Fish Tales
NEW FISH TALE!!!
Added 11-23-2009
Last Sunday the 11/25/3009 I decided I would do some flats fishing so I took the skiff and headed toward Port Hudson Marina. The grassy area just west of there. I was fishing shrimp and was catching small fish and decided to switch to squid. I start catching trout right away, but as luck would have the largest one I caught was 14 inches the rest mesured 12 and 13 inches so no keepers. I spent about 3 hours there and finally gave up. I headed for home and got the skiff docked and a neighbor and friend of mine (ron) called and asked if I wanted to go back out for a couple of hours and of course I said yes. He said we would be in10 to 15 feet of water so I took one of my deep sea rods and some sardines and squid as bait. Ron is a diver and he was going to see if he could spear some grouper. We had been out for about 30 minutes and I caught a small grunt. Ron gave up on the diving as he did not see any legal size grouper. I said I would try one more time and baited my hook and flipped it into the water. It was only there about 2-3 minutes and my rod bent double, I set the hood and started reeling. When I got the fish up next to the boat I could see it was about a 36 or 37 in cobia, I fought it for a while but did not release the drag. as I got the cobia back to the side of the it gave a big jerk and snap went my line. I had 80 pound monofilament and it broke the line above the knotts. The funny part of the story is tha Ron had a little poodle name Mattie and she is a very active little dog. Every time I baited my hook she had to lick the bait and when I would throw my line into the water she would get on top of the seat, set there and stare at the spot where the line went in. When I hooked the copia she was right there to help me get the fish on board. It was a blast just watching her. We came in empty handed but thanks to Mattie and my friend Ron we had a ball.
Michael A Wilkes
Labor Day
Some weekends it just doesn’t get any better. For a lot of people, BBQ’s, family and fishing is on the agenda.
Young Sean Miller turned twelve this weekend and what better to get a young fisherman than a nice Columbia fishing shirt and shorts. Just the smile I received was thanks enough but I was fortunate to be able to take him out fishing Monday.
We had a slow start as I desperately needed some extra sleep thanks to the rough week at work. So we headed out to one of our favorite spots where you just never know what you’re going to catch.
As we headed out the channel, I thought that young Sean is twelve now, it is about time he started learning about the VHF Radio, GPS Compass etc. We called Tow Boat US for a radio check. I went first and explained to Sean why we perform radio checks and the procedure in doing so. I asked the dispatcher to “stand by”, that I had a young lad with me that needs to learn the system. The dispatcher was patient and asked Sean his location in which he promptly responded “Hudson Channel” with the proudest expression you expect too see of a new twelve year old.
After we cleared the channel and it was time to set the GPS. I figured it was going to be a little tougher than the radio check but I should have realized the young people today are very computer literate, in less than a minute he had the basics down and punched in our waypoint. We made it this far so I decided it was time to learn some boating operations as well. He had no problem with that at all. Again, the look of seriousness that comes over his face as he throttle up the boat to plane. I watched him as he studied the GPS and the compass all the while keeping one eye open for bouys, boats and anything else he could spot.
We arrived at the coordinates and dropped our lines down. Almost immediately Sean came up with a short grouper and then another. I set out a flat line in search of a stray Mackerel. Then it happened. “Andy help me” He sceamed. The rod was bent over the side and young Sean was doing everything he could to hang on. So I helped him. I reached over and loosened the drag so the fish could take some line. Then we saw it, a huge Cobia. He fought it for about 10 minutes as every time it came to the boat it would take off again. We finally got a gaff in him and pulled it over the side. I won’t repeat what Sean said in case his mother reads this. Let’s just say there was a little excitement. The Cobia measured out to a fat 38”. It was another first for young Sean.
The look and smiles on a young persons’ face when they catch their first big fish is something I wish I could witness every time I go out. With that in mind, I think young Sean Miller will be a fishing buddy on my boat for a long time. He has many first yet to come and I so enjoy being a part of it.
With that said I guess it’s time for me to start calling him Sean Miller. Congratulations Sean for job well done! I’ll see you at the dock.
.
Tight Lines
Andy Hempel
Summer Fishing
7/05/2009
A lot of us expect the dog days of summer to be a bit slower than the spring and the fall when temperatures are changing and strong tides are moving a lot of water. So when we go out to do a little fishing we may tend to not try as hard or fish our usual spots. I know I tend to do more boating with Kathy while trying to get a little trout fishing in.
July 4th is usually a day for family and cook outs but Kathy had to work so I said to myself “self lets go out fishing off shore a little to see what’s out there”. So I called my old friend Eddie Simmons and my little fishing buddy Sean Miller and it was al a go for Saturday morning.
A little skeptical as to what we would find, I loaded up some pinfish that I caught in the trap the day before, only about a dozen and some old sardines I had in the freezer. The weather was calling for seas to about 2 feet and winds 10 to 15 knots from the West. Very reasonable for the 19’ProLine. Our plan was to head out to the local Pasco reefs to see what we could find.
We left the dock at 7:00 with plenty of ice. I had to turn around and get the gaff I left on the dock. Eddie mentioned how my expectations were pretty high for this time of year as we were only going out to about 25’.
As we were on our way to the reef I decided to check out a spot that I have a little to the North. I did not expect to find much there as it is only about 16’ deep but it has some structure to it. As we crossed over the spot the depth finder was showing some bait so I circled around to make a drift, Eddie baited up with a sardine. As soon as it hit the bottom he got slammed but did not hook up. So we went around for another drift and the same thing happened. No that our curiosity is peaking we decided to anchor up and give it a shot. Eddie dropped his down as I help Sean get his in the water. As I baited up my rod Sean has a fish on. Of course Sean is 11 years old and having everything he can do to hold the rod. I set mine down to help him. He finally got it in, a nice 24” Gag. About 5 minutes later Eddie pulls one in also. I think that is when I decided to try a pinfish. I don’t think it was on the bottom for more than 5 seconds when my rod doubled over and started taking line. Of course I lost it and never saw what it was. Eddie decided to try a pinfish. It happened again. This time we got a look at it. It was a huge Cobia. As I was going to gaff it came off. Or did it…Upon further investigation we found that Eddie’s hook had actually broken.
We continued fishing pinfish and catching Cobia until the pinfish were gone along with some nice keeper grouper. Who would have thought that there would be any Cobia around on 4th of July Weekend?
The moral of the story is “always expect the unexpected when you fish in this area. You never know what you are going to run into.
Hope everyone has a wonderful Fourth of July Weekend. I know I did
Tight Lines
Andy Hempel
FISH TALES
4/12/2009
It is another beautiful morning in Hudson. I’m fishing today with Brian Miller from Covington, England. He is a resident of Hudson and a member of the fishing club. Brian has done some inshore fishing but has never fished for grouper.
We left the dock around 7:30 and headed to the 20’ mark where I have a couple of spots. There water temp was about 72 but very cloudy with a lot of grass floating. Trolling was definitely out.
We arrived at the first spot with great expectations as the bottom machine was showing a lot of bait. I dropped the chum bag over the side and circled the area several times before anchoring. I Handed Brian the grouper rod with a sardine on it and explained the importance of keeping your thumb on the spool as you let it down.
As Brian spent the next ten minutes untangling the reel, I started setting out the Kingfish rods with cigar minnows. Brain finally got everything straitened out and I told him to check his bait as it had been sitting on the bottom for quit awhile. I looked over and he had the pole all doubled over. “You must have it hung up on the bottom” I told him. “Just let it loose a second and see”. As he let it loose and locked it back down the rod doubled over again…FISH ON. “Reel Brian, Reel”. We finally got it in the boat, a nice 24 incher.
We continued fishing through the day catching a multitude of shorts and grunts. Not a kingfish strike all day but we did have one bust through the chum slick.
Brian Miller from Coventry England has caught his first Grouper. Good Job Brian. I will be looking forward to fishing with you again. It is always a pleasure to fish with someone who enjoys fishing and being on the water as much as I do.
Tight Lines
Andy Hempel
Vice President
4/12/2009
