# Myrtle Beach: snapper, grouper and AJ!



## JerryB (May 15, 2003)

Hi all,

I fished out of Captain Dick's marina in Murrell's Inlet south of MB on the Captain Bill III on 6/21 for an all day (11 hours) after the captain cancelled on 6/20 due to 6-8 footers at the gulfstream.

I arrived at the dock at 5:40 for a 6:30 am boarding call. I brought 3 rigs (20, 30 and 40), a bucket with tackle and some really nice baitfish that i picked up on the drive up from disneyworld( gotta keep the family happy to get the fishing days cleared).

about 5:45 a couple of guys from NC showed up and joined the line. I went inside to get my ticket, which was allready paid for, and while I was inside a bunch of ******** decided that they were first in line and started their own "real line"

the cap called to load up at about 6:20, and guess what? one of the deckies that was helping take tickets made sure that we got on first since he saw us there early. he joked with me about it later while i was rigging up.

I grabbed the starboard corner at the stern and sat down to a nice ride out, about 2.5 hours in 2-4 footers, with the occasional 6 foot swell slipping in there just when you're hitting the head.......

at least us Yankees clean up when our aim goes astray.

I decided to fish 30 lb with squid on the dropper loop at the first drop and try to put some dinner in the basket but got disappointed when all i brought up was bait sized scup. the cap reset the anchor and i switched over to the whole mullets that i brought up from savanah on 40 lb with a carolina rig. i used a 4 foot leader with a 6/0 gami circle snelled on and a 2/0 gami circle snelled on the tag for a stinger.

soaked that mullet for about two minutes and got the pull, let it run out for a count of 5 and dropped her in gear, FISH ON!!! BIG bend in my new, lightly used by Tuna-Q seeker 6470! Hot-Dog!! The 545GS proved up to the task of cranking that fish up about half way to the boat (fishing about 150 deep) when the fish changed its mind about comin topside and went most of the way back. now THIS is what i signed up for! after a few more short runs i wound in a nice genuine red snapper that went 22!

Great start to the day, second drop not even 10 a.m. and i got my biggest saltwater fish ever and first genuine red snapper, those dudes are TASTY.

the deckie took my pic and i rebaited and dropped again. this time about five minutes later BENDO!!!!!! another red that went 18 YEEHAW!! My stringer is looking good already.

I just got another bait in the water and the cap said "wind 'em in too many scup"

We anchored up again about 1/2 mile down current and down they went, took my trusty mullet about 30 seconds to get bit, HARD. Ground it out with a tough-guy scamp grouper of just over 20! The deckie working my corner was as excited as me, he kept saying "two chickens and a scamp in 20 [email protected]#??"

This was allready a great day of fishing, and its not even 10:30 a.m.

for the next hour i fed mullets to some assorted silver snappers waiting for another big one, i did get another nice grouper( don't remember the type) of about 6 pounds untill the cap decided to move on.....just as he called to bring 'em up one of the deckies saw a dodo cruise by, so he tossed a cigar minnow out in front of it and hooked up! he passed the rod to one of the passengers who had a heck of a time reeling it in. That lady sure was surprised to be handed a rod with 15 pounds of juming dodo on the end.

during the move i grabbed a hot dog and drank two bottles of water, the temp was up to about 90 and i needed the H2O for sure, a quick check of the bait bucket showed the mullet running low with only three left, would they be enough??......


the next drop brought an assortment of bottom critters over the rails all around the boat: bee-liners, triggers, grunts, silver snapper, johnny bass and some others that i don't know the names of ( maybe i should go look for a fish id guide). my last three mullet brought in a nice vermillion snapper, a big sivler snapper and an empty hook, must have been a nice one  


the deckie came by and asked how it was going and i told him i was out of big baits and was going to try some squid. about that time the lady who wound up the dodo hooked up on a nice amberjack, she finally got it to the rail and it went about 18 pounds. i was fishing some squid to poor effect and the dekie came over asked if i wanted a bait to try for an amberjack as he had seen a school circle under the boat several times. i said you bet, and about two minutes later he shows up with an 8" johnny bass and tells me to put 'er down there.

so i hooked the 6/0 just in front of its dorsal fin and the stinger right at the tail and dropped it down. i had it where i could just get a flash of color every now and then.

i saw the jacks come up and the line started to run,

count to 5.....

throw it in gear, and set the hook....

EMPTY! darn, i think i pulled that circle hook right away from the fish.

about then tim (from NC, second in line) on my left caught a nice fat johnny bass and just about tossed it back before i caught him. i hooked it on an down he went. the jacks circled in again and one swam right up to the bait and turned away, another pass and one swam right up looked it over and swam away. two more passes and the same thing. four refusals what gives??

i asked the deckie what he thought and he asked how i hooked the bait. i told him and he said to turn it around and put the big hook at the tail so the fish is swimming away from the boat and down current.

so i wound him in and turned him around, back down he goes just below color. i see some of the jacks circling again, then tug, tug, tug; long pull...

1 mississippi

2 mississippi

3 mississippi

drop the penn in gear and start winding, FISH ON!

this guy was big and strong and heading for the bottom, i pulled and cranked and the 6470 was bent over double, drag singing merrily....

more pulling, more cranking, i hear the deckie saying "good job, let me know when you get him close"

the drag sings again and he's back to the bottom, i crank, lift, pull, crank, getting sweaty, sunscreen and sweat running into my eye, keep cranking, pull harder.....

COLOR! the deckie shows up with a gaff in hand and another comes over the help with a second gaff, one more good pull and the dekie reaches.....

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

NOT SO SOON BOYS.... down he goes again, right to the bottom!

pull harder, crank harder, damn i hate sunscreen, lift and wind, lift and wind, color again, lift once more,

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

another run down, the second deckie laughs and says to check my drag so i don't get spooled, fat chance of that.

time to lift and crank, pull, lift, crank, color once more....

one more lift to the surface and two gaffs bring him over the rail!!

I let out a big yell, and laughed it up for 10 minutes!!

Oh, remember that ******* who tried to cut the line to board the boat?? he finally got a keeper just now: KARMA eh??

that was one hard pulling fish and i had a blast fighting it. i did not get a measurment, but it was bigger than my four year old!

That turned out to be my last good fish of the trip, i did nab a couple more throw back silver snappers (had my limit of one), and missed another big fish on a johnny bass, the bait came back up with a big bite missing.

so i finished the day with two red snappers, a big amberjack (one of four caught), two groupers, a silver snapper and a bee-liner. filled the freezer in my camper with filets.

the ride back in was all downhill in 2-3 footers on a very nice sunny afternoon.

This was a GREAT trip for me and since i usually only get one trip a year it will have to be enough until next summer. the only bad part is that my camera had dead batteries, so no pictures.


Cheers,
Jerry
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## rockhead (Nov 6, 2002)

just to clairify, in regard to the red snapper are you saying 22" & 18"
or 22lb & 18lb. either way you did good, but jeez if you are saying pounds!


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