JerryB
08-11-2004, 11:21 PM
Went out of Captain Dick's in Murrell's Inlet riding the Inlet Princess. Beautiful morning, clear skies, bit of haze on the water, light SW breeze. The Mates shoved us off at 6:45, a few minutes behind schedule due to the full boat of 80 rods. Enjoyed a nice ride out watching the sea, birds, flying fish, dolphins and meeting my fishing buddies for the day. Sat with a family from Erie PA who, much like myself, fish for walleye at home and come to MB each summer for some vacation and saltwater fishing.
About 9:30 the captain throttled back and everyone got there gear ready as the mates set the anchor and the call went out to PUT EM DOWN!
we were all greeted by a hungry school of vermillion snappers and a good number of triggerfish. I boated three vermillions, the mates call them b-liners, of keeping size and a double of triggerfish within ten minutes! The action stayed hot for about 20 minutes and the boat had drifted off the spot a bit so the captain called pull em up and we reset on the same spot. once again the b-liners hit hard and the triggers were still there too. we left them biting after about an hour and moved on to another spot about a half mile away.
the second drop was a repeat of the first: vermillions and triggers, plus a couple of grouper came over the rail, but the action only lasted about 15 minutes.
three more drops resulted in only a few fish each and by then the wind had died out and the temp was HOT! so I took a break and bought lunch and a water. I grabbed some air conditioning in the cabin and ate.
Back out for the last two drops:
the next drop had good numbers of bites and i hooked up on a really good fish! unfortunately got tangled up with one of the neighbors and lost the fish while sorting things out. I did manage to put a few more vermillions on the stringer along with a nice sea bass, and some nice grouper came over the rail near the stern.
One last drop before the trip home produced some whopper tangles due to some serious current. I added another trigger to my string and filled out my limit on b-liners. the family next to me hit the honey hole at this stop they filled their limits here as well adding 32 b-liners to the box!! This drop also produced some nice grouper and a few pogy's.
We had a great day of fishing and super weather too! On the ride in i discovered that my sunscreen had held up well and i did not get any sunburn at all, that's rare for me.
so a few lessons learned that day:
1. bring twice as much water as you ever think you might need, and drink a lot of it early.
2. Squid stinks after 5 hours of fishing in the hot SC sun, bring a change of clothes!! :) I might even bring some clothes that i intend to toss at the end of the day.
3. Mustad hooks are dull: buy good hooks next time.
4. Don't forget a fish towel or two.
5. Bring some nice, big, fresh baitfish. most of the really nice grouper came on big baits.
6. Bring two rigs ready to go: one set up for the squid baits and the snappers (2/0 hooks) and one set up for the big baits(4/0 hooks, stingers, heavy line) for grouper. rig the rod with a good mcmahon snap and chage back and forth at each drop. or maybe fish two different rods.
7. TOO MANY FISHERMEN ARE CHEAPSKATES. those mates busted their butts on a hot day so that we could have fun and as we were nearing the dock i checked in the tip jar for the mates, it was basically empty in fact i could still see the ten dollar bill that i put in there at the start of the ride back. the cook got far more tips than the six mates put together. so, next time you go out think about the amount of work the mate(s) does for you and give a decent tip, you would not stiff the waitress who brought your coffe that morning would you??? next time i'll probably tip a $20 to make up for some of the cheapos on board.
Glad to report that my new boat rod/reel worked really well. I will have to modify the reel handle a bit, it has a grove that rubbed on my finger after a while. the green line i put on was a hit with the mates when trying to untangle things. they would not cut it, so i often got free first! they also thought my 25 lb test was a bit on the light side.
next year i think i'll go twice :p
About 9:30 the captain throttled back and everyone got there gear ready as the mates set the anchor and the call went out to PUT EM DOWN!
we were all greeted by a hungry school of vermillion snappers and a good number of triggerfish. I boated three vermillions, the mates call them b-liners, of keeping size and a double of triggerfish within ten minutes! The action stayed hot for about 20 minutes and the boat had drifted off the spot a bit so the captain called pull em up and we reset on the same spot. once again the b-liners hit hard and the triggers were still there too. we left them biting after about an hour and moved on to another spot about a half mile away.
the second drop was a repeat of the first: vermillions and triggers, plus a couple of grouper came over the rail, but the action only lasted about 15 minutes.
three more drops resulted in only a few fish each and by then the wind had died out and the temp was HOT! so I took a break and bought lunch and a water. I grabbed some air conditioning in the cabin and ate.
Back out for the last two drops:
the next drop had good numbers of bites and i hooked up on a really good fish! unfortunately got tangled up with one of the neighbors and lost the fish while sorting things out. I did manage to put a few more vermillions on the stringer along with a nice sea bass, and some nice grouper came over the rail near the stern.
One last drop before the trip home produced some whopper tangles due to some serious current. I added another trigger to my string and filled out my limit on b-liners. the family next to me hit the honey hole at this stop they filled their limits here as well adding 32 b-liners to the box!! This drop also produced some nice grouper and a few pogy's.
We had a great day of fishing and super weather too! On the ride in i discovered that my sunscreen had held up well and i did not get any sunburn at all, that's rare for me.
so a few lessons learned that day:
1. bring twice as much water as you ever think you might need, and drink a lot of it early.
2. Squid stinks after 5 hours of fishing in the hot SC sun, bring a change of clothes!! :) I might even bring some clothes that i intend to toss at the end of the day.
3. Mustad hooks are dull: buy good hooks next time.
4. Don't forget a fish towel or two.
5. Bring some nice, big, fresh baitfish. most of the really nice grouper came on big baits.
6. Bring two rigs ready to go: one set up for the squid baits and the snappers (2/0 hooks) and one set up for the big baits(4/0 hooks, stingers, heavy line) for grouper. rig the rod with a good mcmahon snap and chage back and forth at each drop. or maybe fish two different rods.
7. TOO MANY FISHERMEN ARE CHEAPSKATES. those mates busted their butts on a hot day so that we could have fun and as we were nearing the dock i checked in the tip jar for the mates, it was basically empty in fact i could still see the ten dollar bill that i put in there at the start of the ride back. the cook got far more tips than the six mates put together. so, next time you go out think about the amount of work the mate(s) does for you and give a decent tip, you would not stiff the waitress who brought your coffe that morning would you??? next time i'll probably tip a $20 to make up for some of the cheapos on board.
Glad to report that my new boat rod/reel worked really well. I will have to modify the reel handle a bit, it has a grove that rubbed on my finger after a while. the green line i put on was a hit with the mates when trying to untangle things. they would not cut it, so i often got free first! they also thought my 25 lb test was a bit on the light side.
next year i think i'll go twice :p