I arrived at the house on Alligator Point owned by the boat owners at 6:30 am. Capt. Jay was rigging up several leaders for the day. As he did that I started loading the boat, Cuda B, a 30 foot Pursuit with twin 454's parked on the canal behind the house. As I did that the other members of the crew, Gary, Randy and Randy's girlfriend Libby showed up.
After getting the remainder of the gear and ice loaded we departed the dock about 7:15 and dropped of the float plan at the Alligator Point Marina. Captain Jay insists on doing this on every trip and is just one of his many professional traits as a charter boat captain.
As we rounded the point and made our way towards Dog Island reef for a bait stop, Captain Jay turned on the Sitex radar, one of the many "toys" the Cuda B is outfitted with. Rain immediately showed up and within 5 minutes we were in the middle of a pretty good shower. But with the full enclosure on the boat, we stayed dry.
When we arrived at the bait hole we donned rain gear and used sabiki's to catch pinfish. With 24 hooks in the water it only took us 30 minutes to put about 6 dozen pinfish in the livewell. The rain had all but stopped and the skies to the south began to clear. As we passed dog island, I snapped a shot of a rainbow over the east pass.
Our first spot was in 60 feet to check out some numbers Jay had. We immediately found a 6 foot ledge with fish showing all over it. But the tide must have been wrong so in 30 minutes with live pinfish and squid we had zero bites. Captain Jay said let's go on out to 100 feet and try it since the bite is off. So Jay put the hammer down on the twin engine 30 footer and we began our 20 mile trip.
As we approached the area to the west of S tower, there was a very dark low cloud. No rain on the radar but something was up. Within a mile of the numbers the seas went from 1-2 foot swells to 3 and 4 foot whitecapping chop and the air temperature dropped about 10 degrees. We could see the cloud moving off to the northeast so we plowed on through it and arrived at the number. We all drop down and again the bite is off. Not even a nibble. Jay was beginning to scratch his head at this point, but we made one more move about a half mile away and this looked promising. Jay kept the boat positioned over the spot while we all dropped down. Immediately everyone is hooked up. The first drop produced a keep red snapper for Libby, 24" gag for me, and a keeper red grouper for Randy.
Gary's fish departed so we dropped down again. Again, all hooked up. For the next 45 minutes we put more red grouper, snapper and gags in the boat. Then Jay decided he'd had enough of just watching and decided to anchor and join in on the fun.
Since we were anchored I asked Jay if we could put out a flat line. He grabbed a baitrunner and tossed out a live pinfish on a steelon leader with a 5/O j hook. The current was now ripping and the bottom bite continued to be awesome. About 5 minutes passed and the flatline started to run. As I picked it up it began to scream and I engaged the reel. As I did I watched in amazement and disbelief as an 11 pound dolphin went airborne. Then the dolphin dance began. The fish made a run towards the front of the boat so I had to do a balancing act around the bridge and to the bow. From my high vantage point I could now see the bigger bull swimming right next to her. I called to the crew to get another line rigged. As she approached the anchor line I pulled back trying to turn her head. As I did, she went airborne and cleared the rope like an Olympic high jumper. Now on the other side of the boat the bull swam aimlessly back and forth for what seemed like an eternity as my shipmates tried to ready another rig. Captain Jay did not want to loose this fish so we decided that a dolphin in the hand was worth 2 in the box. Jay was fast and true with the steel and I had now caught my biggest dolphin ever. Jay informed me it was also the biggest ever caught on the boat!
After all the commotion and high fives all around, we went back to bottom fishing. I had 3 grouper and a dolphin in the box and decided to try for a snapper. I re-rigged with 40 pound fluorocarbon and a 1/0 red octopus hook. I took a frozen cigar minnow and hid the hook. Dropped it down and reeled up about 10 cranks. Tap tap tap, and bam, 17" red snapper. Two more drops produced one short and one keeper.
The bite began to fizzle at this spot so we moved back in to another spot about a mile away that Jay hadn't been to in quite a while. As we hovered over the spot, it was now Gary's turn to get into the action and he managed to put 4 keeper reds in the boat, the biggest going about 10 pounds. Once again the snapper were there and we managed 2 lanes at this spot.
It was now 3 pm and we had nearly a 2 hour run back to the house. With the tide falling we needed to be back by 5:30 to get back in. As we approached O tower, the starboard engine overheated and shut down. As we limped along at 8 knots waiting for the engine to cool, I tossed out a yozuri in the prop wash and trolled. About 2 minutes later I had a hit and the fish was about to spool me. Jay stopped the boat and I manged to land a big bonita to round out the day. By this time the motor had cooled but we could only run about 15 knots to keep it from overheating so we turned on the radio, kicked back in the captains chairs, and reminisced about the day.
We manged to pull into the dock about 6:30, only barely making it with the low tide. We unloaded the fish and snapper a few pictures.
Total tally for the day was:
14 grouper, 10 reds, 4 gags
6 snapper, 4 reds and 2 lanes
1 red porgy
1 out-sized grunt
1 trigger fish
1 11 pound dolphin
After cleaning fish and the boat and dividing up the 9 gallons of fillets, It was nearly 9 pm. A long, excellent day.
I want to personally thank Captain Jay for allowing me to fish with him. He is truly professional in his captain duties, but also loves to fish as much as anyone I've met. To see a captain get as or more excited about a catch than the crew is a wonderful experience. If anyone is looking for a charter on a beautiful boat with about 60 square feet of cockpit, more electronics than a space shuttle, a stand-up head, couch, refrigerator, and a Captain who enjoys his job, I can highly recommend Captain Jay Wadsworth and Fishfinder Charters.
