Fish'in Mission
Kenny, Mel and their friend Richard picked my sleepy azz up Thursday morning at the dock at Cayo Costa because we had, by best count, 20 coming for dinner on both Friday and Saturday night. He eased across the bar at Captiva Pass and he mashed down on the loud lever, spooled the Zuke up and pointed the Sceptre WSW. The wind was blowing 10-12 out of the East which put us in 2-3 footers at the first stop 18 miles out. I asked ken where the jugs were to mark the spot and he said "We ain't got time for anchor'in OR buoys, just jump in when I tell you". I said "but which way do I swim?" and he said "I got a 3 degree transducer, jump in when I tell you and swim the oppisite way your bubbles are going!". My mask kept flooding all the way down, but I managed to clear it enough to tag a 12# Gag Grouper right off and then picked up a couple mangrove Snapppers in the 4# range. We ran down several more spots in the general area and then started working north. Most stops were prefaced with some deep jigging but the full moon that week, kept the fish feeding around the clock. A hook up on what was believed to be a big Cuda on the "Spring" offshore in 100' of water was all we managed to entice with fishing gear. Ken dropped on a good show but other than a couple of Scamps he had not contributed too much to the fish box. The wind laid down as it was supposed to in the afternoon and we both jumped in on a good show in 80' and left the "accomplished" Mel to run the boat. 5# Mangrove Snappers met me 20' off the bottom and it was "game on". Kenny tagged another 12# Gag and a couple more Scamps, a Lionfish and I gathered up a few more Mangrove Snappers. We both climbed back over the transom, gutted and iced the fish down. Richard put a bean bag up on the front deck and leaned back agaist the windshield, Kenny set two camping chairs up against the transom well and we plopped in 'em. He lit up a fine cigar. Mel stood watch at the wheel while the Autopilot made minor adjustments to the steering ram to bring us the 20 miles home to Captiva Pass. All in all, runn'in and gunn'in 104 miles on the odometer, a box full of fish for the Gathering, fair winds, calm seas, a smooth runnin' Zuke and setting sun over the Gulf of Mexico. I was daydreaming about how much rich people had to pay for something like this. I'm just glad I have wealthy friends.
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11-10-2014, 10:07 PM
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