I don’t recall for sure what age I was when I started liking the sport of fishing. Maybe it started when I was about six years old and my dad would take my brother, Don, and I out for the Walleye opener in northern Minnesota. Dad was one of those who believed you had to be on the lake well before midnight so you could drop a line the second the season opened.
For many years, I enjoyed fishing the Sauk River Chain of Lakes, both in the summer and winter. I would try other lakes in the area, but I seemed to always end up back on the “Chain” to try my luck. I got to know the SRCL fairly well, and knew spots I could fish with success.
During my many years of fishing, I always dreamed that one day I could try deep-sea fishing, but I never got the opportunity. Then one day about a month ago my next door neighbor came to our house and asked me if I’d like to go with him and four others for a day on the Atlantic Ocean. Once I got the nod from my bride, I answered a resounding “YES”.
That day came last week. We headed to Cape Canaveral at 4:00 a.m. with a fishing trip start time of 7:00 a.m. The package we bought was for six people on a 35-foot fishing boat with our guide/captain. One of the first questions our group was asked was what we were after. Not knowing anything about ocean fish species I yielded to my fellow fishermen, who answered “Amberjack”.
We loaded the boat with our coolers and jackets and headed out. Our captain told us our first stop would be about a half-hour away, where we would fish for our bait in about 90 feet of water.
Along the way, our guide started tying bait lines, which was very interesting already when I watched his speed at tying hooks onto lines. Once we stopped, three lines were set up, and squid pieces were put on hooks and lowered to the bottom. Seconds later, smaller fish from six to twelve inches were being pulled in left and right. The goal we were told was 30. That goal was reached in about five minutes, and off we went for another hour-and-a-half boat ride to where the Amberjack were known to be. Two rigs were set up and lowered to the bottom (which was about 225 feet), and the waiting started. It wasn’t but a few minutes until one of the two lines got a hit. A very good-sized Red Snapper was pulled into our boat, but the captain told us we were out of season. Pictures were taken, and the fish was returned to the water.
After a few more minutes our captain said, “OK guys, reel them up, we’ll head to another spot.”
Once we reached our new spot, it was my turn to man the reel. Once my rig reached the bottom, the wait started. After a couple of minutes, I felt the telltale tugging on the line that told me a fish was interested in the meal I was presenting. At the beginning, we were told to wait until our rod tip bent to the water before we started reeling. The captain told us to remember to “crank, not yank,” which was contrary to the way I learned how to fish by “setting the hook, and reeling.” Finally, after what seemed like many minutes, it was time to start reeling – now let me tell you – that fish isn’t interested in coming up from 225 feet, so it fights and fights. Also, 225 feet takes almost 200 cranks on the reel to come up to the surface, and at nearly 70 years old, this is no small task. I cranked and cranked. The fish fought and fought. I figured I was about 30 feet short of my goal when I felt a very, very, very hard pull on my line, then nothing. My fish was gone. The captain told me it was a shark that came along and ate my fish – and broke the line. I didn’t hook another fish in my next two attempts, but did a lot of reeling in when it was time to “bring ‘em up.”
The waters in the Atlantic were murky from recent storms – I’m talking about swells that were six feet and more. This meant the boat we were on was never sitting still, and it made it difficult to fish. Our captain told us the murky waters wasn’t helping our odds either.
During the next rotation of fishermen, one of our friends landed a pretty good-sized fish that the captain was very excited about. He called it a Cubera Snapper, and he told us it was very rare to catch one where we were. These fish are more prevalent in the very southern Florida waters, near the Keys. We found out that this catch was the company’s first ever, and our captain told us he was going to get the weight (34 lbs.) and measurements so he could do a mount for the company.
There were a few more fish caught, six all total, and while it wasn’t a large haul, it was fairly good, judging by the radio traffic from other boats – some boats had no catches.
I learned a couple things on this fishing trip – first, when the captain asked what kind of fish you want to catch, tell him “whatever is close” – over four of our nine hours was spent getting to and from our fishing spot. Second, fish on the gulf side of Florida where the waters are much calmer.
In total, we brought home about 40 pounds of packaged fish, which means the cost for the fish was about $40 per pound, but the experience was worth a lot.
Have A Good Week!
