Corpusfishing.com

gulftrout · Full Grown Flour Bluffian Joined: 20 Aug 2007 Posts: 1629

Saturday afternoon I was at Woody's Sport Center visiting old and new friends as I watched the boats unload their catch. Most were taking advantage of the snapper season and had nice catches of red snapper along with an occasional kingfish and shark. As I was getting ready to leave Captain Mark Mueller came up and asked if I would be interested in going offshore with him on the "BILLBUSTERS" the next morning. I quickly said yes and asked what time I should be there. He mentioned his charter would be leaving around 7 am, so a little before 7 would be fine. I was really glad I would finally get a chance to catch a couple "Deep Water" snapper before the season ends on June 28'th. I had worked the deck on a couple charter boats this summer and had watched other guys catch them, but this was going to be a lot different, I was going to have a chance to catch a couple for myself! Smile

The moon as it was getting low in the sky Sunday morning as I parked at Woody's.

kweber · Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 8:01 pm Post subject:

dawn at the harbor!!!
magic place and time.
_________________
the creepy uncle that scares the kids....

gulftrout · Full Grown Flour Bluffian Joined: 20 Aug 2007 Posts: 1629

We headed out of the harbor just as the sun was rising over the Gulf of Mexico. I was as excited as I could be as we rounded the last curve out of "Turtle Cove" and headed out the Port Aransas Jetty's. We did not run very far before Captain Mark slowed that 31 Bertram down. He noticed a nice weed line right at the north jetty and quickly started trolling ribbon fish no more that a couple minutes from the harbor. He knew with the full moon that kingfish feed at night and under these conditions, if we were going to have a chance at any before the afternoon bite, we needed to catch them quick. After no bites for 10 minutes of fishing, he asked Nathan(his first mate) to reel the lines in and put a couple feather jigs out. We started trolling around 8 knots right into the southerly swell. We had not trolled 10 minutes when I saw a kingfish flying 5 ft. in the air behind the boat with a black feather jig hanging from his mouth. I yelled "Fish On" as one of the customers jumped up and grabbed the rod. After landing our first fish of the day we started trolling once again. No more that five minutes and another kingfish came skyrocketing out of the gulfs surface even higher! A couple minutes later we had our second king laying in the box. We had one more strike and by the time we had reached the world famous "Sand or Stand Pipes" we had three kings in the box. Captain Mark had a smile on his face as we started working the smallest pipe furtherest to the south! Very Happy

The first "king" of the day! Smile

shallowsport · Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 8:16 pm Post subject:

Helping friends, new and old, is great, but every now a guy needs to get his own line stretched.

gulftrout · Full Grown Flour Bluffian Joined: 20 Aug 2007 Posts: 1629

Captain Mark worked this pipe letting the ribbonfish sink on each side. On the 3rd pass we had a strike, quickly putting another king in the box. I guess Mark had decided if we were going to make it 25 miles offshore he had better get going. The seas were not real big, but plenty choppy. He quickly realized this and started trolling lures again straight offshore. I waited in anxious anticipation for those engines to come to an idle and Captain Mark to say, "Let em' down."

gulftrout · Full Grown Flour Bluffian Joined: 20 Aug 2007 Posts: 1629

Around 20 miles offshore we came across a nice weed line sitting along a good rip. We started trolling sailfish lures and quickly caught a bonita. After 15 more minutes Captain Mark said, "Reel Them In" as he shoved the throttles down on those Cummins Diesels. I guess he had decided it was time to get there, get to his spot and the reason we had made that long journey offshore. After a brief 15 minute run I heard the engines RPM's slowly coming down. I grabbed my 6 1/2' 1120 Shakespeare Uglystick Rod with a small Shimano reel loaded with fresh 30 lb. Trilene Big Game line. I had no intentions of using bait for my two snapper. I had witnessed just how thick these huge snapper were schooled up. Just the day before while decking for Captain Reese, I had come to the conclusion that there was no way you could get a cigar minnow past the cloud of huge red snappers that were on top of the two spots we had fished. I was determined to catch my limit of two on the same soft plastics I have been trout fishing with. I just added a one oz. weight above the jig head and started letting it down and down and down. I kept it falling until I would get a bump. At that point I would put the reel in gear and start jigging it up a few feet. If no immediate hook-up I would again let it fall a few more feet and repeat the process. I never had to repeat this process more than once! Very Happy

gulftrout · Full Grown Flour Bluffian Joined: 20 Aug 2007 Posts: 1629

gulftrout · Full Grown Flour Bluffian Joined: 20 Aug 2007 Posts: 1629

It only took 20 minutes for everyone to limit out on red snapper at this spot. All except one was over 10 lbs. with the largest close to 15. It took me three drops to catch my two over 10. The reason, a shark bit my lure off on my second drop at 30 ft! Shocked

One "VERY" interesting note. I was talking to Captain Mark on the long ride in. I discovered his full name is Mark Allen Mueller. Much to my surprise he just happens to be related to probably the most famous Baffin Bay Trout Legend of all, "Chatter Allen." He is Chatter's grandson! Shocked

I guess that explains his ability to make a day offshore fishing on the "BILLBUSTERS" a day to remember! Very Happy

I know I will not be forgetting this trip any time soon! Wink

Thanks Captain Mark for the "Memories!"

gulftrout · Full Grown Flour Bluffian Joined: 20 Aug 2007 Posts: 1629

Total catch this day, one small dorado, one Atlantic Sharpnose shark, two bonita, four kingfish and a limit of 10 red snapper that almost completely filled the box.. Smile

shallowsport · Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 11:23 pm Post subject:

You certainly know your fishing, GT, and always tell a good story about it.

eksda · Flour Bluffian in training Joined: 04 Dec 2009 Posts: 288

so good to hear you had a great time. just when i thought we might have a few weeks to try and come down to visit we just heard at the baby shower that our first grandbaby will be coming early. the dr has said he is going do c-section some time after the fifth of july about the 8th if they waited any longer it might be too dangerous for both mother and child. so now with it being about 12 days away we are not straying to far away. they live in florida and we will leave as soon as we know the date. by the way we found out saturday at the shower we are having a boy. i cannot wait. but we should be coming sometime in august to corpus. keep on fishing and having fun

gulftrout · Full Grown Flour Bluffian Joined: 20 Aug 2007 Posts: 1629

lloydrage · Pony Mullet Joined: 11 Jun 2013 Posts: 50

great report!

FINS · Posted: Mon Jun 24, 2013 9:08 pm Post subject:

Living the dream! That's awesome. Cool story about chatter Allen too since you were just talking about him

gulftrout · Full Grown Flour Bluffian Joined: 20 Aug 2007 Posts: 1629

Now for the rest of the story and the one that "Almost" got away. Captain Mark reminds me a lot of myself 20 years ago. I can tell he goes the extra mile and fishes just a little past the last minute. Sunday on the way in he wanted to try the bouy's off the Port A. Jetty's. As he slowed down at the #3 bouy, he calmly looked down from the bridge and told Nathan there is a ling here! Shocked

I heard this and immediately my blood pressure shot right off the charts. At this very second I had come down with "Ling Fever' again. Laughing

Nathan got the ling rod ready as I grabbed my small shimano reel and tied on a lure. Nathan baited the ling rod with a shiny ribbon fish and got ready as Captain Mark positioned the boat.