9/28 - Woke up at 6:30am to no breeze and flat seas. *A couple stops and we were on the water. *Had a small discussion with crew at the mouth of the inlet. *Three people on board and we all 3 had a separate plan *::) *
Well, the captain said its flat so we should fill the well with frisky pinfish and head to our king hole. *We can bottom fish while waiting for a king.
We nestle up to the jetties and the wind was wrong. *Bummer. *Then we decide we can catch the pins just as easy at 3 mile reef and maybe a flattie since we had a few minnows. *Off to 3 mile and loaded up on pinfish which we put in the livewell.
Next its off to our spot which is about 15 miles off. *We arrive to find a few other boats fishing but nobody catching from what we could tell. *Had some good fresh shrimp which we used to catch some smallish black sea bass and lizard fish. *The lizards were a welcome sight because we cut them into bait in chunks which allowed the bigger black sea bass a better chance of getting it before the little ones. We ended up with 15 keeper bass not much over the size limit.
Then the interesting part of the day came. *We started seeing fish busting the surface in a frenzy here and there. *We had out 2 pinfish under balloons as we drifted. * Thats when the TLD20 let out an aweful scream. * After about a 10 minute fight, my mate Cory brought this 26 lb king to the side of the boat where I eased the gaff into her side.
Not 2 minutes after the photo, just after I let a fresh pinfish out, the same rod screamed again....this time, what appeared to be a bigger fish that was relentlessly taking line in short powerful bursts. *Less than a minute into it, the line went limp. * After inspecting I notice the hook pulled straight off the steel leader. *Bummer, I had the drag too tight!
9/29 - *Wind 30mph. *No chance of getting outside. *Stayed inside and started off anchoring in a very promising looking hole full of nice bait. * Nothing. * Moved to jetties. *Nothing but oyster toads and nothing. *Trolled small spoons. *Nothing. *Drifted the creeks. *Nothing. *Ended the day with out limit of nice nothing fish.