Back Hurts after Catching So Many Fish

[John21:6]

Last week, I went offshore fishing from Carrabelle on Thursday and again on Saturday.

On Thursday, the trolling motor died when we started fishing for bait. That stunk! Fortunately, the winds and current were weak. Those conditions allowed us to stay over the bait schools and catch plenty of bait with Sabiki rigs. Staying over our grouper and snapper spots, however, was difficult. We drifted through our spots over and over with baits in the strike zone only for short periods of time. Nonetheless, we caught a few keepers.

Here's Thursday's catch:


Friday morning, I called the trolling motor repair shop in Tallahassee to see if I could get parts or service. They said, "If you bring your trolling motor in right away, we might be able to fix it before 5 pm." Wow! Within 2 hours, the shop replaced the steering box and control board. Then people wanted to fish with me again on Saturday.

On Saturday, we launched the boat and headed to our bait spots. On arrival at the first spot, we deployed the trolling motor. It came alive turning this way and that way as it held us in place. It worked like it was new. With a livewell full of mostly cigar minnows, we headed to our deeper spots.


We stopped a few miles before reaching our planned destination when a “snapper tree” appeared on sonar. I figured the "snapper tree" was really just a bait school, but a fishing buddy said, "Let's give it a try." It wasn't long before a big fish was on one of our lines. It seemed to pull and pull like a shark. As the fish neared the surface, we could see it wasn't a shark. It was a BIG red snapper--33 inches long and 17 lbs. in weight. Great start to the morning.

After pulling another fish or two from the spot, sharks really did show up. It was time to move.


We had moved only about a mile when we found another snapper tree. Again, we stopped and caught a snapper or two. We moved to our deep spots when the bite slowed. At our deepest spots, we caught mostly small red grouper, but we managed to find a few keepers and a few red snapper.

We fished our way back to the boat ramp and continued to catch fish including a mahi-mahi that measured 32" to the fork of its tail.

At the boat storage facility, we must remove our fish bag coolers before we can clean the boat. This time the main bag was so heavy with fish that I pulled a muscle trying to lift it.

Here's Saturday's catch:


I hope to do some underwater photography during the next trip.

[satsuma]

Two great trips! Thanks for sharing.

[Hit-n-Miss]

Awesome!!!

[FTReelty]

Yep, awesome trip...keep fishing!

[Vitz]

I love the underwater shots and am interested in doing that myself. Would you mind describing the set up you use with your Go Pro? Are you able to view the video on the boat after reeling it in or do you have to wait until you're back home at a computer? I've never owned a Go Pro.

[John21:6]

I love the underwater shots and am interested in doing that myself. Would you mind describing the set up you use with your Go Pro? Are you able to view the video on the boat after reeling it in or do you have to wait until you're back home at a computer? I've never owned a Go Pro.

One of the keys to obtaining great underwater videos and pictures with an action camera like a GoPro is to keep the camera steady. Cameras that are swinging wildly do not focus very well on moving targets like fish. To keep my camera steady, I made an underwater camera stand out of 1/2" schedule 40 PVC pipe and camera mounts that are designed to mount an action camera to bicycle and motorbike handle bars. You can find mounts on Amazon. I am constantly experimenting with my camera stand designs.

The key to my camera stands have been a base which is made from a 5-way PVC joint to which I bolt 16-24 ounces of bank weights depending on the weight of my camera housings and underwater lights. The top of my stand will have a float of some sort. My earliest camera stand used a float that was an 8" section of pool noodle. The purpose of the float is to help the camera stand fall base first and to help keep the camera upright when its at the bottom of the Gulf. I raise and lower the camera to the bottom with a dedicated rod that is spooled with 80-lb braid.--I expect to lose the camera at some point.

I usually set my GoPro to record videos at 5.3K and 30 frames per second. Recording videos in the highest resolution allows me to take the highest resolution still shots from the videos. If I end up with a video with a lot of nothing and just a few fish, the video might not be very interesting, but the video still might produce a couple stunning close-ups of curious fish.

Because saltwater absorbs light (red light, for example, is completely absorbed at 50 ft. below the surface), I always use a low intensity dive light with my cameras. I want to bring out as much natural color as I can. I use a low intensity light because the brighter the light, the more backscatter (floating bits of plankton and dust) will appear in the images.

Action cameras can connect to your cellphone through bluetooth, but bluetooth radio waves do not transmit through saltwater, as such I do not have a live video feed. To have a live video feed, you would need a data cable between your camera and your viewing screen. Data cables, if available, would be thicker than 80-lb. braid and pick up a lot of drag from the current which would then require you to add even more weight to your camera. Because I'm on the boat to fish, I download my videos at home. I would not have time to fish if downloaded and reviewed my videos on the boat.