When it comes to running fishing trips on the Yankee Capts it take me awhile to gain full confidence when it come to a fishery. It some cases I can remember it took me 3 years to fully grasp all aspects and make the best decisions based on the conditions.
On the ride out on this trip I had solid plan. Finally this year things were making sense. It is a incredibly big ocean west of the Tortugas. If you zig when you should have zagged it could take half a day to recover. Thankfully most of the time I get lucky and can put a catch together.
Of course none of this means much if Mother Nature changes her mind and did she did this trip. I woke up a light west wind. I thought that was odd. As the day progressed it got stronger. And with the wind cames lines of squalls and gusty winds. All because of a low pressure that decided to form to the northeast of us.
So the first day we fished through the conditions with a decent bite of large grey tiles, a few grouper and a couple of queen snapper. The night bite was ok. A couple of decent shots with slow times in between.
The second day we found ok conditions to start. Again we started picking away at the grey tiles, snowy groupers and a couple queen snapper. Then the squalls came with gusty winds again. By mid afternoon they squalls won out and I started to steam east. The further east we steamed the better the conditions. So we finished up on some inshore snapper and grouper bottom. Nothing more than a slow pick but it did help top off the white box.
On the ride home it came to me. It felt like we spent a 3 day trip on Georges Bank. Soggy, grey and big swells. If it was 30 degrees colder it would have been perfect. I have not felt that in 4 years. It was strange. I spent 25 summers in New England. Funny how you can forgot things?
Anyway we managed the white box and a couple of coolers. Sadly we could have banged them up if the conditions were there. I got a quick glimpse on Saturday morning on what could have been but Mother Nature won again.
Back out Wednesday night for another trip out towards Rankin and Howells Hook. This trip gives me 3 full days to find something. Hope the calm weather returns and we can get back to business.
Capt. Greg