Mike Smith & Sons - August 13, 2011© Photos Posted by Mark Miller © Hi-Res Source
This was a trip by Mike Smith of Ocean Springs, MS along with his sons, Forrest(21) and Austin(17). My son Paul(16) worked the Deck. With Snapper & Gag Grouper season closed, our best option for bringing home some fish was Amberjack & Mangrove Snapper and that meant going to deep water. Fortunately, the weather was cooperative for such a trip so we headed out. We tried a few spots on the way but were met with strong current and muddy water on top. Forrest caught a Silver Eel, aka CutlassFish or Ribbonfish (second one this year, see Floore's Trip) We caught a few sharks behind some shrimp boats, but the Kings were out smarting us on this trip. One big one spooled our spinning reel before we could turn loose of the shrimp boat. We finally got out to Louisana Rigs to Reef Site 34 after catching some hard tails and the bite was on. We went 3 for 3 initially with weights ranging from 23 to 34 pounds. We then headed over to nearby MP265 which looked like a boat parking lot. One boat (Bowed up Again) was taking pictures of what looked like a huge Scamp (photo 9923). We caught a few more hard tail and went over to MP277. We lost a big one there and then Paul and I made a beautiful dive there. We were hoping for some lobster, but there were none to be found this day. Somehow I had managed to forget my underwater housing so I did not get any photos or video underwater (Boo Hoo Frown). I took the speargun, but passed on a 40 pound Gag Grouper (out of season) and some large AJs (enough meat already). No large Mangroves were seen so I unloaded on an Ocean Triggerfish (Very Tasty). We then headed north and caught another AJ on the next Rig which we released. We caught some nice Red Snapper and released them as we headed north. We stopped at the G-Rig and hooked a nice 40-50 pound Cobia only to lose him at boatside due to the hook pulling off on the cheap Butterfly Jig (no tackle is really cheap). We made it back just after sunset. It was a long fun filled day encompassing 158 miles, 14.3 hours, and 91.5 gallons of fuel.
My Favorites for Printing...
Mike Sunrise 9718,
Austin Sunrise 9720,
Goup AJ 9892,
Toothy Critter 9782,
Toothy Critter 9788,
Forrest AJ 9850,
Forrest AJ 9948,
Austin Bowed Up,
Austin AJ 9877,
Paul AJ 9898,
Paul Snapper 9970
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