Corpusfishing.com

[gulftrout]

I will start by saying back in 2000 I bought the new 13' model Boston Whaler came out with, "The 130 Sport." As I was driving home with my new boat I stopped for a quick break. When I came out of the convenience store I thought to myself, "One of these days I want to put a legal ling in that boat. Well, almost 13 years have passed since that day and I had never even taken the 13 footer out in the gulf until recently. A few weeks ago I was fishing in the upper laguna with a late season norther dying out and the winds went slack. I decided that then would be a good time to see how she handled offshore. I was pleasantly surprised and decided that I just might head out one day in search of that ling I had been thinking about for over 12 years every time the gulf goes flat during the summer. After seeing the ling that were caught on Bob Hall Pier last week, I paid close attention to the weather ever since that front came screaming through last Friday. Last night I decided today was the day I had been waiting for, for almost 13 years.

[ratherbefishing]

GT I love your stories, but the suspense just kills me.

Please type faster. Your public awaits.
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[gulftrout]

I had not been as excited about a fishing trip for myself since 1983. That was the year that we had a big freeze that killed to many trout to count. A couple weeks before the final freeze event, we had the first strong cold front come through that drove the temperatures below freezing. A couple days after that first freezing front there must have been several thousand huge trout laying on each side of the Nueces Bay Causeway. I will not mention numbers that were caught, but will just say this, there was a winter long fishing contest that Dolphin Docks was having that ended every month. In the month of December I weighed in three of the biggest specks I caught in those two days and they went between 8.54 and 8.85 lbs. The night before the first day of the slaughter I called my friend, David Heard and invited him on the trip of a lifetime. I knew the monster trout were laying there like cordwood because my fishing buddy, Point had been that afternoon and had caught so many over 5 lbs. he started naming them. There was one in particular he called, "Moby", The great white whale! I told David if he wanted to go he needed to go and buy a spool of 17 lb. line and put it on his reel. If he showed up in the morning without new line he was not going. I had no desire to see him break off what might be the trout of a lifetime!

[gulftrout]

Needless to say I spent last night putting new line on each of my reels. I loaded a Penn 309 with 50, a Penn 210 with 30, a Garcia 7000 with 30 and a Garcia 5000 with 15. I was not going to have a tackle failure if I could help it. I got everything ready and loaded it in a small tackle box. There was no need to be in a hurry, because I wanted the sun to be high enough so I could spot them before they were hooked. After checking the tides it looked like mid morning the tide would start in and continue in until late in the afternoon. That would give me plenty of time to hit every pipe and rig within 8 miles of Packery Channel. I wanted to make sure I was back inside the jetty's before the tide started out making the waves break at the channel entrance. I got the boat hooked up and headed to the Donut Palace, where I seem to spend to much time every morning!

[gulftrout]

As I was going over the causeway I realized I had left my tackle box that had all my offshore stuff in it. Oh well, I figured I would stop in at Roy's and let him benefit from my mistake. I figured you can never have too much fishing stuff. I was relieved when I saw Rocky in the parking lot. I was not sure when they opened, but I figured I'd have to wait anyway since I did not have any bait or hooks. Well, after a quick run through I had spent enough for the day. I mentioned to Rocky about everything going on with red snapper in Louisiana between the "Coasties" and the sport fishermen. I asked him what was required to keep a red snapped caught in state waters and he mentioned several things. I realized I did not have that either so I bought a "Compliance Kit" for $22.00 after tax. Well, I'm not sure what all was there, but now I was fully confident I was definitely in compliance, whatever the heck that means! So off I go headed to Marker 37 to launch and head out into the big blue "Gulf of Mexico!"

[gulftrout]

I clear the Jetty's and troll Bomber Long A's around the north jetty all the way into the beach. I do not see any bait or fish in the area so I reel everything in and head offshore. [img] One last look at the beach before making a run.

[gulftrout]

I get to the first rig and troll around it a couple times. I hook and lose a small bonito on the lures and decide to reel everything in and see if I can catch one of those greatly sought after red snapper. As I back up the the up-current side I see something I am not ready for. Four ling swim right up to my boat. At this very moment I am struck with "Ling Fever." Now everyone had heard about "Buck Fever." It has been said that the pour soul that has this disease plans all year long to shoot a monster buck and when they see this monster buck they start shaking so bad they could not hit the side of a barn. Well at this very moment I started shaking so bad I could not even put a dead shrimp on a hook. I was thankful that no one else was there to see such a sight!

[gulftrout]

I finally give up and throw a handful of expensive shrimp in the water to fatten them up for the next guy. I take a couple deep breaths and slowly cut all the lures off and tie on Eagle Claw hooks of some type I had just bought at Roy's. I then slowly troll back to the rig and much to my surprise they swim right back to the boat. I guess they liked the taste of fresh shrimp. I can tell by looking that two are without a doubt to small, one looks close and one was well over the size limit of 37". I now have all four rods baited and proceed to hook one at a time and stick the rod in the rod holder. I repeat this process until I have hooked 3 of the 4 and figure I had better start reeling them in. There were a couple boats watching and I'm pretty sure it was quite a show for a couple minutes there. [img] If you look closely, you can see one attached to the green line.

[gulftrout]

[/img]

[gulftrout]

After catching and releasing the first two because they were to short I left the last one in the water like you would a small dorado keeping the school there. The last one hanging around the boat was the largest of the group and was going to be a keeper if I could just get him to bite. After trying for 20+ minutes I finally get the "Big One" to hit a shrimp with the smallest hook I have on the 5000 with 15 lb line. It takes me close to 30 minutes to land the keeper on the light tackle, but that was OK. I wanted that ling wore out before hitting the deck by my feet! After landing the final one I troll back up to the rig and meet Kyle. He tells me he landed a 40" ling on a large popper. He is in an aluminum boat and mentions that this is his first time offshore in his small boat. He shows me his great catch and lets me take a picture.

[gulftrout]

Here is my keeper along with the "Decoy." I quickly let the smaller one go and start trolling for the house.

[gunbuyer]

Great story and great boat!!!! How many did you land? I am sure you know this already but as soon as you get to the rigs are when they approach the boat and they usually majke a few passes and leave sounds like you knew exactly what you were doing!!!! GREAT JOB!

[ratherbefishing]

Thanks for the epic report GT!

So, you caught all 4, AND the fourth was the keeper. That is so neat!
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[gulftrout]

After thinking about this trip for over 12 years, I pretty much had to go, since everything seemed to just fall into place. If I ever head out there again, it will be because "I want to."

[lifeaquatic]

That is an extraordinary tale of not only targeting a species and being sucessful at it, but also accomplishing it by running the Cooper Mini of the mosquito fleet out to the rigs. Way to go!