Last night I set the alarm for 6am, I woke up @ 5:50am knowing it was going to be a good day. Ate breakfast, hooked up the trailer and headed toward the big blue. Started trolling with my favorite lure when I reached 50ft. Trolled to the 400's and reeled up a bonita when I passed through 130ft. The reason I went all the way out to the 400's is to see if blackfin were out there. No luck, so I headed back to the 100's in hope for a king. At 150 my rod took a dive, during the few minutes of fighting, I was thinking I was about to pull up another bonita. To my surprise it was the blackfin I was hoping for (took the time to bleed it out properly and I'm enjoying Kick A** sashimi right now ). Trolled for about 30 min more with no luck, so I decided to target some snapper, grouper and/or cobia because I've been reading there here. Used a Berkley power bait eel. Jigging it along then Bam My shoulders almost got yanked out of the sockets. The jetski is getting dragged and line is ripping out of my real when the drag is set @ 35% with 50lb test. This fish is diving straight down and I'm just holding on and leaning back to level out the jetski. I didn't know what it was, but because it ran down instead of out I was thinking it was not a cobia. I remember not being able to turn the handle on my reel (Shimano TLD25). Now that I think about it, I don't even remember seeing the shine of the fish as it rose through the water because it ran straight down staying directly beneath the ski and I was leaning back looking @ the sky. When I did see the fish, I was hitting him upside the head with my miniature aluminum baseball bat As I was pulling it into the foot well, I noticed the strength of this fish had broke the trailer hook for by double 7/0 hook set up. Knowing that these fish should be bleed like the tunas, I began to do so. When I began to flip the fish to access the gills on the other side, I accidently flipped it over the foot well and it began to sink. I quickly reacted and reached for the gaff. It didn't stick! It was about the time I was thinking " OH SH*T " when I noticed I never removed the one hook that didn't break and now the lifeless fish is just dragging three feet below. Brought him up and finished bleeding him out, much more careful this time. Folded him in half and shoved him into the front storage trunk then patted myself on the back. Oh ya, the fish was a Greater Amberjack (39LB). Hope the suspense didn't kill you Fished a bit more with no luck then decided to go back and call it a morning. I trolled a lure back in because if your that’s what should be done when moving on the water. And that goes to show when my reel started sing to the sound of a 16lb bonita.

Hope you enjoy the pics. They are posted in the order of the story.

Tight Lines,
KDSone

Good report impress happy for you well done

Thanks for the report; looks like another great trip.

Damn! We haven't even declared a winner for April photo contest and you are already working on may!

Nice fish!!

That is awsome !

Nice work, early to rise early to the fish

Great report! Good job, nice catches

Nice report. As I was looking through ur pics I noticed your fish finder flush mounted to you glove box. Did you do this mod yourself?

Zapekim wrote:Nice report. As I was looking through ur pics I noticed your fish finder flush mounted to you glove box. Did you do this mod yourself?

Ya, did it with the help of my friend. I ran the wires from the transmitter through the front of the boat just before the removable compartment, then up through the fiberglass again, then under the side plastic panels (which I removed, easy) then through a hole I drilled into the glove box to hook into the monitor. I sketched the size of the monitor onto the back side of the glove box lid (which I removed) then cut it out. I placed the monitor into the lid. Taped off around the monitor and around the lid so the sealant only applied to the areas I wanted (nice & neat) applied sealant (marine grade sealant, flexible & semi-permanent, black to match my decor) let dry then removed tape, looked at it, pat myself on the back then went fishing.