Taking new FS Forum member Jukes23 (Joe) and his brotherJim out today. We have been emailing back and forth all week and an opening came available for today’s trip so they jumped at the chance. First timers aboard the AF so hope to produce the bite. The pressure is on me now :grin

Figure we had better play it safe and pick up some baits from Chip before heading out but he was a no show before 5am so I rigged (3) Sabiki rods this morning to help get the livewells blackened out faster...

Headed right to BullShark and immediately started getting baits up in the lights as soon as we arrived. :applause Started loading up on small Goggle Eyes and a couple of Sardines before the crowds showed up...

Had some Ballyhoo in the lights but by the time I got my dip net unhitched, they were gone... Once the crowd showed up the baits dispersed and made it harder to stay on them. Seen Blair there catching some baits... How did you make out today Blair?

Sunrise pics







Decided to make a move and ran into the ditch but nothing there. Ran back to Bullshark with nothing doing there either. Opted to hit and old standby and loaded up on much larger Goggle Eyes and Sardines. By 8am we had both wells blackened out and headed to the Hill...

First drift and Jim gets hooked up to a nice Jack...





Joe was hooked up as well but it came unglued...



Jim with his Jack...



Joe fighting another fish on the next drift...



This fish came unglued as well.

Was planning on running to my south spot but we kept seeing BFT's busting at the surface so we kept at it in hopes of hooking up a Tuna. Did box a Bonita for some hanging later :grin...

Finally called it and decided to run to the AJ spot. On the way we found a nice weedline in 250ft. Dropped in some dines and slow trolled them until we spotted a large Palm tree branch and pulled in the lines and ran over and it was loaded up with baits but no fins.

Chunk baited it, menhaden oil and milk with no luck. As we are working this I spot something white about a 1000 yards north of up so I got out the Binoculars and spotted this... I would have bet that this thing would be loaded up with fins...



We worked this over like nobodys business with no luck.



CLICK THE PIC BELOW TO SEE THE LOWER SIDE OF THIS BUOY



Ran in to a weedline in 140ft as we heard the fins were biting. Gave it a quick drift and opted to hit the AJ spot as it was nearby. Jim put down the lone Bluerunner he caught this morning and immediately hooked up to a nice AJ... :applause







After attempting to put Joe on one with a Goggle Eye we switched over to a bottom rig and put down some chunk bait. Joe hooks up to this Margate...





Great minds think alike so Jim and I opted to hook this guy up for bait and hopefully put Joe on a AJ. Joe gets hooked up in short order but it came unglued...



After a few more attempts we decided to go put our Bonita to use and hit the Sandpile.

Had a few nice bites then Joe gets hooked up...



Spotted hoo...



He skyed out of the water a few times...





Gotta love the smiles :applause





CLICK THE PIC BELOW TO SEE THE TEETH



Today’s Tally

1 - Margate
1 - Greater Amber Jack
1 - Alamaco Jack
1 - Cuda
0/5 - Mystery fish

You guys are welcome aboard the AF anytime. I had a great time again today. :USA

How did you all make out today?

Tip of the day

Sinker holder. Have you ever been cruising along and all the sudden a sinker comes whizzing by your head. I have and it isn’t pretty when you’re playing dodge ball with a sinker. :grin . My main bottom rod with 8oz weights I keep in the gunwale rod holder tucked away nice and safe.



But I also bring a large spinner pre-rigged with a 2-3 oz sinker on the mainline and it seem link every other trip I was having to re-rig it because while running from spot to spot the line would snap and the sinker became a projectile. :hairraiser

I found these in the store a few weeks ago and tried this last week and it worked great. Just thought I would pass this along in case there were others out there like me dodging sinkers :grin



Random pics on the day













CLICK PIC BELOW TO SEE SOME BAITS HIDDEN IN THE WEEDS