Have a vacation day today and decided to fly solo after my crew couldn’t make it. Planned a late exit to hit the tidal conditions at the SLI in daylight. Exited the dock around 6:00am.

Before leaving I snapped these pictures of the upgraded cleaning stations at the dock. They added the new back splashes so we won’t lose any fish off the back of the cleaning table as well as they drilled and countersunk the bolt heads so our knives won’t get dinged.





Special Thanks to Jim LoPilato (jlopilat@martin.fl.us) in getting this taken care of for us all :applause. Jim is the Parks Superintendent for Martin County. Thank You very much Jim. applause

Hit the buoy offshore but no baits around. Headed to the yellow buoys but found that all of them are gone between SLI and Bullshark. No baits at Bullshark but did hit the buoys south of Bullshark and picked up nothing but Hornbellies. Put some in the well just incase.





Headed offshore to Shrimpers with more of the same. Hornbellies. Hit Evans Crary with more bellies... Decided to give up trying and headed due east to the Hill...





My plan was to insure I didn't get skunked then go ahead an hunt for some fins. I put out my new Daisy chain rig and a lure that G-Spot gave me to try from Rays Offshore Tackle in Boca.





Trolled north along the ledge with no bites then circled back up on top of the ledge and headed back south. I got back to the southern tip of the Hill then swung back east and the new lure from G-Spot gets nailed 3 boat lengths off the back of the boat just like he said it would. Thank You Richard :applause.



Now that the skunk is off it is time to hunt for some debris. I headed due east and ran out to 600ft with only this to be found...



I picked this up and tossed it into the trash so the sea turtles wouldn't eat it...

I circled back SW and found some weedlines with just grass, no sargassum. Continued SW an spotted something out of the corner of my eye moving across the surface. I swung around and pulled up and it was something I have never seen before. Before I could get the camera out it was gone. It was shaped like a Blowfish but it was bright green and covered in spikes like a Sea Urchin. Any ideas on what it could have been? This was in 500ft of water...

I finally found some good weeds and while I was rigging up some hoos I had this visitor...







Here is a short video of this shark, just click the pic below



Trolled around these weeds for an hour with no knock downs. Decided to head west. Stopped in 145ft, dialed in the inlet and proceeded to troll back in and enjoy the mid day sun... Here is a pic of the water color in 76ft... Mighty fine...





Arrived back at the dock a little before 1pm. It is therapeutic to get offshore solo once in a while. :grin

Today’s Tally
1- Skip Jack - Dinner

How did you all make out today?

Tip of the day

SHRINKAGE… No, not the kind your thinking of :grin. I am talking about your fish. If you catch a 20” fin and place it on ice you might get a fine when you return to the docks an get stopped by the FWC. This article will explain it better than I but fish shrink when placed on ice and the FWC won’t care if it was legal when you caught it.

http://www.saltwaternow.com/shrinkage1.html

To be on the safe side, I add ½” to all my minimum fish regulations to account for this known fact and for Sword Fish I will be adding 1”(sure hope I get to use that extra inch someday soon :grin). Hope this saves you for any lightening of your wallets or purses. :grin

Random pics on the day