Well ladies and gents, finally a fishing report. I'll try to keep it brief and to the point, but at the same time not leave anything out. Sit back, grab a cold one and enjoy the read!
It's been waay too long since Brad or I had been on the sand (I think last July) and we were sitting on go waiting for any little weather window that might open up long enough for us to get down there and get on some fish. We had been watching a very small window most of the week and it was holding so we loaded up the truck/trailer and headed south. Brad left Austin about 0230 and hit my house by 0400 and we were on highway 37 headed south by 0430. We knew driving was probably going to suck (typical high tide driving) but we were in no hurry as the real day that was showing promise was Friday so if we could do any fishing on Thursday, it would just be a bonus.
We hit the sand about 0930 and were greeted with beautiful conditions.
As we expected, the driving was **** but we were in no real hurry. The sun was shining and it felt sooo good to be back on the island. As we have seen in the past the surf seem to build the further south we went. By the time we reached our spot is was lunch time and Brad and I grabbed a quick bite.
As we ate, we talked about if it was really worth trying to get out in the rough, cold surf. After much deliberation, we decided it was too rough for our wintertime re-entry procedures which involved staying in the yak (our summertime re-entry SOP since last summer is to just jump out of the yaks and swim them in through the breakers; which ALWAYS works) and we would just take it easy and just enjoy being on the island the rest of the afternoon.
Alright, we decided it was time to head back to camp and get the yaks ready for tomorrow. While rigging up, we discussed how we both had a really good feeling about Friday as the weather seemed to be cooperating and falling in line with what they had forcasted.
Camp site was "set up" and we were eager to try out the latest "tweak" Brad has made on the trailer. Notice the lack of a tent or tent cot. This was the first trip of sleeping in the trailer and it worked AWESOME!! Kept us up off the sand and out of the wind and there was the ususal heavy dew through the night and it was nice and dry in the trailer!!
WOW, what a beautiful sunset! Truly a special place we have at our fingertips...
We were both up before sunrise and enjoyed an awesome sunrise while having our morning coffee. The surf was small and the breezes were light. As close to "ice cream" as I've ever seen on PINS.
In fact it was perfect conditions for everything except SAILING. Well, it looks like a lot of peddling...see for yourself.
The first spot was only a few miles offshore. When we arrived at our first spot, the sonar was showing nada. We jigged a little but nothing doing; not big deal, we have all day and lots of other numbers to try. It's only another mile or so to our next spot and lots of peddling later we get there and the exact same result...NADA. Hmmm, this isn't good. We hit three more spots with not as much as a nibble and not marking any fish. By now we are a little more than five miles offshore and I shoot a little video. It’s still a beautiful day but not having washed the skunk off yet is starting to eat at us.
We've been seeing a few boats on the horizon that haven't moved in some time and we have several numbers to try in that direction, so we make the decision to move again. By this time we finally have little wind that helps supplement all this peddling...we are about .60 miles from our next spot when I notice an anomaly on the bottom that is holding FISH!! I quickly drop a jig and BAM I'm on!
This one measured 29" and weighed just over 12lbs!!
Shortly after Brad hooks up and he's on a quality fish too.
His measured 30" and weighed 14lbs!!!
For the next two hours we proceed to catch mixed bag of reef fish with some real quality fish mixed in. Not to get greedy we only keep one mans limit of 4 snapper that filled the front hatch of the AI nicely!!
Here is a shot of the limit. We ended up with one 28", two 29" and one 30" snapper. Trying to find the right picture to do these fish justice is no easy chore...so here are a few. All in all we peddled about 85-90% of the time and gps said we covered just under 20 miles...love the calm water, but love the wind even more.
Thanks for reading!!
Jason
It's been waay too long since Brad or I had been on the sand (I think last July) and we were sitting on go waiting for any little weather window that might open up long enough for us to get down there and get on some fish. We had been watching a very small window most of the week and it was holding so we loaded up the truck/trailer and headed south. Brad left Austin about 0230 and hit my house by 0400 and we were on highway 37 headed south by 0430. We knew driving was probably going to suck (typical high tide driving) but we were in no hurry as the real day that was showing promise was Friday so if we could do any fishing on Thursday, it would just be a bonus.
We hit the sand about 0930 and were greeted with beautiful conditions.
As we expected, the driving was **** but we were in no real hurry. The sun was shining and it felt sooo good to be back on the island. As we have seen in the past the surf seem to build the further south we went. By the time we reached our spot is was lunch time and Brad and I grabbed a quick bite.
As we ate, we talked about if it was really worth trying to get out in the rough, cold surf. After much deliberation, we decided it was too rough for our wintertime re-entry procedures which involved staying in the yak (our summertime re-entry SOP since last summer is to just jump out of the yaks and swim them in through the breakers; which ALWAYS works) and we would just take it easy and just enjoy being on the island the rest of the afternoon.
Alright, we decided it was time to head back to camp and get the yaks ready for tomorrow. While rigging up, we discussed how we both had a really good feeling about Friday as the weather seemed to be cooperating and falling in line with what they had forcasted.
Camp site was "set up" and we were eager to try out the latest "tweak" Brad has made on the trailer. Notice the lack of a tent or tent cot. This was the first trip of sleeping in the trailer and it worked AWESOME!! Kept us up off the sand and out of the wind and there was the ususal heavy dew through the night and it was nice and dry in the trailer!!
WOW, what a beautiful sunset! Truly a special place we have at our fingertips...
We were both up before sunrise and enjoyed an awesome sunrise while having our morning coffee. The surf was small and the breezes were light. As close to "ice cream" as I've ever seen on PINS.
In fact it was perfect conditions for everything except SAILING. Well, it looks like a lot of peddling...see for yourself.
The first spot was only a few miles offshore. When we arrived at our first spot, the sonar was showing nada. We jigged a little but nothing doing; not big deal, we have all day and lots of other numbers to try. It's only another mile or so to our next spot and lots of peddling later we get there and the exact same result...NADA. Hmmm, this isn't good. We hit three more spots with not as much as a nibble and not marking any fish. By now we are a little more than five miles offshore and I shoot a little video. It’s still a beautiful day but not having washed the skunk off yet is starting to eat at us.
We've been seeing a few boats on the horizon that haven't moved in some time and we have several numbers to try in that direction, so we make the decision to move again. By this time we finally have little wind that helps supplement all this peddling...we are about .60 miles from our next spot when I notice an anomaly on the bottom that is holding FISH!! I quickly drop a jig and BAM I'm on!
This one measured 29" and weighed just over 12lbs!!
Shortly after Brad hooks up and he's on a quality fish too.
His measured 30" and weighed 14lbs!!!
For the next two hours we proceed to catch mixed bag of reef fish with some real quality fish mixed in. Not to get greedy we only keep one mans limit of 4 snapper that filled the front hatch of the AI nicely!!
Here is a shot of the limit. We ended up with one 28", two 29" and one 30" snapper. Trying to find the right picture to do these fish justice is no easy chore...so here are a few. All in all we peddled about 85-90% of the time and gps said we covered just under 20 miles...love the calm water, but love the wind even more.
Thanks for reading!!
Jason
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