| 2005 EC FL Road Trip Mega Report
Boca Grande,
FL
June 18th-26th, 2005
Report by Oz |
The first annual EC Road Trip was a dreamy idea that started
a couple months ago between raiderred and I. Throughout the the weeks a degree
of uncertainty hovered as to whether or not the trip would go through. Several
people had to back out due to time restraints or unfortunate inaccessible
issues at the last minute. With one week left until departure, the final
attendance would be set in stone as it would be RaiderRed (Todd), Mako (Gabe),
Mr. Champ (Patrick), and myself.
We left on the Friday evening filling up Gabe's Suburban and
hauling Patricks trailer with equipment, coolers, and kayaks. It was decided
that we would invade my bait supply and take several Bonita and Jacks as
starter baits. Our final destination had changed from the original Fort Desoto
area down to Boca Grande to avoid the major red tide that was affecting the
northern waters. Boca Grande is the newly proclaimed Tarpon capital of the
world, no shortage of summer Tarpon or mega sharks. After a long 24 hour
drive, we finally reach the promised lands and hit the Boca Grande Park,
an area we knew very little about.
We pull up and scout out a couple areas of the park. After driving
nonstop for over a day, we are in extreme anxiety and decide to get busy
and start fishing. The water was calm and clear and we started running baits
out around 12:30am. We cast a couple baits and ran out a couple baits. The
activity started right off the bat with some runs on cast baits. After a
couple misses Mako gets in a small Blacktip in and release our first shark
of the trip.
After another run or two, Champ gets hooked up on his daiwa
sealine and after a respectable fight, he lands a healthy 5'10" Blacktip.
Gabe tags the shark and things are looking good for an unpredictable location.
After another run or two, we decide to save the action and get
some sleep. We wake up in the morning to beautiful clear water and calm seas.
Due to the area being heavily fished for Tarpon via boats, we knew the majority
of our surf fishing would be done at night.
We pack up and move as the Tarpon wranglers would move through.
We find some decent backwater and decide to take the kayaks to see what would
be in store for us. We fish some nice structure loaded with Mangrove Snapper,
Snook, and Sheepshead.
We fish for a while and eventually Gabe and I can't take it
any longer, we get the snorkel gear and explore the structure finding an
array of quality and unique game fish. We end up getting a couple fish to
add to bait supply before the dirty excess rain waters wash out with the
tide.
After a nice meal, we head back to our new found home and start
running baits out. We get a run or two for the first few hours, being quiet
until just after midnight. Around 12:30 my 12/0 goes off and Champ helps
me strap in.
After a 20+ minute fight, I ease the fish to the shore. We get
him into the wade gut and Champ leaders the unidentified predator. We finally
haul her up to the waters edge and in the lights of the head lamps noticed
that we finally get our first Florida Lemon. Coming in at 8' 3", Gabe tags
the beautiful beast and after a few pictures we release her to her warm tropic
waters. This ends up being my biggest of 4 Lemons caught during the time
frame of just over a year.
As Champ and I walk back up the beach after the release, we
notice Todd and Gabe hooked up on the Ozinator. We get Todd strapped in but
he is horsing the fish in.
After a short 5-10 minute fight, Todd successfully lands a 7'5"
Lemon Shark. After a couple of pics, I tag the male Lemon (quite possibly
the previous shark's mate) and we release our second nice fish of the early
morning.
After 2 days of running out our prime Texas bait stock, we finally
are running out and down to next to nothing. I re-rig up the Jack that the
first Lemon hit on and run the bait back out on the 6/0-wide big game conversion.
After another hour ellipses, the reel starts singing. I get to it and let
the fish run for a few seconds then hit him for the hook set.
After the hookset, this fish immediately displayed its power,
size, and brute force for as it was trying to shoot the pass on me. I knew
this was a big fish and knew it had to be stopped before something tragic
would conclude the fight. Stacked with 100# PP, and 100# Topshot, I could
afford to lock the drag on the beast. After about 30 minutes of a rugged
tug of war battle, the fish was starting to whoop me. At one back-breaking
point it had me subdued on one knee hanging on. I mentally stick with it
and eventually get Todd to fetch my harness for the remainder of the fight.
We get the fish on the first bar and I see some unique fins, and the action
that closely resembled a Tiger Shark on the first bar. The fish took another
run and a few minutes after we get him back into the wade gut and still not
knowing for sure what it was, Todd leaders the beast. We get the fish on
the waters edge and find out we have just landed a Goliath Grouper (Jewfish)
with a total length just under 7'.
Without a doubt my most testing opponent on the Ozinator rod,
an old Breakaway Stinger Blank which was built up by Kcon a few years back.
A massive fish by all means with a length of 80" and a girth of 5 1/2'.
Calculations by length-girth estimates put it over 400#. One of the most
vivid memories of this fish is when comparing it to boated Yellowfin giant,
when rapidly flopping his tail on the deck. This monster Grouper did the
same Tuna like thump action on the sand, thus shaking the beach like an
underground tremor. Most impressive. We eventually are able to drag the fish
inch by inch to deep enough water and just like a switch, he hauled off like
a torpedo back to the moon lit sea.
We continued to run baits out until 4am in the calm seas. With
little action we finally call it an amazing night/morning and get some sleep.
We wake up after a couple hour nap and from this point on, mother nature
disapproved of us being there. Practically non-stop rain followed for the
next few days. Nonetheless it did not stop our continuing fishing efforts.
The next day we get to meet up with Cubs83 (Shane) and David
for they happily resupply our bait stock with Jacks and various fish. They
stick around shortly while the rain pounded us for several hours straight.
Just after midnight, the FL gentlemen head off and we are left to battle
the elements. Just as the moon lit the sky, the next 2 hours would honor
us with hellacious runs on 3 different 12/0s. One is cut off, and the other
2 miss the hookup. It ended up being a tough night for both fishing and weather
related mentalities.
The next day Shane suggest a top secret bait supply area and
we venture south and stock up on Jacks. During the next two days, we would
land about 30 or more Jacks, and make use of every single one. The following
evening Gabe would even have a Monster Tarpon take a Jack and go airborne
under the moonlight.. quite an impressive and quick sight before spitting
the hook.
With rainclouds and lighting abroad, we wait for sunset and
deploy out baits. Hoping to redeem ourselves for the previous 2 nights of
breakoffs or mishookups, we get right on it. Once again as the moon is coming
up, we have a double hook up. Champ is down the beach fighting the fish at
one end of the camp and I am hooked up on the other. We see champ down the
beach and he gets the first Bull Shark of the trip.
Just as he lands his, I get mine to the beach which ends up being a 6'1"
Male Bull.
We run baits out throughout the early morning and Gabe hooks
up on a nice Blacktip. After another respectable fight on med/light tackle,
we tag and release another shark.
With the bad weather and numerous mosquitos and bugs drilling
our skin, we try to call it an early morning. Around 5am we are briefly woken
by the 6/0 as another Blacktip would take a bait. We get her in and release
number 4 for the night.
At sunrise we bring in our remaining lines and Todd is unknowingly
hooked up on a stubborn Nurse Shark. As I leader the shark and about to get
him on the beach, the 6-7' Nurse spits the hook and hauls back to deep water
before I could grab him. It ended up being the first Nurse Shark of the trip.
The next day we would once again make our trip South for bait. We
get back and run the arsenal out. It ended up being a very slow night. However,
our expedition was enhanced by meeting a very friendly and hospitable family.
Gordon M., his wife and 2 children were amazed by our journey and enjoyed
our company as much as we enjoyed theirs. They brought us into their home
and took care of us for the remainder of the trip. Various luxuries like
a daily morning shower outside the condo only enhanced our experience. We
are very greatful to have met such a nice and outgoing family.
The next morning David meets up with us to go Tarpon fishing
in the yaks. We head out and meet up with an army of boats searching for
the same beast.
We fish hard and David nails some bait on the Sabikis. After
drifting a while the bite had slowed down. We were yet to have an energy
supply by means of breakfast and my eyes have been heavily irritated by sand
the previous night. We fish a hard 2-3 hours and see many fish, but didn't
hook up. While not getting into the Tarpon, the yak ride out there was worth
it. Thanks to David for taking the time and having the patience to have us
tag along on his yakking adventure.
We get back and I can't pass up the opportunity to dive the
surrounding shallow structure to see what eludes us. Todd and I head out
and find numerous schools of large Sheepshead and young Grouper hanging in
the rock coral.
The next morning the plan was to hit the Atlantic coast. We
pack up early in the morning and get 100 miles away to hear the conditions
would be very discomforting and hard to fish. We take a timeout and decide
to head back to Boca where we can continue to fish in calm waters. We ironically
meet up with Gordon and his wife Tracy at the local resturant and they convince
us to head to the marina and check out their boat(s). We arrive to find Gordon's
kids Dylan and Chase fixing to head out for Mackerel. They offered to allow
us to tag along and once again we couldn't pass up an opportunity like this.
The kids take us out on the boat and we troll around for a while
getting some small Jacks before the rain would eventually run us off.
We call it a day and are happy to end the incredible journey..
or so we thought. The next morning as we are packing up ready to set
sail back to Texas, we get an offer from Chase and Dylan to go out spear
fishing with them in the boat again, and then hit the pass for a possible
toothy. These guys have already done so much for us and we are very honored
to have met such nice people.
We head out and hit the first location. Our main objective
is shark bait. We get out to a small reef to find scattered fish and as we
are about to head out to a new location, Dylan spears a nice Ray for the
cause.
We head off to a new super secret promising area and start spearing
the crap out of Spadefish and Sheepshead. We also see an uncanny amount of
Snook hanging under the structure.. a very cool sight. We take out bounty
of bait and chum and dinner and head back to the pass and try to chum up
something.
We get back to the main pass and find the Tarpon crews still
at it.
Upon cruising around we find a group of gentlemen who land and release a
nice Tarpon.
We all get set up and Gabe and I rig baits hoping to entice a nice shark.
After chumming up a storm, we finally get a shark to come up
and inspect the boat. It ends up being a heavy set Bull Shark, at 9+ a true
predatory eating machine. However our small baits did little for his massive
appetite off daily Tarpon. We keep the shark around for a couple minutes
but he decides to leave us for a hooked up Tarpon somewhere in the pass.
We come back in and hop on the Hatteras for a final group photo of us and
the kids, both young gentlemen who were the most intelligent and mature kids
I have ever met for their ages. A very delightful experience for all.
Our extensive EC Road Trip and Journey of the year finally
concludes. On the way back we remember the great moments of the trip and
reflect on all the kind people we have met throughout the week. It was an
absolute blast to once again fish with Gabe, Todd, and Patrick. We have agreed
that this will not be the last trip to Boca for it will become an annual
destination. And to be able to witness 2 large Lemons and a mega Goliath
Grouper caught within a couple hours from the beach under the moonlight is
something that you won't likely see in Texas in your lifetime. We all had
an incredible trip and can't wait til the next time.
Good fun, with good friends, with good fish.
-Oz
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