1-21-2012 Port Saint Lucie Offshore Fishing Report

Fin Addict Joined: May 12, 2009 Posts: 180

Taking Adam out today. On his menu is Wahoo, Fins, Cobia and Sailfish. So with no BFT on his list I un-rigged the Daisy Chains from the Okuma Bait Feeder rods while waiting for Adam to arrive so we could rig them up for some ballyhoo or live bait trolling later.

Here is the new Daisy Chain and lure I made in hopes to increase the fish size.

The chains are made using 5" Boone squids and the lure is a Bluewater Candy Lure called "The Bling". You can pick them up at most tackle shops (unrigged) and rig them the same way as my "Pearl Duster" lures as shown in this report. I will let you all know how they work next time we can get out.

Bluewater Candy Lure - Bling rigged the AF way...

Upsized Daisy Chain with 5" Boone Squids - Rigged the Uncle Buck way...

Captain Joe Massaro from Outlawcharters (captainjoe@outlawcharters.com) gave me this BFT lure to try out. Going to give it a try on one of our up coming trips.

Captain Jayson Arman from Billy Bones made this BFT lure that we also will be giving a try out on an up coming trip.

Adam arrived right on time. We hit the SLI around 5:30am to nice seas. Headed to the northeast spot for some baits but nothing but Hornbellies. Headed south from there and managed to load up on some Blue Runners…

Heres Vindawg catching some baits. I still haven't mastered taking pics with low light. Anyone have any tips?

Sunrise pics

We hit 60ft of water, north of Evans Crary and spotted some free jumping sailfish. We rigged up some ballyhoo and a couple of Rays chuggers and started to troll.

Managed to troll out past the Rankin without a nibble. Only a couple of Pelicans out searching for some food...

Pulled in the lines and headed eastward. Stopped on the Hill to drop in the same spread to see if we can scare up a fin or two. Vindawg radioed to us and said he boxed a fin on the Hill so our hopes were high.

Trolled from the southern tip to the northern tip and back with zero bites. Seen some BFT being caught by some other boats. Opted to run deep and look for some weeds and debris. Worked our way 25 miles offshore in 1300+ feet and only a few scattered weeds around. Not even one Flip Flop.

We drifted some livey’s while eating some lunch and then headed in the direction of Hobe Sound. In 590ft we found some weeds and debris and decided to drop in the hoos and troll around.

With only a few weeds to show for our efforts we moved on. Decided to head towards the AJ spot and planned to stop at anything fishable along the way. We hit one weedline with no luck. Then in 300+ ft we found a well defined line.

We dropped in some livey’s . About 5 minutes into the drift the blue runner on the spinner gets sporty and soon after its FISH ON… At first we thought it was a shark as it wasn’t jumping then all the sudden a nice Sail fish appears…

Heres Adam fighting this Sail with the smallest rod in the boat. A Quantum 60 spinner on an Ugly Stik

Here is a quick video of the Sailfish jumping near the boat as we were getting ready to refresh the fish for a good release.

Click the picture below for the video:

After the photo op and a good revival the Sail was released successfully.

Continued on to the AJ Spot in hopes of bending some more rods. First drop down was our lone 12+ inch blue runner. As soon as it hit 140+ feet it was FISH ON… Adam fought this fish for about 15 minutes before he came unglued. It was big but we never got it up close enough to see it. No equipment failure, just an empty hook...

Next drop down produced this guy… After a successful venting, the grouper went back into the deep.

Went back to the spot and dropped another livey down and Adam hooks up again. This time he gets this one to the boat.

Made one more stop in 90ft to drift some livey’s while cleaning up the boat and putting the outriggers away. No bites and called it quits around 2:30pm

On the way home I spotted that Flip Flop that we were looking for 25 miles offshore on US1. Maybe Karma for the next trip out :grin

Today’s Tally

1 Sailfish
1 Amberjack
1 Grouper (Vented and released)

How did you all do today?

While cleaning up the boat at the park, someone who reads my reports stopped by to chat and asked about the Skipjack (make sure you have a HMS permit if your planning on keeping any Skipjacks) that was caught a few weeks ago. He wanted to know why we kept it. Too eat I said. I told him that the crew (Matt & Jen) who caught it cooked it side by side with the BFT and found no difference in taste. It was nice chatting with you and glad you enjoy the reports.

Here is what it looked like just prior to cooking it.

Tip of the day:

These are a mixed bag of tips on things I have done that helped me out that I thought I would pass along

Help keep yourself dry by making yourself a Lexan Windshield. See Brain at Fantastic Plastics for the material.

Make sure you take it all the way up to the T-Top material to help seal it off at the top

While cleaning the boat the other day I noticed that the wire on my Flatline Clips was rusting and coming apart. Check yours before you lose them.

I replaced the wire with 400lb mono that I use on my outriggers. Worked great and should last a long time.

Last but not least. Have you ever gone to the gas pumps and found those clips that hold the nozzle open to be gone. Put one of these into your truck as a second helping hand. Just make sure your there before it tops off :hairraiser

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 7:14 pm Post subject:

Congrats AF for putting Adam on the Sail, looking good. Tell Adam I'm gonna post his fish up on the home page.

DQ
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Bertram 31 FBC (Runem Hard & Fishem Wet) --~~---<*)((((<>(
IN GOD WE TRUST
'Life may be the party we hoped for...but while we are here we might as well fish'!

Fin Addict Joined: May 12, 2009 Posts: 180

Thank You.... I will email him a linkl to the front page.
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Alwaysforward, Never Straight

Newbie Joined: Jan 26, 2012 Posts: 1

Few questions if you dont mind.I have a 19 foot keywest and im heading off Melbourne Saturday looking to find some reefs . Pretty new to the salt water fishing and i havent yet ventured out to far.How far is a safe distance i can take my boat out ?? and how many miles out do i need to go to hit some reefs ??? Thanks

Billy

Fin Addict Joined: May 22, 2009 Posts: 165

Good trip thanks for post and all the pictures. Congrates on the release of the sail. Looking forward to your next adventure. Gene
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we never know but we always go

Fin Addict Joined: May 12, 2009 Posts: 180

Thanks All

Keywest - I fish out of SLI so don't know your area. I have a 20ft CC and fished up to 30 miles offshore before. It all about knowing the conditions before you go and being prepared.

I check numerous weather sites to get a handle on the conditions throughout the day. The inlet is the most important part. You don't want to be exiting the inlet in rough seas with an outgoing tide. The outward flow meeting the natural incoming seas produces bad conditions at the inlet. This occurs more so when the seas are pushing 4ft or more.

I have one main rule of thumb that has not steered me wrong yet. I do not go offshore if the winds are 15mph or more. Those conditions are very uncomfortable.

Hope this helps... Let me know if you have any more questions.
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Alwaysforward, Never Straight

Fin Addict Joined: May 12, 2009 Posts: 180

A friend of mine (Cal Bledsoe) is walking in the "Walk to Cure Diabetes" for the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) which takes place on April 14th, 2012. If you would like to donate to this great cause, please click the link below. Thank You.

http://www2.jdrf.org/site/TR?px=1205...nal&fr_id=1656
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Alwaysforward, Never Straight


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