# North of Spur



## queenannesrevenge (Aug 29, 2013)

On 02 Sep, we left the house at 430 am and made it to the ramp by 530 fueled and iced, all going great. Then it happened. Port trim switch decided to tilt engine up unannounced and then did it repeatedly after 5 mins of calm. As the sun was coming up we trouble shot the problem and finally isolated the switch at the throttles; using the other trim to work the engines. All was good, but in a foul mood due to exiting Destin Pass at 820 am. For the first 35 miles there were 2-3 ft seas with rollers ever so often making it just rough enough to be uncomfortable and add to the misery. At 35-40 miles the seas calmed and skies bright blue, looking up at this point.

I had read a post early in the week from someone that stated they wished they had fished a large clump of seaweed and low-n-behold at 6 miles north of the Spur we encountered a patch 80-100 feet across. We had to stop. And good thing we did. We lost a tuna that easily went 80lbs straightening out a 5/0 (3X strong) Mustad hook when the braided line locked on itself and almost snatched an expensive rod slap out of my hands. Kicked myself in the backside for not unwinding and reeling in the line prior to fishing; valuable lesson learned. I just relined all my reels. Lost a 40 in plus bull dolphin at the boat, hook came out seconds before we were going to gaff it. But we did have a blast and managed to land 3 fish; 38”, 35” and 22”. We lost several others that were in the 20 in range as well. It was teeming with fish.

While we were fishing a school of bluefin went ripping by like bullets; but they never schooled. Looked like they were heading east and in a hurry. We are going to Miami this weekend to watch the Gators crush the Canes and plan to be on the water around the Spur the following weekend. I suggest getting https://realtime-navigator.com/system/login.php if you don’t have it. It was spot on and worth the 200 dollars. Thank you from another post I read.

And last, if “Scrappy” is reading this, make sure you stop at large clumps of seaweed. You trolled around us several times and left. They were there, but wanted nothing to do with trolled lures. We had tried that too earlier that day. They were hitting cigar minnows that we bought from the bait man at the pass and blue runners that we caught on sabiki rigs. Wanted nothing to do with frozen bait either.

Thank you all for the post that you have put up. They helped in forming our plan. We will continue to post every time we go out.


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## wide spread (May 22, 2011)

Good trip. How big were the bluefin you saw?


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## c_stowers (Jan 10, 2012)

Nice mahi! You can't hardly beat those for table fare!


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## MSViking (Oct 11, 2007)

sounds like you made it all come together! I agree with you that the forum can be very helpful. I started hanging out on this forum day 1 and have learned so much from other members and their posts, certainly steepens the learning curve.

I also agree on Hilton's, It is easily worth the $200 or so dollars.

Robert


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## queenannesrevenge (Aug 29, 2013)

Tuna were 3 - 4 ft, maybe a few bigger.

Definitely great table fare.... we are still working on the 25lbs or so of Red Snapper and 20 lbs of AJ in our freezer.


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## Reelfun27 (Oct 4, 2007)

Thanks for your post despite things can and will go wrong. Glad everything worked out. Nice catch!!!


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## Captain Woody Woods (Oct 2, 2007)

queenannesrevenge said:


> While we were fishing a school of bluefin went ripping by like bullets; but they never schooled.


Huh?


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## Tobiwan (Apr 27, 2012)

queenannesrevenge said:


> Tuna were 3 - 4 ft, maybe a few bigger.
> 
> Definitely great table fare.... we are still working on the 25lbs or so of Red Snapper and 20 lbs of AJ in our freezer.


Perhaps they were yellowfin?


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## queenannesrevenge (Aug 29, 2013)

Thank you


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## queenannesrevenge (Aug 29, 2013)

no, did not have the large curved yellow fins that are indicative of a yellowfin that size.


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## jjam (Dec 9, 2007)

Captain Woody Woods said:


> Huh?


Hacthlings, before they head to Nova Scotia.


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## fisheye48 (Sep 28, 2007)

jjam said:


> Hacthlings, before they head to Nova Scotia.



:thumbsup:


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