Fish Story for November 6, 2016

Shawno

Well Known Member
I took Dave Roberts and his son out fishing on Sunday. It was supposed to be only a half day, but we were just having too much fun. The conditions were perfect: a slight breeze to keep the boat moving and help us from getting too hot, a quarter moon with mild tide swings, and most importantly flat seas. We caught bait with sabiki rigs in about 50' of water and headed towards my favorite rock. We dropped our lines and Dave's rod was immediately doubled over. We knew it was a big fish and Dave struggled to get it off the bottom. We figured it had to be a big black sea bass and we were right. The beauty weighed 140 pounds. We redrifted the reef again and this time my bait was hit hard and I was helpless to stop the fish from stripping line. Soon I realized the fish was rocked up in a cave and was not budging. Then Dave's line started peeling off the reel before he too was rocked up right next to mine. We knew there were 2 giant gulf grouper holed up together in the same cave below us. We repositioned the boat up current from the cave and continued working to dislodge our fish. Pretty soon Dave felt his fish moving and was able to gain a few cranks of line before the fish took it back. Back and forth a few more times and then his heavy leader broke under the strain and abrasion. I refocused on my fish and it too started moving. I managed to gain a few feet and held the spool using both thumbs and all my might to keep it from regaining a foothold. It worked! I slowly cranked the huge grouper to the boat. It weighed about 90 pounds.
After that the fishing slowed and we moved about a mile away to try another reef. The sonar showed a cloud of fish above the reef and we started catching yellowtail jacks and goldspot bass and on small iron jigs. The yellowtail fight hard and all 3 of us we were having a blast. We caught 25 yellowtail, 13 goldspots and a few Bonito, Black Skipjacks, and Leopard grouper.
We then wanted to give the first reef one more try before heading in. Dave hooked up first and brought in a huge back sea bass, even bigger than the first one and we released it. At the same time I hooked up with a big grouper and could feel my line scraping against the rocks as he tried to get into his cave. I pulled with all my might to stop him and the line broke. I re-rigged and was soon hooked up again. This time I reeled in a large Leopard grouper, but when I got him to the boat, he was all chewed up and full of teeth marks. There had to be another big gulf grouper down there looking for an easy meal. I dropped a live bonefish and was immediately tied into another huge fish. I managed to keep him from the rocks this time. It weighed about 100 pounds. It was a really special day. We had heard the yellowtail bite was starting to heat up further south and we both wanted to catch some. It was a surprise to find them where we did.
Another great day on the amazing Sea of Cortez!
Shawno
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da_q-ban_one

Active Member
Ok, I retract my previous statement.. THIS is another level of fishing!! Nice man, it looks to me like you know what you're doing!! Any chance you are going tomorrow Wed.. my buddy and I are launching his panga, and would love to buddy boat with you and get some pointers (if you're up for it, of course).
Tight lines my friend, really awesome fish, thanks for sharing !!

Qban-
 
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