As you know; we were "meat" hunting for a charter trip. We didn't have to worry about winning a tournament.
We picked up three fish in the morning pretty quickly
but then it simply died out there. We tried shallow water, deep water, in packs of boats, getting away from boats, heavier weights, nothing worked. The fish just weren't interested.
Luckily, that's a good time to cook the crab cake lunches on the boat
I take over the wheel and Capt. John cooks. Normally, this is a time for me to explore waters that Capt. John hasn't covered
However, on windy days, I need to keep the bow headed directly into the waves to avoid John getting hot oil burns from cooking
After lunch, we ducked into some shallow water (35'). I noticed my buddy Doug (mate on Backdraft) and whistled over to him and shared a wave. About ten minutes later, I saw Doug get the net. On charters, we lift small fish over the sides and release them, we get the net for quality fish. I told the Capt. what I just saw, and we swung in behind Doug.
Our phones rang and Backdraft was calling to tell us he was "covered up" with nice fish. We were only about 300 yards away when our rods started to go down. I had 7 rods out and 4 bent over. The customers had the boat looking like a "Chinese fire drill" (not meant to offend anyone in this PC climate). I was unhooking fish, throwing back small keepers and tossing nothing less than 25' in the box.
Eventually, all the rods loaded up so they would move from one rod to another reeling in fish. We had a small charter, so we only needed 8 fish total. I boxed the remaining 5 largest fish to end the day with a flourish.
Capt. John put the pedal to the metal and we headed to the slip with a happy crew.
Yesterday morning was a bit breezy, but it continued to lay down as the day went on. With the sun out and a full box, I started replacing lures and leaders on the way in. I've found that the busier I stay, the larger the tip
I want my customers to be thinking, "man, that guy never takes a break".
A special thanks goes out to Backdraft and even Lucky Strike (Tawn and I stayed in contact throughout the day even though he was at home sitting on his couch while his boat was Captained by his partner) for "working" with us today.
5th (Marty)