Looks like we will be playing dodge the rain clouds today. Chuck is aboard the AF today and he brought his neighbor Mark out with him in hopes to have another EPIC day like we did back in August of 2010 where Chuck landed BFT, Sailfish, AJ, Fin and a Wahoo all in one day. :applause

Thanks for the call last night Ernie (Eagle) for the bait and bite tips for today. It sure is nice having a fellow forum member sharing information before you even step foot on the boat. :applause

We exited the SLI to a thunderstorn passing north a few miles offshore with the next one down by Jupiter heading this way. We kept an eye on the radar to see if we need to run offshore to miss it or run back in for protection.

Hit the NE spot and marked baits but nothing chewing at 5:00am. Ran down to Bullshark and got a school of small Goggle Eyes up in the lights and started loading up on them.

We got lucky with the storm as a west wind kicked up and push it offshore so we were able to stay put.

Opted to run back to the NE spot at first light and started loading up on Sardines. Here is Mental Floss (Chris) joining in on the action. How did you guys make out today Chris?



Here is my Wingman for the day B_W. Plan once we finished fishing the Hill is to run deep about a mile apart and hunt for fins. Twice the coverage and double your chances for locating debris and fins.



Sunrise pics





After stopping at the Sandpile and topping off the wells, we arrived at the Hill just after 8:00am and on the first drift we get a get hooked up to a double header. Here is Mark with his BFT.



While Chuck was reeling in his BFT all the sudden the line starts smoking and then we see this jumping off in the distance. Hey BlackCat, I told you we would catch a sailfish next trip out. :grin Sorry, John... I can still hear the "SNAP" as your line got spooled by one of these guys last weekend. I owe you one for sure :grin

Here is Chuck fighting his sail...









CLICK THE PIC BELOW TO SEE UNDERWATER VIDEO OF CHUCKS SAILFISH



Next drift Mark hooks up to a monster Bonita...



Here is B_W and crew reeling in a BFT... Congrats :applause







Mark is hooked up again on something large but my Albright Knot I tied last night at the leader to mainline connection came unglued :banghead





Next drift Chuck lands a BFT in the box.



Plan was to try out my new rig (See Tip of the Day) after we boxed a couple of BFT's. B_W headed offshore shore but we wanted to make one more drift over the spot Chuck hooked up on and then catch up to Bryan later. We didn't get hooked up so we will have to try my new rig next time.

We headed SE and caught up with B_W in around 800ft. We continued SE and made it out to 1100ft and started to loop back in and B_W gives us a shout out that he found a flock of birds so we headed over an dropped in some liveys.

The birds moved west so we picked up the dines and started to get the daisy chains out when we came across some nice weeds. We put the dines back out and worked this area for the next few hours with no luck. B_W spotted a nice size cow below a weed patch but she didn't want anything to do with his baits.

We spotted this shoe with a triple tail hanging out with it...



We worked our way back in and drift the ledge with no more bites and with a large rain storm moving up the coast. We dial in the Sandpile to finish up our day there but half way there we started to get rain so we hung a left and headed for the SLI.

Today’s Tally

2/4 or 5 BFT
1 Sailfish
2 Bonita
1 Shoe :grin

You guys are always welcome on the AF anytime. I think we all had a great time today. :USA

How did you all make out today?

Tip of the day

This is something I was planning on trying today but we only caught (2) BFT which we put into the box. I made up one of these rigs and have it rigged and ready to put out on my Shimano Tyrnos 30 to live bait a BFT.



At the point where the main hook is attached to the leader cable, also attach your stinger hook using a double loop and crimp. I add the shrink tubing for protection when you crab the rig you won't get cut on the end of the cable. This is optional. You should probably use large Circle hooks instead of what I used. I didn't have any so this is what I used.



I use 50lb Gorilla Braid for my bridaling thread. Take a 20" pc. and tie the two ends together then attach it to the main hook.



The stinger hook needs to be approx. 8" or so from the main hook and is double looped and crimped.



Use approx. 4-6 ft of cable and do a double loop and crimp.



Make yourself a rigging hook out of a coat hanger.



Finished product:



My plan was to snap some pics on how to attach this to the BFT but that will have to come later when we actually give this a try. Basically you put the coat hanger thru the front of the eye sockets, attached the Gorilla braid and pull it back through.

Now you take the end you just brought through and place it on the hook. You now twist the hook around a few times then pass the hook point through the loop you just created between the BFT and the twist a couple of times.

Attach the stinger hook to the back of the BFT and your ready to go. Now all while doing this have the BFT wrapped in a wet towel and try and do this producure as quickly as possible. Good luck and let me know what you catch. My target is Wahoo as they feed on BFT...

Random pics on the day