# Only thing missing was snow (Rig Trip)



## syrupdawg (Dec 4, 2013)

We left out of Mexico Beach Tuesday morning headed for the rigs with the intent to put some yellowfin in the coffin box of my friends new 36' Yellowfin. It was the first fishing trip on his new boat so after loading up enough stuff that we thought we were going to need a 50' sportfisher to hold we set off. It was sunny and warm. I would say around 70*. I put my shorts on (I run hot anyways) everybody else still had light jackets and shorts on. Headed southwest we were making really good time. I had screen shot the coordinates of the new Helix rig off of Hiltons and after getting a little ways out we put it in. Well the Garmin didn't accept the format that the screenshot I had. Looking it on the chart I thought it seemed pretty close so we kept following the line thinking that we would have no problem seeing it if we got atleast close. About 100 miles into the ride the wind picked up and it started to rain a little. It got pretty rough for a little while but that yellowfin did great in it.

We wound up going south of the Helix. After realizing where we were we headed to Horn to try and catch some bait. I caught one hardtail on a sabaki that was a little on the large side and had another on the like until something bigger ate it. So we only had one hardtail in the livewell getting ready for the night bite. There wasn't much going on at Horn so we headed for Ram Powell. Once we got there the blackfin bite was instant and steady. We had about a 5' long Mako making passes beside the boat and we were trying to catch it. After seeing him I started making a cable shark rig to put some meat on. While I was making it he took our freeline and cut the fluorocarbon leader, we never saw him again.

Caught as many blackfin as we wanted and pointed the boat back toward Mexico Beach and a troll speed basically while everybody got some rest. Once it got daylight we cruised on back in cloudy and cold weather. About 40 miles out of MB it got so foggy we were relying on radar to run. In some patches could only see 50' around us. 

Over all a good trip. Hindsight should have already had the coordinates loaded into the Chartplotter and headed out a little earlier. The boat did really good. I think we only burned about 330 gallons of fuel on our tour of the Gulf. The only weather we missed was snow on this trip. Ive got some videos but they are taking forever to load on my slow internet.


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## Mikvi (Mar 11, 2008)

Kudos for going out there. I wanted to, but was waiting for a new chart plotter to arrive. Now that's installed, just waiting for a weather window. Good job on the Blackfin. They'll save a trip when nothing else is biting. Don't forget to pick up your AJs on the way out before they close the season again


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## Realtor (Oct 1, 2007)

great SCOTT 330 Gallons, how many did you have with you? Thanks for the report, I have had the itch for a while now.....


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## syrupdawg (Dec 4, 2013)

Realtor said:


> great SCOTT 330 Gallons, how many did you have with you? Thanks for the report, I have had the itch for a while now.....


5 people. I didn't think 330 gallons was too bad considering Horn Mtn is 175 miles out of Mexico beach


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## Realtor (Oct 1, 2007)

syrupdawg said:


> 5 people. I didn't think 330 gallons was too bad considering Horn Mtn is 175 miles out of Mexico beach


 how many gallons of fuel?


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## syrupdawg (Dec 4, 2013)

Realtor said:


> how many gallons of fuel?


Oh sorry I misunderstood. I think it carries 510 gallons


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## panhandleslim (Jan 11, 2013)

Great report. Nice load of tuna. This time of year, it pays to be ready for Makos before you leave the dock. 

What was your total, of nautical miles? I'm just thinking.....from Mexico Beach, seems that you could have saved a ton of fuel,money and time by trailering over to Orange Beach and launching. That is, if you have a trailer. It's 189 miles via Freeport and I-10. About 3 hour 30 minutes. Then you have a 55-60 mile run.


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## syrupdawg (Dec 4, 2013)

panhandleslim said:


> Great report. Nice load of tuna. This time of year, it pays to be ready for Makos before you leave the dock.
> 
> What was your total, of nautical miles? I'm just thinking.....from Mexico Beach, seems that you could have saved a ton of fuel,money and time by trailering over to Orange Beach and launching. That is, if you have a trailer. It's 189 miles via Freeport and I-10. About 3 hour 30 minutes. Then you have a 55-60 mile run.


Not sure on total miles. The owner of the boat should see this thread maybe he knows. We usually tow to Pensacola and go but had the fuel to run out of MB so we did. It would make more sense during the summer when there would be weedlines to troll.


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## bconnally (Jan 12, 2009)

129 nautical to Petronius I don't understands highway miles on the water either


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## Reelbait (Mar 3, 2013)

Great report.
Highway miles are always between the lines. Thak god there's no lines out there.


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