I apologize for taking so long to reply. Luke and the girls headed home yesterday evening. I finally got my computer back this morning.
First, I can't thank Barhopr and his dad enough for the invite. It was a fantastic day with exceptionally good company.
After accepting the invite on Thursday, I called Luke and told him we were going offshore Friday. All he could say at the time was "Lets Go". He drove from South Carolina after he got off work Thursday. He was as excited about a fishing trip as I have ever seen him. He and I got up Friday morning and headed to Indian Pass. As we rode, he had several questions about the day ahead. He wanted to know if I had ever been offshore with these people. I told him I had not. He wanted to know what kind of boat. I told him I didn't know. He had a thousand more questions I didn't have answers for. I finally told him not to worry. I knew enough about Barhopr to know it would be a good day. As soon as Barhopr and his dad, Ray, pulled up, a very large smile appeared on Luke's face. He had no more questions.
As soon as we cleared Indian Pass, and Barhopr throttled up, Luke assumed a position by the forward T-Top post, his face in the wind, and never looked back. Ray got his little yellow book out and picked a number. The first stop was in 95' of water. Ray and Barhopr had obviously been there before. As soon as the lines went down the bite was on. Throughout the day, if the bite slowed, Ray would crack open his little yellow book. After a quick run to a new spot, we would be back in the fish, again. We were in 145' of water and Luke looked out the side of the boat and said "There's a school of something down there". Ray told him it was dolphin. Luke dropped a piece of cut bait about 5' below the surface, and the fun was on. Luke boated the first dolphin, probably a 25" fish, and threw it back. Ray commented to him he had just thrown back the best tasting fish in the gulf. Luke had assumed there was a minimum size, and that one wasn't big enough. Ray told him it was a keeper. Luke grinned from ear to ear and dropped another bait. For 45 minutes we caught dolphin. The boat looked like someone had been murdered in it. The entire inside of the boat was a bloody mess, and so were we.
After a very productive day, Ray headed the boat back toward Indian pass. We loaded the boat and headed to Beacon Hill. At the Brock house, we pulled fish out of the fish box for a while. There was a bunch of fish to clean, and a nasty boat. Barhopr took one look at the large box of fish and said "I'll clean the boat". After a lengthy fish cleaning session, and final cleanup of the boat, Luke and I headed home.
Luke started fishing when he was 5 years old. He's been fishing his whole life. I have never seen him as happy about a fishing trip as he was Friday evening. Barhopr and Ray, I can't thank you enough for the awesome day on the water. This is one Luke and I will re live many times.
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I'll bet it didn't take long to figger out what that smell was.
