| Name of Captain; |
Capt. Joe Stand |
| Where were you fishing? |
OFFSHORE |
| Is this a tournament entry Fishing Report; |
No |
| The date you went fishing; |
05-10-2023 |
| Your Name; |
Terry Reelitz |
| Your Fishing Report: If this is a tournament report do not state the fish’s length in this box. State the length and species in the box below |
Capt. Joe Stand invited Bob and Shelli Sauban and Terry Reelitz for a chance to chase some Red Groupe, plus a hint of a surprise before heading home that day.
Despite not knowing what the ‘surprise’ was we headed out to +100’ of water in anticipation of tangling with a limit of monsta R.G’s and mini-snappers for some tasty fish tacos. On the water at 6:30 AM, we found the seas slightly choppier than NOAA had predicted – but that seems to be a regular occurrence these days.
We hit +100’ by 9:30 and started to launch squid, threadfin, and ladyfish filled with confidence we were gonna get to our surprise before noon. It did not take long as we had our first five keepers well above the 20” threshold before 10:30 – this was gonna be a breeze. The early success bite was ladyfish heads adorned with a little strip of squid for some added bling.
Well, as can happen on occasion the bite slowed down. We kept trying different drift spots and lightened up on the weights as it seemed like the current slowed down some and tried all kinds of different combos.
We started to worry that our surprise was wanning as it got to about 1:30 – but, we picked up two more measuring 20 and a scooch to get to 7 fish – still one short of limit. About 2:00, number eight hit a ladyfish head, this bruiser came in at 29 and a scooch. Now, we could enjoy our ‘surprise’.
After a 15-mile run Captain Joe stopped in 110’ of clear blue water that showed some big suspended marks at about 50’. We threw out pieces of squid and ladyfish tails and Captain instructed us to tie on a couple 6”-8” Yo-Zuri Mag Poppers. We set up 2 spinning combos featuring 4500-6500 Penn reels loaded with 65 lb. braid mounted on Star Rods, model EXJS66H, and started chucking.
We created quite a surface ruckus with these magnum poppers. Well, all of sudden we were ‘surprised and amazed’ to see we were
surrounded by ‘hundreds’ of 30-to-60-inch A.J.’s.
In the next hour, we hooked up about 10 A.J.’s … we had 5 or 6 that hooked up and took us on a ride to hell, but came unbuttoned or broke off.
We did manage to boat five A.J.’s – Shelli Sauban boated 2, biggest 45-1/2”, Bob Sauban a 40”er and Terry Reelitz bagged 2, the biggest at 39”. During all that mayhem, Bob had the wherewithal to land a 23” Mangrove Snapper, a great final finish to our ‘surprise’.
To note, ‘ALL’ of the A.J.’s were returned to the water and able to swim off to create havoc on another day for a lucky angler!
Interestingly enough, all these A.J.’s were wrestled with or boated with 2 spinning outfits that featured Penn spinning reels with a minimum of 30 lbs of drag and mounted on a Star Aerial Jigging rod model Heavy EXJS66H.
These combos came to the party and held up for an awesome fishing experience. The beauty of the gear we were using was that we were able to get these wonderful creatures to the boat quickly, before they were completely worn out.
When returned to the water they were able to avoid the sharks that were very visible and lurking about.
We did NOT lose an A.J., this was conservation at its best!
Well, it just so happens that Wish-To-Fish is raffling off a spinning combo that will handle these fish. So, catch a BIG fish and help a Kid get hooked on fishin’
BooYah!
Capt. Joe, what a wonderful ‘surprise’ thank-you – A good time was had by all!!!! |
| If this report includes a tournament entry please state the species and length of the fish caught in this box. |
Shelli Sauban 45-1/2″ A.J.
Bob Sauban 40″ A.J.
Terry Reelitz 39″ A.J. |
| Type a question |
Yes |
