| Ronnie, Jared, and I decided to take a break from trolling to
do some jigging/bottom fishing on the 'Hale Yeah' for a day meat haul and
see what kind of trouble we could in to. The plan was to hit the deeper rigs
and offshore rock structure out of Port Aransas. We headed out early Sunday
morning and hit our first rig about 30min before sunrise. I begin to put
down bait and Ronnie begins to jig. I immediately bring up a small Silky
Shark and shortly after releasing it Ronnie hauls up a nice first keeper
Snapper of the trip.
We stick around for a little bit picking up a couple more Snapper
and then head over to a shimp boat that just pulled up their nets and
started culling. Our hopes are to maybe pick up some Yellowfin that are hanging
around.
After sticking around here a while and waiting with not much
showing up, we decided to hit the old Southern rig. Ronnie picks up a med-sized
Rainbow Runner but action is fairly slow otherwise. With several boats fishing
the area we decide to hop over to the rocks. We get there and minutes later
a large head-boat out of DeepSea HQ anchors up. With little action we move
again north and start nailing some more rigs around Baker.
We finally pull up onto a rig and are greeted by a large Whale
Shark. Nina grabs her camera and takes a couple pics before vanishing fairly
quickly and never seeing it again.
After drifting for a bit we pull back up to the rig and we start
hammering fish on the jigs.
Ronnie nails the first keeper Amberjack of the trip.
Shortly after Ronnie puts Nena on a good fish. Not long and she brings up
a massive Cuda.
We begin catching several more AJ's, most undersized. Many fish
start becoming victims of the Cuda frenzies before we get them to the surface.
Several butterfly and knife jigs also fall victim. We hang out catching a
few more fish and then move out to the rocks briefly to pick up some Hardtails,
small Snapper, and a couple Kingfish.
Our journey continues as we move again several miles away hittings
some more rigs. We pull up to a rig and out comes another (different) curious
Whale Shark. As Nena pets it along side the boat, I get a chunk bait and
freeline it to the Cobia hanging around it.
Sure enough money... we get him to the boat and box'em.
At the same time we get a keeper AJ and with the Whale Shark
still sticking around, I decide to hop in and get a few pics.
'Smile buddy'
'Cobia Buzzing the Tower'
'Curiosity'
'...too big for the camera'
I get out while Ronnie and Nena get in for their first in-the-water
Whale Shark encounter.
We stuck around and continued to catch a few more fish including
more accidental Cuda's before venturing to the next spot.
We have our fill of the Cuda fest and leave and trave a few more miles
hitting another couple rigs. We pull up to one with some activity and start
dropping down. Jared bangs first and hooks into a good fish...
Thinking it was another Cuda ambush that had been accidentally
hooked, we were a bit surprised to see what it was. After a strong steady
battle Jared gets in a solid fatty AJ.
But the Cuda's did not mysteriously disappear for Jared's wife
was soon put on one by mistake. Congrats on her largest fish yet!
We fished every minute we could and covered many miles throughout
the day. Around sunset we call it a day and decide to head towards home.
Nena jumps up and takes a photo of the days reward.
Overall it was another great trip and thanks to Ronnie and Jared
for a great trip. They are also keeping Roy's butterfly jig department in
business! Lots of fun guys and gals, will do it again when it gets
calm or we'll head back out with YT on the Nyati when he wants to test his
new secret weapon out on the Yellowfin
 .
'Til the next great adventure
- Oz and crew
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