So, You want to know how my day was? well, it started like every other day. I was at the marina by 5AM getting the boat ready to catch bait. I navigated to my bait spot hoping to find them as I did days before. As I approached I saw the bait flickering all over the surface. I threw the cast net and caught some really nice big white bait but it was not enough to fill the pool. The second cast felt heavy, I thought this was going to be enough for an entire day of fishing. I started to bring it in and I felt a big tug. That big tug was not the motherland of all baits but instead it was dolphin who had gone through the net. That dolphin did some damage, leaving a 2 – 3 foot hole in the net. So there I am without another net and not enough bait for the day. What was I supposed to do? It was too late to go get another net so I kept throwing it as it was. Cast after cast I could see the shimmer of the fish in the net and as I would bring them up, I could see the bait swimming out. Luckily some fish stayed in the broken net. Eventually I had gotten enough bait for the day. I ran back to the Marina with a decent amount of bait to meet my 2 anglers, Andrew and Gordy. Knowing that I had some really nice white bait in the bait well, my target was to go and catch some snook.
The bite was good leading us to catch some nice sized snook. After catching 6 snook my anglers were ready to move on to the next species. I had a plan to go and fish for Mackerel. As I was getting ready for the move I was trying to raise my power-pole and it just was not coming up out of the water. I could here the hydraulics engage but the actual pole was not budging.
As I took a closer look I realized all the hydraulic fluid came out. As if the cast net fiasco wasn’t enough for one day, now I had to deal with a power pole holding me back.
I did the only thing I could. I said a prayer and jumped in the chilly water. I was chest deep trying to pull the power-pole up. After fighting with it for a few minutes it finally lifted and I had to tie it down to a cleat. It was time to warm up dry off and get back on track. We were finally on our way to catch some mackerel.
Now that we had arrived at the Mackerel spot without further incident I changed hooks and started to chum with white bait before even dropping a line. I saw a few fish come up and eat the bait immediately. I tell the guys, “I just texted the fish, they are hear”. They casted their baits and in the beginning they missed a few fish but Gordy caught on really quickly. As they were keeping score Gordy took the lead. They caught a few Mackerel, Lady Fish and Blue Fish. After having caught enough Lady Fish and Blue Fish we moved to go play with some sharks. Andrew and Gordy caught and released about 6 sharks in about an hour. We finished the day with a nice Black tip shark that jumped up and gave Gordy a good fight. We finished the day strong and on a good note. When we got to the marina the guys asked me where was a good place to go and eat. I told them to jump back on the boat and on our way we went to the Wharf. It was a great way to finish the day. Thank you to Andrew and Gordy for letting me be a part of their fishing journey.
