traffic....


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## Chris V

It was very welcomed after this past weekend Mike. Here's another pic of Kasey's fish. What a fatty! I feel like a damn midget standing next to Kasey

Great, sideways picture


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## willr86

Goooood looking fish. I can only skim reading this while in at work. When was this?


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## willr86

NM its in the title


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## sniperpeeps

Here ya go Chris


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## Kevdog540

Great report! Awesome Hoo & Stud Tile!!


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## Joerob5

@ Will S., I doubt it!


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## jmunoz

Nice !

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk


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## MrFish

Fat hoo! Congrats!


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## badonskybuccaneers

Chris, Cookie loved the pictures - her first comment was "it's taller than Chris" followed by "where was that!?!?" ...as if though we were going out that far in my 22' Pure Bay. She loves catching those bluewater fish... I'll have to get her on a boat out on the big blue sometime this summer.

Again, thanks guys for the story and pictures- just what we needed while sitting out on the back deck on one of the few afternoons we had off.
Mike


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## Xiphius

great day on the water quality fish and good eats


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## samoajoe

Plenty good eats on this trip. What's the best way to cook tile fish?


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## Chris V

Joe, I like them cooked just about any way, but grilled or done as a "poor man's lobster" in crab boil are my favorites


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## MSViking

Sounds like you guys had a great trip! Chris V is the man, sure knows his stuff!


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## Chris V

MSViking said:


> Sounds like you guys had a great trip! Chris V is the man, sure knows his stuff!


 Thanks Robert, but I wasn't El Capitan on this voyage, just backup idea man and some of my ideas worked


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## WhyMe

Great report. Time to eat some hooooooos.
WhyMe
Mako My Dayo


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## Fielro

That was a great report. Thanks for post


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