July fishing Carrabelle/captain tom/Top Notch Offshore

[captain tom]

Well the last few trips have been great. Good families to fish with and some great fishing. One trip was with a family from around the Atlanta area. There was the dad, two grown kids and the uncle. David, Tonya, Mark and John. It was John's birthday and a couple of them wanted to catch a lot of fish and the others wanted to catch a big fish. I figured that a lot of big fish would make them all happy so we headed to some AJ action first. It didn't take long for that to happen and after a limit of big ones and many others we decided to find a few grouper. John was getting all the big action he could stand with the AJ's but wanted a couple of grouper to top it off. I was on my way to a grouper hole and saw some fish marking so I turned around and discovered a nice spot with several nice gags and reds. We finished the day with a nice box of fish and happy people. What more can you ask for? Turns out Tonya and I both graduated from Georgia Southern College but during different decades.
The next trip was with a good client and friend Brent Kerger from Tallahassee. Brent brought along some uncles and cousins-cant remember who was what but there was Ben, Robert, Brent, Banks and Larry. The boys wanted to catch a big AJ so I knew where to find them. The seas were not too bad at the time so we headed out about 20 miles. After anchoring on the spot I was showing the guys how to let the lines down and what to do. As soon as the line hit the bottom all hell broke loose. A huge fish, probably an AJ, took off and about ripped Banks' arm off. The fish would not let up and took him in the wreck. One broken line. The next bait, Ben's, was hit before getting to the bottom with the same outcome. Two broken lines. The third finally was landed and it was a big one of about 23 lbs. This action continued till a storm moving toward us from the west caused us to head inshore some. We saw the storm was moving to the southeast so we decided to fish a little closer in for grouper and kings. We were not disappointed. I had the flat line out and a big king nailed it and took off. Brent was fighting this fish on 15 lb test line and the fish ran towards the anchor line-as usual-and proceeded to wrap it around and around. I pulled the anchor in far enough to try and figure it out but it was really wrapped. One of the guys saw the green line and it was going toward the stern so he grabbed hold of it while I cut the line from the rod. I quickly tied a double uni knot and got the fish back on the rod. The knot held and we finally got the fish to the boat and saw it was hooked in the side at this point. We finally landed the king of about 26 lbs. We were all beat at this point as it took 5 of us to land this fish. What a team effort!
One other trip was with two ladies who I have taken several times. They are from Macon, Ga. Brenda and Martha. They just like to be out there so it gives me a chance to fish with them and have some fun. We caught AJ's and grouper but the highlight or lowlight from my perspective was that one of the ladies hooked a big fish. I had to take the rod from her and knew this was a monster of some kind. I figured it was a shark so I wanted them to be able to see it. Well after 1.5 hrs of fighting this fish from an anchored boat I was nearing exhaustion. I showed them how to call for help if I had a stroke. I brought the giant to the boat and it was a 12 ft or larger bull shark with a mouth bigger around than me. This fish was over 1000 lbs easy and was something to behold. They were amazed and frightened just to look at it. I told them to cut the dang line as I had all I could take. What a fish!!!! I told them to not go in swimming at Alligator Point either. They hated that but called me 2 days later to say they had caught 3 sharks that afternoon on the beach. The next day with another group of guys we caught about seven sharks. I have had enough shark action forever. The End!!

[dewyafish]

Great report cap'n Tom.
A double uni knot under pressure is an impressive feat! I'm jealous!