Mexico 5/3

[Offshore IV]

Well I report the good and the bad. Went out around 4 today lake flat. Started between the point and catfish creek got my 6 rods in the water and then the wind picked up. 3’ rollers in my boat kinda sucks. Trolled all the way to the bouys by the plant and not even a mark. Went from 10-60’. It’s like they disappeared. Oh well. I’ve had such good luck this year I cannot complain, plus it was a beautiful night. Lost $10 on a bet that we’d catch one fish to an 8 year old tho hahahha

[Low Baller]

Moral of the story. ....never bet against the kids. They always win lol.

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[Offshore IV]

50 minutes ago, Low Baller said:

Moral of the story. ....never bet against the kids. They always win lol.

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Ain’t that the truth. Thought about you today because “team red” as the gf dubbed them, was out in a boat similar to yours. 16’ red Lund that was not even close to adaquate for the conditions. They got turned around and tangled I’m pretty sure. Poor guys. If they’re on this forum they’ll know it’s them I’m talking about. 

[Hachimo]

Sucks to have a bad catching day.  But they certainly make them days u load the boat up that much better.

Come to think of it. I didnt mark a whole lot of fish yesterday. Blank screens and rods would fire. Then occasionally I would have a mark come up and chase the ball,drop to neutral quick back in gear and rod would fire.  
I’m sure ur next trip will make up for it. Still nice  to get out whenever ya can. 

[Offshore IV]

6 hours ago, Hachimo said:

Sucks to have a bad catching day.  But they certainly make them days u load the boat up that much better.

Come to think of it. I didnt mark a whole lot of fish yesterday. Blank screens and rods would fire. Then occasionally I would have a mark come up and chase the ball,drop to neutral quick back in gear and rod would fire.  
I’m sure ur next trip will make up for it. Still nice  to get out whenever ya can. 

Perhaps I was going too fast. I know the saying but my experience this year has been west winds the fish bite the least, east winds the best lol I woulda changed lures more often but it was just me my gf and her 8 yo son so that combined with the rollers restricted me a bit. 

[Justy-Joe Sportfishing]

14 hours ago, Offshore IV said:

Ain’t that the truth. Thought about you today because “team red” as the gf dubbed them, was out in a boat similar to yours. 16’ red Lund that was not even close to adaquate for the conditions. They got turned around and tangled I’m pretty sure. Poor guys. If they’re on this forum they’ll know it’s them I’m talking about. 

That would be me and I'm currently lmao. In my defense I was not going to travel far and had all appropriate safety gear. We ended up heading into fish shorelines but I had no confidence in the water clarity I had in there. Luckily the wind layed down just as we were going to pack it in. Fyi I drive 3.5 hours to fish that lake and my 21steiger is camped out in LG. So hope you dont judge me for being in that boat. But it's convenient and catches fish. I always bring an emergency motor and am a guide on LG...So not really the clown you may think I am. We did get tangled fighting a king...my gf first ever so actually I pulled all lines to fight that fish solely which was intentional. Us poor guys boated 6 smaller browns and one nice brown just shy of 10#. Ended up being a great day. Although I agree it was a bit risky at one point I was out there on a west 5 to 8 forecast. Hope you guys can respect that I enjoy all you share and have learned a lot from this site! 

[Offshore IV]

1 minute ago, Justy-Joe Sportfishing said:

That would be me and I'm currently lmao. In my defense I was not going to travel far and had all appropriate safety gear. We ended up heading into fish shorelines but I had no confidence in the water clarity I had in there. Luckily the wind layed down just as we were going to pack it in. Fyi I drive 3.5 hours to fish that lake and my 21steiger is camped out in LG. So hope you dont judge me for being in that boat. But it's convenient and catches fish. I always bring an emergency motor and am a guide on LG...So not really the clown you may think I am. We did get tangled fighting a king...my gf first ever so actually I pulled all lines to fight that fish solely which was intentional. Us poor guys boated 6 smaller browns and one nice brown just shy of 10#. Ended up being a great day. Although I agree it was a bit risky at one point I was out there on a west 5 to 8 forecast. Hope you guys can respect that I enjoy all you share and have learned a lot from this site! 

Lol no **** haha let me rephrase *i likely wouldn’t have been out there in a boat smaller than mine. Haha apologies if we got too close, we kinda got pinched between you guys and another boat. Hey if it works it works, you did far better than me. Must be your truck was the last one in the lot? Mine was second to last. Got real choppy at the end of the night.

 

meant no disrespect, you guys did awesome!!! I’ll see team red again soon

[Justy-Joe Sportfishing]

12 minutes ago, Offshore IV said:

Lol no **** haha let me rephrase *i likely wouldn’t have been out there in a boat smaller than mine. Haha apologies if we got too close, we kinda got pinched between you guys and another boat. Hey if it works it works, you did far better than me. Must be your truck was the last one in the lot? Mine was second to last. Got real choppy at the end of the night.

 

meant no disrespect, you guys did awesome!!! I’ll see team red again soon

Thanks a lot man! No I got a laugh out of team red LOL. I can assure you safety is priority for me and I am a tenacious SOB but I am smarter than to push my limits too far. I have a ton of respect for you guys and no not at all. I welcome anyone who wants to fish by me is more than welcome anytime. I saw Dirty Goose go by me also...he must have been laughing his but off also watching us out there. I think I'm gonna bite the bullet and drag the big boat out next time. I realized the fish seem to be sliding deeper now and I miss my riggers. Interesting day...I was torn between fishing the obvious mud line and fishing the dirty water as it was 8 degrees warmer!? The fish we caught were all deeper, colder water. The dirty was was really baddd but we did hit the king in there so that left me wondering if the fish were there but my spread was not conducive to the conditions. I also noticed most of the boats were on the mud line so that was the obvious way to go but many guys said the bite was slow. Thoughts on this?? We did find more fish west off the mud line over 40ft. They were all on 4 colors lead which puzzled me bc I though the browns would be in the warmer water right now but maybe it's a bait thing?

[Offshore IV]

12 minutes ago, Justy-Joe Sportfishing said:

Thanks a lot man! No I got a laugh out of team red LOL. I can assure you safety is priority for me and I am a tenacious SOB but I am smarter than to push my limits too far. I have a ton of respect for you guys and no not at all. I welcome anyone who wants to fish by me is more than welcome anytime. I saw Dirty Goose go by me also...he must have been laughing his but off also watching us out there. I think I'm gonna bite the bullet and drag the big boat out next time. I realized the fish seem to be sliding deeper now and I miss my riggers. Interesting day...I was torn between fishing the obvious mud line and fishing the dirty water as it was 8 degrees warmer!? The fish we caught were all deeper, colder water. The dirty was was really baddd but we did hit the king in there so that left me wondering if the fish were there but my spread was not conducive to the conditions. I also noticed most of the boats were on the mud line so that was the obvious way to go but many guys said the bite was slow. Thoughts on this?? We did find more fish west off the mud line over 40ft. They were all on 4 colors lead which puzzled me bc I though the browns would be in the warmer water right now but maybe it's a bait thing?

Dude yesterday was the first time I went out and got nothing. The water wasn’t as clear yesterday as it was two weeks ago. But the water temp was far better in front of Mexico point. I think it was 53* there va 44* toward the plant. 40’ is the only depth I really marked even a couple fish, they were down around 35 or so. I think I woulda been better off sticking to the river mouth. I’m still learning and trying to adapt. I don’t think your boat was in danger in any way, more that it didn’t look very enjoyable haha especially if your first mate isn’t sure how to run the motor or rods. 

[Fat Trout]

1 hour ago, Justy-Joe Sportfishing said:

I saw Dirty Goose go by me also...he must have been laughing his but off also watching us out there. I think I'm gonna bite the bullet and drag the big boat out next time. I realized the fish seem to be sliding deeper now and I miss my riggers.

The  problem with having a big boat mindset in a small boat is you will push it more and more.  I ran in boats up to 25' then stepped back for a few years and didn't troll.  Then I missed the lake and I got a 13'er  with a 9.9 thinking I was "just going for bass".   I did, then I slid out further for browns, then I ended up as far as 7 miles out with a rigger half ass strapped to this thing trolling for kings on flat calm days.  Got fish too, what a sleigh ride.   That's when I needed a self intervention and got a bigger boat....then yet a bigger one....lol

[Offshore IV]

18 minutes ago, Fat Trout said:

The  problem with having a big boat mindset in a small boat is you will push it more and more.  I ran in boats up to 25' then stepped back for a few years and didn't troll.  Then I missed the lake and I got a 13'er  with a 9.9 thinking I was "just going for bass".   I did, then I slid out further for browns, then I ended up as far as 7 miles out with a rigger half ass strapped to this thing trolling for kings on flat calm days.  Got fish too, what a sleigh ride.   That's when I needed a self intervention and got a bigger boat....then yet a bigger one....lol

I’ve been trying like crazy to justify a bigger boat. My offshore is 19’ with very high sides as it was the smallest aluminum built specifically for the ocean. I rebuilt the thing, transom, floors, new outboard etc. and it serves me very well. 

[Justy-Joe Sportfishing]

LOL too funny guys. Well said. I swear half the fun is just not having a bunch of stuff going on to worry about. I do that all summer manage big spreads while entertaining. It's fun sometimes to just head out with just enough and see what you can get. That's what we've been doing anyway. And this time of year you can get away with it while everything is happening relatively shallow I guess. 

[Offshore IV]

20 minutes ago, Justy-Joe Sportfishing said:

LOL too funny guys. Well said. I swear half the fun is just not having a bunch of stuff going on to worry about. I do that all summer manage big spreads while entertaining. It's fun sometimes to just head out with just enough and see what you can get. That's what we've been doing anyway. And this time of year you can get away with it while everything is happening relatively shallow I guess. 

I’ll be honest, the first time I salmon fished with my boat was only a few years ago. I had mentioned to my buddy I didn’t want to go out more than a mile. Well after trolling for hours (not sure why my stupid self didn’t do some math) I was like 9 miles offshore haha now I carry a trolling motor as backup, although my merc only has 345 hours on it. That was only with two riggers. The following year I got two boards and two dipseys. Then I just finally got a pair of wire dipseys last week lol now I can run 10 rod spreads 

Edited May 4, 2020 by Offshore IV

[Fat Trout]

I can appreciate keeping it simple. Ive been doing this a long time. I ran more lines in the past and without always having a reliable crew i have the tangles to show for it. I now subscribe to the philosophy of "less is more". 5 rods max in my 20' tin boat.

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[Justy-Joe Sportfishing]

26 minutes ago, Fat Trout said:

I can appreciate keeping it simple. Ive been doing this a long time. I ran more lines in the past and without always having a reliable crew i have the tangles to show for it. I now subscribe to the philosophy of "less is more". 5 rods max in my 20' tin boat.

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Amen brother. I think my dream boat would be a 20' multi specie. They fish nice and easy to rig. Inboards can turn into a headache real quick and non stop. And when it's rough it's rough. Still gotta pick your days to some extent. My buddy phil has a 26 penn yan. He wants a 28 bc he still struggles with fishing in 4-6ft. Which is common out there as you guys know. And that still isn't fun in any boat for me personally. 

[Fat Trout]

25 minutes ago, Justy-Joe Sportfishing said:

Amen brother. I think my dream boat would be a 20' multi specie. They fish nice and easy to rig. Inboards can turn into a headache real quick and non stop. And when it's rough it's rough. Still gotta pick your days to some extent. My buddy phil has a 26 penn yan. He wants a 28 bc he still struggles with fishing in 4-6ft. Which is common out there as you guys know. And that still isn't fun in any boat for me personally. 

yeah 4-6 and I'm at the dock lol.  That's when I do camp maintenance, boat maintenance, drink a few with the neighbors,  appease the wife etc.    I've been out in the big water.  Its a ball buster.  even if you can get out there its rough on you.  I was an observer for the Atomik invitational last year on a 28 pen yan in 4-5's with an occasional six.  Lets see....they lost a rigger ball, fish hawk probe, 2 flasher rigs  and chewed up a copper line mid way when it got into a dipsy.  I think I have that right.   I fished on a 30'er in Lake O too....its a different feel.  Don't get me wrong they have command of things and can spread lines but I like the small-er boat feel and personal control.  I also have no concern with running solo.  Granted I do this for "fun".  If I was taking clients I'd have to be bigger, it is what it is.  

Edited May 4, 2020 by Fat Trout

[Miss em]

We were out there Saturday in the maroon Mirrocraft tiller Joe.  Went by you many times.  Best for us was in the clear water between the lighthouse and the detached wall.  Made one pass in that turbid water east of the harbor  that looked good but no hits there for us.  Straight river water was way too turbid.  We quit around noon and tripled on our last pass.  We lost all our big ones and had one king hit there.  Got pretty nice there late morning.  

[juthunter32]

Braved it out this afternoon managed 10/13 with a small king. Still right where I left them from sat where we did 13/16 or so. Biggest brown around 8lbs. All spoons leadcores slides and riggers all taking equal shots and equal shots stingers vs stingrays. My rec boats a 22 tinny and Sportcraft 270 my charter boat.... convenience of the trailer of the 22 is great but the room and stability of the Sportcraft is missed

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[hassellmania]

I have a 21 foot Starcraft and have nothing but respect for the guys in the little boats.  We always say look at those guys they are hard core. Good luck this year.

[Justy-Joe Sportfishing]

9 hours ago, Miss em said:

We were out there Saturday in the maroon Mirrocraft tiller Joe.  Went by you many times.  Best for us was in the clear water between the lighthouse and the detached wall.  Made one pass in that turbid water east of the harbor  that looked good but no hits there for us.  Straight river water was way too turbid.  We quit around noon and tripled on our last pass.  We lost all our big ones and had one king hit there.  Got pretty nice there late morning.  

Interesting. Thanks for the info Jeff. I saw you guys dip the net a few times good for you. After wind layed down we ran down to rice creek and found some fish there. Only a couple bites out on that mudline everyone was working but I figured I was doing something wrong bc it was obvious guys were catching. And we had two fish on briefly and caught a small king east side of the wall but it got too rough at one point.  

[Justy-Joe Sportfishing]

50 minutes ago, hassellmania said:

I have a 21 foot Starcraft and have nothing but respect for the guys in the little boats.  We always say look at those guys they are hard core. Good luck this year.

LOL ya thanks man. I feel the same...for most guys a 28ft. baha is not in the picture...especially with many out of jobs now or laid off. And like I said as long as common sense prevails over tenacity you will be just fine out there haha.