| A few Rockstars and one Rubberduck
headed down PINS for the weekend to take advantage of the winter weather
window. Skipjack was the first to make it down on Sunday morning and begun
his pursuit for Pomps. Not long after Scott, Curtis, Kip, and I make our
way down. We pass up Skippy and began nailing Pomps and a couple Reds and
Drum. We continued to hammer the Pomps and Curtis and Kip rocked down to
the jetties. Scott and I stayed at our location and Scott continued to box
more Pomps. Meanwhile, Skipjack begins
to get his own.
I started out getting a pint of live shrimp
and two bags of ice from the Bait Bucket on SPID on Sunday morning. $9.00
and I am in business for some pompano.
I made it to the beach at about 7:15am
and headed straight to the high banks. The water was pretty off colored from
the high winds but I decided to give it a try. Fished 3 or 4 spots from the
17 to the 21 and I picked up my first piggy perch from the National
Seashore.
I kept trucking and around the 21.5 mile
post I picked off a pompano whiting tandem just as Nick Meyer was pulling
up. The action didn't get much better and I remember hearing that the water
was clearer down south in the 40's. I continued southbound and marked a nice
spot on my GPS around the 36mm. I kept traveling southward to see if the
water continued getting better. At around the 38 or so I met up with Oz,
Kip, Curmit and Old Salt as they were setting up for some fishing. I didn't
like the spot so I decided to turn back North to that spot I marked at the
36.
Unpacked and tossed a line and immediately
hooked into tandem pompano. Cast again and same results.
As I was fishing Joliver showed up with
his two boys who were ready for some fishing. I let them get in on the action
by letting them reel in some good fish. It was enjoyable watching his boys
get in on the action and seeing how that addiction can develop at such a
young age. Honestly, I think teaching someone to fish is actually more enjoyable
that catching fish itself.
We continued to catch more pompano and
put them on ice. I started to feel a little under the weather and packed
up around 2:30pm to go back home to San Antonio. Ended up with some good
eats for a "kamikaze trip"
Skippy went on home and Scott had to take off so I met up with
Curmit and Kip as they were getting baits out off the jetties. I skipped
the shark deployments and tried to catch some Trout off the rocks. Couldn't
land any specks but did manage to nail several Sand Trout that I kept for
bait. As I look over Curmit had just landed a nice Trout on the other side
of the rocks.
Kip and Curtis kept baits out all night. We ate some badass
food and jammed out to Curmit's super secret portable rockstar entertainment
center.
After some good eats we crashed and I woke up early to head
back up north to find a place to run baits out. The winds had laid and the
surf had all but calmed with the exception of the ground swell on the first
breaker... but even that was diminishing.
Come a couple hours later I get setup and organized and get
my first set of baits out. With the color change about 300yds out, I was
running 3 of 4 of my baits 400+yds. Curmit gets setup to the north of me
and Kip to the South. Curmit begins destroying the Pomps and Kip gets a couple
baits out.
As the day went on the water got greener and even calmer.
A couple hours pass and Curmit is already stacking up on the
Pomps. I get a couple Sand Trout blasted but no hookups... not exactly sure
what was nailing them but they were being an annoyance.
About an hour later a Pomp placed far gets nailed and see a shark
breach the water but throw the hook, a good fish and likely a Sandbar.
Ran that bait back out and as I kayak back in the other long bait
gets hammered. Kip sets the hook and I get in to a spool quickly disappearing.
I get harnessed in and ready to fight.
The fish fights strong but it turns into a sluggish battle. We get
the fish in closer with every passing minute, but with being out over 600yds
at one point in time it takes a while to recover the loss line. An interesting
battle and we are thinking it is a brute. After several more minutes we get
the fish in close. The shark is now near the first bar and Curtis gets the
tail rope ready. As the shark comes up to the first bar and Curtis goes out
to tail rope it, we notice there are 2 Sharks.... both Sandbars. One hooked
and the other what we think appears to be wrapped in the leader after going
after the bait that slid up the leader. As Curtis gets closer to leader the
one Sandbar is able to untangle and swim away. The other is landed. After
a couple quick pics, the tagged Sandbar Shark is released to find her previous
buddy.
After the release I head back to the truck to check on the bait I
had just ran out before the previous hookup. As soon as I get up on the truck
that particular rod begins screaming. Kip, with his camera and release kit
still in his hands, looks back at me and shakes his head. I get harnessed
in again and hammer down on this fish, who is out another good 500+yds.
About 10 minutes pass and I get the shark on the first bar.
Curmit leaders the fish again and we have another Sandbar on the beach!
After a couple more pics, my 10th Sandbar Shark of the year is released.
The sun is setting and I soon get baits out for the last 'prime time' bite.
Kip gets a couple of hits on Pomps but no hookups. With New Years
a few hours away, along with a hellacious cold front... we begin to pack
it up around 7pm. As I am reeling in one rod another goes off. I smaller
toothy but I get him in. It ends up being a 4'2" Blacknose... my first ever
taken during the winter.
On adult specimens, the 'black' or dusky spot on the nose fades but is still
detectable.
Overall it was a fun getaway for what has been an awful winter so
far weather/weed-wise. A small break in the weather and we were able to take
advantage of the nice brief conditions. Skipjack got to introduce a new victim
to our sport. Scott and Curmit boxed countless Pomps, I got a few along with
a couple Reds and some sharks, and Kip said farewell to his jinx year. 2008
will be a year of surprises, i'm sure. And while many of our stocks have
been depleted and over-fished, there are still some monsters lurking beneath
the surface and I would not be surprised if some are encountered or landed
next year. Til then, have a happy and safe new year!
Til the next great fishing window...
- Rockstars Out!
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