Leaving the dock at a family friendly 9 a.m. (ouch!) we headed inshore and went towards Rocky Creek. Drifting in 5 feet, I managed to pick up a 16 inch trout while Casey was in the bow casting for one too. I set Kaitlyn up to catch pinfish for our venture offshore. We were also dragging a float with a pinfish and Kaitlyn got to catch the first fish on that rod, a small shark.
Kait’s with her small shark
The next fish hit that pinfish/float combination hard and Casey got on the rod and brought in a Spanish Mac. We all then switched gears to catch more pinfish in preparation to play with some groupers. Leaving the shallows the MT Slam! species count was up to two (trout & pinfish for me; pinfish & Spanish mac for Casey, pinfish for Kait’s).
On the way offshore we saw a bait pod getting hammered by pelicans and gulls on the surface. Predators from below also added to the carnage. We got out the light trolling rods and played with some pretty large Spanish, the heaviest of which was caught by Casey at right around 5 pounds. In hindsight I should have taken some mac photos as they were LARGE Spanish. The Spanish macs hit both small drone spoons and small subsurface plugs with equal abandon. Striking fish in numbers and size like that are FUN for kids!
On the troll
We took turns on the rods and we all caught Spanish. Kaitlyn also caught a large blue runner, which would later pave the way for a bonus fish. At 1:30 p.m. and time running out we decided to run to a spot in 35 feet that in the past had been a reliable grouper hole. The species count was up to three at this point.
Not sure what this was about but I took it while we were running
Well, the reliable hole was inundated with black seabass, which was alright as this was one of the species for the MT Pockits Slam! Here we caught white grunts too, which also contributed to our species count. While Casey & Kailtyn were working on their grunt & seabass I got an already prepped kingfish rod out and got the blue runner suited for his débute. Ten minutes later the drag on the kingfish rod starts screaming. Since I had the most species at this point I took the rod as tactically speaking it made sense for me to take the rod. However, both Casey & Kait’s made it known that they thought it should be one of them on the rod. We worked it out and after a period of circles and short runs we gaffed the king. After a few shouts and WOWS!!, Casey snapped a couple of photos of our Team Caught Big fish of the day.
Still a bit green. It’s snappin’ & twisting was making Kaitlyn a bit nervous……
A more controlled shot of the Team caught Kingfish (photo by Casey)
With that we headed in to make the weigh-in at Sea Hag. At the scale the king went 18 lbs 15 ounces, luckily making it the heaviest offshore fish of the tournament. Casey’s Spanish mac went 4 lbs 15 ounces, which earned him 2nd Place in the Inshore Division, along with earning the Kid’s Kahuna Award. His 1 lb 2 ounce grunt also netted him the Offshore Wildcard category too. With 5 of the 7 species caught we were also fortunate enough to win the Garmin GPS too. We had an outstanding fun day on the water and we were lucky enough to catch a few fish to weigh at the tournament. Afterwards we enjoyed the Bash Fish Fry & Awards Ceremony, where we again were lucky enough to take a few awards and win some extremely nice raffles (a Shimano fishing reel, cast net (Kaitlyn’s first), numerous offshore lures & videos, T-shirts & hats, and a nice cooler).
Sea Tow was also generous in support of this tournament, offering an additional $250 to the winners of the Inshore and Offshore categories, should the winners be current Sea Tow members (which both were).
My kids displaying their Sea Tow endorsement
Thank you Captain Sammy Royal for your outstanding support!
At home, while cleaning gear and putting things away I counted the rods we used and we had 22 rod & reel combos along for the species hunt. Nothing like being loaded for bear…..
Hoo Yah!!
Brian
Great job and sure enjoyed your report! Just think what ya coulda walked off with if you would have had enough gear!! 
