FINALLY put the boat in salt for the first time this year on Sunday (repowering boat, ramp closures, & trying to manage business during covid craziness to blame).
Sent out an invite to Ontiltttttt to help celebrate his graduation from FSU med school... no small accomplishment!
Bit choppy in the morning but we managed to run to a few spots I hoped would hold cobia, and Ontiltttttt and I tagged and released 4 that were just an inch or two short.
Picture below shows why I only gaff them if they're massive and OBVIOUSLY bigger than the required limit... so many we catch are right at the required limit so I've learned to judge them short until actually putting tape on them.
Cobia bite went DEAD by midday, so Ontiltttttt asked if he could try for tripletail, as neither of us had ever caught one. He managed to get one at the first spot we tried, though he had to make about 50 casts to it before it cooperated. And here's where the post title comes in... take the dude out just 2 or 3 days after meeting him and he lands the boat RECORD cobia to date at that time. Number of trips later (all with cobes) he says he wants to catch a kingfish in waters where I'd never caught a king, and yep we get one that day. Says he wants a tripletail despite neither of us having caught one before, and yep, again... targeted fish caught within minutes of voicing the request. Can anyone blame me for saying that I hope I can find a friend like me some day?!
With the tripletail marked off the list, Ontiltttttt puts in an order for a mess of seatrout with just an hour or so before we run out of water to get back in safely. Kind of funny reading about folks having issues with puffers and short trout... we didn't catch the first puffer and most of our trout were keepers. Blessedly managed to limit out fairly quickly, with... no surprise, Ontiltttttt having the hotter hand in catching the seatrout (in fairness to me, I caught a few keepers using a shredded OLD sureketch shrimp that was entirely missing the tail and split into pieces on the hook, and even manged to hook the biggest fish of the day though it shook off feet from the boat (no surprise there with Ontiltttttt's better luck throughout the day)
Here's Ontiltttttt with one of his nice trout.
Most intense moment of the day was having a line scream like a king had taken it, only to scan all around for the line and see it going up to THIS frigate bird. Blessedly it dropped the bait but then flew around us for about 5 minutes, quite aggressively and obviously wanting another bait. Kind of freaky looking -- like a mix between a GIANT seagull, bald eagle, and wide-winged pterodactyl.
Waters were mirror smooth at day's end and reminded me just why I love fishing the coast so much... like a balm that soothes my soul.
"The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank GOD for the United States Marine Corps." Eleanor Roosevelt, 1945
