DATE: 24 Jul 2007, 8:59 am / MOOD: Happy

i have this obsession with lever drags. theyre practically useless on the Skyway but the technology fascinates me. but for trolling... a whole other story.

during my last trip to the Bass Pro Shop in Orlando i checked out a couple of Penn's newest reels... the VSX and the Torque.  These reels are practically replacing the old international series... which is why just about every store has them on sale for super low prices now.  It's also the reason for the price drop on the Penn 113 Baja Special from $249 to $149. 

So here's what fascinates me with the NEWEST Penn Torque... the 300LD... a lever drag!  Penn developed a newer style drag for the star drag Torques.  With the new lever drag Torques, they went back to the old H-100 style drag discs.  WHY!??!

the answer is my number 1 reason for disliking lever drags... lateral load on the handle and bearings.  the new Penn Torque 300LD is able to relieve that load on the handle with the use of a drag stack.  i dont believe it!  i'll have to hunt down one of these new reels and see for myself. 

 for those not familiar with lever drags and lateral loads... when you tune a lever drag, you increase/decrease the entire ramp of the lever.  you can turn it way down so you get 4# of drag at strike and 6# at max for kingfishing or turn it way up to sayyyyyyy 26# at strike and 32# at max.  at the upper limits of the ramp, the drag pressure disc is pushing on the drag disc so much that it starts to push up against handle and spool bearings. you start to lose freespool and the handle requires more pressure to turn.  its pretty annoying.

you know when you have a fish on the line and the handle isnt so easy to crank... same idea.

one other side note... the TORQUE reels are high speed reels and the VSX series are lower speed (2speed) reels.  why didnt they switch the names around?

 

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DATE: 08 Jul 2007, 8:58 pm / MOOD: Other

My first boat shopping experience...

i finally decided to take the plunge, so i went around new port richey to tarpon springs and oldsmar looking at boats on Saturday.

i went to over 5 or 6 dealers and spoke to at least that many salesman.  only 2 were really honest and helpful, i hope to buy from one of them.  I highly highly highly recommend staying away from SUNRAY in Holiday... unless you like dealing with cocky, cigar smoking old guys. 

i went thinking all i needed was a 17' flats boat. WRONG! a 17' really isnt that big and wasnt something i could reliably take even a little offshore.  my family used to have 2 boats but that was over 10yrs ago.  i need a boat my family can enjoy as well... 19-20' center console bay boats were the ticket. 

i know 2 people with flats boats and another with a middlegrounds worthy boat... a boat to fill the void inbetween would be ideal.

my top choices were a 2004 20' Sea Pro CC, a 2004 19' Sea Boss CC, and a 2006 20' Pro Line CC.  the Sea Boss was roomier and nicer than the Sea Pro.  i would love the pro-line, but at $5k more than the other 2, the price didnt seem to justify the differences. 

so Sea Boss it is! i'm still looking around of course but i havent found a better deal.  im putting the deposit down on the boat tomorrow to hold it and we'll take the boat out on a sea trial later in the week.  after that i can still back out and get the deposit back if i don't like it. 

if i don't hear back from tony soon with a boat he's found for me than Sea Boss it is! 

i learned alot about boats this weekend and what to look for in my first boat.  it took alot of asking questions and talking to alot of different people but it looks like im on the right track so far.  

stay tuned!

(pic of a Sea Boss included, but 2 captains chairs instead of the bench)

 ***EDIT 7/15/07***

financing went through last week. just need to get boat insurance and take a quick online boaters safety course for insurance discount. 

i'm test driving the boat on tuesday out of anclote.  unless the boat blows up or sinks or something, i just sign the line afterwards and thats it!

fish on! 

i hope some of you guys have some free time on the weekends to explore the tampa bay waters!  ive never even been around the bay actually.   

 

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DATE: 02 Jul 2007, 9:32 am / MOOD: Full of life

went out of anclote again at 6am on saturday morning in search of tarpon.

we wanted to get on some redfish first so we caught a few rats and went looking for the silver kings.

well they werent lying when they said tarpon were EVERYWHERE.  we couldn't start a drift without having tarpon crash within 20yds from us.  the best live bait we could get was some good sized ballyhoo and we couldnt keep them in the water long enough without a monster bluefish eating them. 

boat traffic had them spooked too. crazy saturday mornings...

i freelined a lady fish with the tail cut off about 40yds from the boat.  5min later my clicker starts screaming!  the fish jumps out of the water and we swear its a 3ft tarpon.  it jumps a few more times and we see its a blacktip!  i got him to the boat and he broke off. 

after that i was done fishing for trout. i baited up every fish we had in the live well and nailed the blacktips!  whiting, ladyfish, bluefish, jack, porgy ... it didnt matter as long as it was bleeding... i never had to wait more than ~10min for a shark.  i pulled in 3 blacktips up to 4ft and lost another 2 in about 45min.  not bad for straight 80# mono and a 10/0 hook! (i wasnt planning on sharking and didnt bring my leaders)

you could literally throw out a bait and just watch a shark come after it. 

after my last blacktip we headed back to the dock to pick up my brother and we put him on some fish.  first 3 casts he landed 2 cobia and a 20"+ blue fish on a glow colored gulp.  i put that bluefish out for shark and my brother got to battle a nice ~4.5' blacktip for a little bit before it broke off.  that was the last shark of the day and it was just trout for the next 2hrs.

all the locals always tell me how easy it is to catch shark around anclote... they werent lying!

we already decided that our next trip out there is going to be strictly for the big fish... shark and tarpon!

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DATE: 24 Jun 2007, 1:49 pm / MOOD: In love

Greg (Lizardfish) called me up earlier this week to let me know he was bringing some members of his church to the south pier on saturday and that he was finally bringing my new Calstar grouper rod.  Its an 800m (8ft, 20-50lb) with 10 guides plus the tip.  It's such a fast taper rod that it needs that many guides.  The work was done by Ken in Avon park and I'm glad to add this rod to my collection. 

Last night I made it out there at about 10pm to see a whole bunch of people fishing before the Y.  They were all armed with sabiki's and pulling up just about every fish in the waters... pinfish, ladyfish, bluefish, grunts, snapper etc.  Right on cue, when the outgoing tide hit full strength, the snapper bite turned on.  It was good to see everyone get on the fish and just have some fun.  It reminded me of the days when all i could catch was pinfish and i would have fun doing that all night.  I'm sure they appreciated all of Greg's work of tying and retying everyones lines and putting them on the fish. 

As for me, I sent out a whole jack for shark.  No hits after 1hr.  So i sent out the biggest ladyfish I've ever seen.  2hrs later... no hits.  Called it a night at 3am. 

 

 

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DATE: 21 Jun 2007, 8:58 pm / MOOD: Full of life

My buddy took me out on his flats boat this morning.  We went out of Anclote Park at 630am and went straight to the island for some redfish action.  TONS of mullet but zero redfish.  we were able to sight cast on a few but they were lockjawed. we made our way around the island and drifted through the middle for about an hour.  I landed 2 redfish.... one keeper at 19".  After giving up on reds we decided to go for trout.  We landed 1 keeper at 18" and called it a day by 1:30pm.  Saw a nice 40"+ kingfish cruising the channel all by itself. 

After lunch, another friend called and wanted to go back out of New Port Richey.  So we hit the tackle outlet and stocked up on more gulps and hit the flats.  we landed several more redfish, all just under keeper size.  but we had constant trout action.  We kept 4 between 17" and 19".  My other buddy landed a nice cobia and a jack on clearance powerbaits. The cobia was short... i estimate 26-27" fork length.  We called it a day again at 7:45pm.

once again gulps jerkbaits prevailed... who needs live bait.  I get so bored just sitting there waiting for something to happen.  I can't remember what color produced the most because i carry at least 7 colors.  I think its really just the white jighead. 

My choices for Gulp Colors:
New Penny
Glow
Royal Sapphire (i think thats the name)
Nuclear Chicken
Rootbeer
Camo
Sardine
Natural
andddd i'm missing at least 2 more colors.... i guess thats more than 7.  i change colors alot depending on water clarity and depth. 

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DATE: 07 Jun 2007, 11:17 pm / MOOD: In love

i picked up my new shark rod yesterday out in Seminole... a Seeker Blue 6460xxh.  An all S-glass rod that stands at about 6'3 with the aluminum gimball butt and its rated for 50-130lb. 

today was the day to break it in.  I met up with Hbn1321351 at an old family friend's house in Hudson.  He lives right on a channel.  Just about every inshore fish makes its way through here.  Its mostly known for the redfish and snook.

We netted up a fat mullet and some big black drum and headed to the skyway for some shark fishing!

i forgot my tackle bag at home and had to borrow one of hbn's rigs.  he had a rig that Chuck gave him and i wanted to use that one.  i had faith in this rig... i know Chuck catches some sharks!

Hbn let me get the mullet because we knew it had a better chance of getting a shark and we wanted to see my new rod in action. 

i floated it out about 150yds and couldnt get my balloon off.  screw it... Hbn read that they like to ambush fish from below anyway... so i left the balloon on. 

 after about 10min... we brought out the menhaden oil jug and poked a small pin hole in it.  we had a nice chum slick going!

 not even 5min later... my clicker is singing!!!!!!!!  i grab that reel and flip the lever and RUNNNNN while setting the hook like 13 times.  no hook up... but the bait was still on.

 you know what that means... let some line out and just let it sit again.  about 3min later... the clicker starts goin off real slow.... like when you get a clump of grass stuck on the line.  i walked over to the reel and it started running again!

i picked up the rod and the clicker got louder and faster!  i looked at the reel not sure if i wanted to flip that lever now.  but i did... and i RANNNNNNN! i set the hook another 38 times and FISH ON!!!! i looked up just in time to see a blacktip landing and a huge splash.

i adjusted the drag a hair and let him run.  when i gotta chance i pumped the rod up and reeled in as fast as possible.  thats when i broke off... or so i thought.

nooooo Chuck! how could you!??!  non-forged/welded eye hook. 

oh well... i gotta nice souvenir and i got to see my rod in action.  even Hbn was shook up after this event. 

 

until next time!

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DATE: 03 Jun 2007, 8:05 pm / MOOD: Happy

My weekend started out with a busy schedule and not much time to fish.  The rain didn't help much and the south Skyway pier was closed due to power loss.

Not wanting to make the trip just for the north pier ... i drove around new port richey looking just to get a line wet.  i ended up calling a friend who just took ownership of a 16' flats boat.  we met up at the Tackle Outlet on Ridge rd to stock up on supplies for a Sunday morning adventure.

New Port Richey needed a big shop like the Tackle Outlet and I'm glad its hear now.  The people are really nice and the prices are great!  They carry just about every reel you can't normally find in Tampa.  I actually got my hands on a Daiwa Saltiga 50.  Now I know why they call it the metal jacket. 

 Anyways... my buddy is a pizza hut manager and hooked up the store people with a pizza from the pizza hut right next door.  They gave us a nice discount on supplies.  I spent $23 and left the store with 4 packs of Berkely Gulps jerkbaits, and several packs of hooks and jigheads!

We launched at 6:30am out of Nick's Park in New Port Richey right next to the only Hooters in the world on the water.  If you've never seen it, people can actually dock their boats right at hooters and walk in. 

 The day was pretty consistent  and it was my first time using Gulps.  I picked up Nuclear Chicken, Camo, Shining Sapphire and the infamous New Penny, all on white jigheads. (gotta love white jigheads!)  New Penny and Nuclear Chicken are highly recommended colors... I chose to fish them last to learn the technique before relying on colors I know will work.

The whole morning we managed probably 20+ spotted trout and my buddy landed a nice Redfish... too bad it was just under slot.  Its amazing what you can catch in 3ft of water! I kept a 17" and 18" trout. 

My goal for today was to learn how to fish Gulps.  Everyone told me to fish them slow and let the scent dispursion do the work.  Well... its true.  I couldn't believe that i was hooking up on pinfish.  I slowly worked the jig by bumping it off the bottom and dead sticking it (letting it sit on the bottom).  Most of my hookups came from this method.

As far as color goes... I'm partial to really bright colors.  Nuclear chicken and Shining Sapphire did well when were further from shore.  As the water turned from bluish green to brown as we were drifting in, I had to change to the Camo and New Penny colors to keep the bite going. 

At $6 per pack... I guess Gulps are kinda worth it.  They're some pretty fragile baits though.  I thought 4 packs (20 jerkbaits) was overkill for a single trip.  It ended up being just enough. 

I'm going to give the rest of my Gulps a chance on Tuesday afternoon when I go for trout from Green Key beach. 

until then...

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DATE: 22 May 2007, 3:11 am / MOOD: Dont know

Hbn and I decided to go for some grouper and shark today at the skyway. 

We loaded up on pinfish and got on one of hbn's favorite spots as the incoming tide was ending.  My first cast, nothing after 10min... I set down my rod and take one step away... clicker starts screaming!  ...pulled up a 23" grouper. 

we moved around the pier and tried various rockpiles... i lost a big grouper... the first fish to pull line on the avet... and a good amount too.  the knot untied at the hook... my fault for not wetting the knot when tightening it. 

the sun was setting soon so we netted up some green backs and went to a shark fishing spot off the pier. this is where the weirdness begins. 

i throw a gotcha lure to catch ladyfish... i catch 3 snapper.  hbn lands 3 ladies and we float them out for shark.  after 2hrs... he got one hit that literally just missed the hook.

we hit the north pier for more shark fishing.  i float out a lady and after a good while eventually get a hit.... i set the hook hard and nothing there.  i reel up a ladyfish head.

hbn started catching more ladyfish.  i tried to catch ladyfish and i would catch bluefish.  i try to catch bluefish and i catch a silver trout.  i put on a jighead to catch silver trout and i catch a GROUPER!  i try to catch shark and i catch TARPON!

yep... i jumped my first tarpon tonight... 2 tarpon.  thats what i get for floating out big ladyfish for shark bait.

i've never heard my click scream so loud and then get even louder.... i'll have nightmares. 

hbn's new avet got broken in tonight.  it got several hits with 1 being a tarpon and one landed lemon shark at somewhere under 4feet long.  it was released to be caught another day. 

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DATE: 17 May 2007, 11:42 am / MOOD: Full of life

5-17-07 

This one time Aqua_Finatic, hbn1324123513, and I decided to go fishing.

We went to our secret spot on the north pier to catch the infamous pinfish.  But I loaded up on squirrel fish and fed them to the crazy long necked white sea birds.  Seafish showed me how to properly throw the squirrel fish with accuracy so the birds start matrix fighting in mid-air!  I wish they ate dolphins. 

After an hour of matrix fighting and a few pinfish and grunt... we headed over to a secret spot on the south pier. 

We all threw down different baits ... bluefish, pin fish, and threadfin.  My threadfin got nipped at first.  Then it was time for secret frozen bait!

I dropped it straight down and used my deadly dead stick technique for catching fish.  BAM!  Something big hit it but didnt hook up.  I put on another secret frozen sardine and dropped it down.  BAMMMMMM!! FISH ON!!!!!  I fought it up good!  This fish is going to be my first to break the 30" mark! 

I slung the grouper over the rail for an official measurement!

 Aqua's ruler said it was 22.25inches... but his ruler was kind of busted.  So i grabbed my ruler and it said the fish was 21.75inches.  ARGHHHHHHH!

Those are the hardest fish to let go. 

We moved off that spot and found Insteel's brother, RangerRyan and Dad having a blast on the mackerel.  We joined in on the fun for the rest of the day. 

**note about the attached pic**
i saw that truck with a big P on it on 75 and thought, "oooooh... PUCKY TRUCK!"

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DATE: 10 May 2007, 2:09 am / MOOD: Happy

It was a long day of running errands and making 3 trips to Southeastern before I actually made it to the North pier at around 5:30PM.  No luck with any bait there so Karl, his girlfriend (Cherry) and I headed over to the South Pier.

 We found AquaFinatic fishing in the corner of the end of the pier and hbn12341513 sleeping in the car.  Hbn managed 1 mackerel and threw the net for us.  He landed some HUGE greenbacks.  The biggest i've seen in a long time... as long as my hand and 2-3inches high.  I wanted to move to another spot right away while this bait was fresh. 

 I grabbed the biggest greenback i could find and put it on a 7/0 hook and dropped it down to be freelined out.  The wind was strong and kept a big curve in my line.  I saw the line start to straighten out real quick so i tried to set the hook before i felt the pressure but nothing was there. 

 I then started letting line out and not paying attention.  About 10min later, I looked down to see that the line wasn't moving with the tide anymore and the bait was no more than 20 feet from the pier!  From passed experience i learned that meant one of 2 things... either i was rocked or a grouper was holding onto my bait.  I started to slowly reel in the slack to not spook a grouper that could be on the other end. As soon as i felt the tiniest bit of pressure, I lifted the rod tip high to set the hook (even though i didnt know if anything was on the hook yet) and started cranking hard.  I felt something really heavy on the other end but no idea if it was a fish yet.

ALOT of line was still in the rocks! I started reeling faster and pumping the rod up and down as the weight on the other end started to get heavier.  Aqua was right next to me and I told him i think i have a fish!  We both looked over the rail to see what it was because it was coming up fast!  It came to the surface for a brief moment when he had a second wind and pulled a little bit of line on my saltist.  I cranked him back out of the water and reeled him straight up to the rail and flipped him over. 

 As we're all staring at it a guy comes out of nowhere and asks, "WHOA!! What is that??"

 We took the measurement at 28" and immediately got some ice for the cooler.  After that I looked at my topshot (125lb berkley big game) and realized how much it was frayed up.  I ended up having to trim off about 20-25ft of line that was all chewed up from the rocks. 

 Later in the night we decided to try for shark.  Got 2 hits but 0 hookups. 

 Next shark fishing attempt will be friday!

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