239-498-9992 Backcountryfishing.com
of me with my 19 inch Red grouper (another throwback) didn't come out.
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These pic's are from Monday, April 27, 2004 18 miles out in the Gulf.
The Best Day of Fishing I've *Ever* Had!
and some big barracudas. I managed to hook a couple,
but they tore up my leader and when I switched to wire, they quit biting.
Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow These were knocking them dead! On this one, the front hook is broken off and the rear hooks are straightened out. The Kings got on this one *8 times* while I was retrieving it. Each time one would get off, I would continue the retrieve and get another one on.
Saw a big Tarpon and also caught a small Gag grouper
Here is the osprey we rescued, drying his wings to fly away. 5-31-04 Big Carlos Pass
The high point of the day - rescued an
Osprey!
As we were nearing the Big Carlos Bridge I saw something flopping around
in the water. I headed over to it and saw it was an osprey getting ready
to drown. He was tangled in some fishing line. I thought he might have
been hooked, but it was just line wrapped around his wing.
We pulled up close and used the landing net to try to get him out of the
water, but he fell back in. We tried again and he gripped the edge of the
net like it was a perch. Tim held him up while I tired to get the line off
of him. I was pretty worried that he might take a swipe at me with beak or
claws, but he was actually helping me! I talked to him as I cut one end of
the line and started unwrapping it from his right wing. After a few turns
I was able to slide it off (then I found it had gotten into my prop - heh!)
I lifted up the net with him perched on it and let him perch on the boat
railing. Tim got this picture while the osprey was drying his wings. About
a minute later he spread his wings and gently took off.
It was great!
4
to 5 foot Cuda 25 pounds (on a Blue Runner)This guy launched himself like a missile - 15 feet in the air! (on a Blue Runner)
32 1/2" Cobia - 1/2 inch too short to keep!
6 poundsSome of the waves were 8 to 10 feet high!
I caught a big mackerel. He had one treble hook in his mouth and the other had grabbed him next to the gill slit. (You can see this coming, right?) I used my long needle nosed pliers to extract the back hook which was by his gill plate. I then gripped the lure with my left hand to keep him from getting re-hooked while I removed the front gang hook. As I was grabbing the front hook, he gave a mighty effort and flipped wildly, dislodging my grip. Result? He slipped down and the hook lodged solidly in my left thumb. Now I was at one end of the Yo-Zuri and he was at the other - flapping back and forth. Oooouuuuch! I got a grip on him to stop him from yanking the hook back and forth in my thumb, but now I was kind of stuck. One hand was hooked, and the other was busy holding him - I didn’t have any more hands left over to fix the problem! (I was fishing by myself as I so often do.)
So. What to do now? I could call on the radio for help, and what could anyone do? That is if anyone answered. Maybe a long time later someone would come by, and I would still have the basic problem - how to get the hook out.
Well, I knew that in these cases, when the hook is in the fish, you grip it well with the pliers and give it a firm, quick snap, and voila!, it’s out. First I had to get the mackerel off, but he solved that with another flurry and flipping back and forth. (Yeeeoooowww!) Mercifully he flipped himself right off the hook, thus solving part of my problem. Now I had one hand free.
First I poured some hydrogen peroxide over it, to cleanse it somewhat.
I ignored the mackerel flopping around on deck and got a good grip on the hook. I figured it was going to hurt, but I wasn’t going to go 20 miles home with a lure hanging from my thumb, and besides, it was early yet, and I wasn’t ready to quit fishing for the day.
So what next? On the thread I started, of assorted tips, I think I posted my theory for removing hooks - so time to prove up. Will it really work as good as I thought? It looks like I’m about to find out. If it works, it will get the hook out while minimizing pain and damage.
First I need to get the hook by itself. It’s attached by a split ring, so I start trying to get it open. Turned out the be a pretty tough job with one hand. I used my pocket knife to get it open, but it was stubborn and the knife blade would keep slipping out. (I was being very careful with the blade - didn’t want to compound my problem with another injury!) Once I got the knife blade in it, I still needed another hand to rotate it and get the hook off - no such luck. I finally managed to prop the knife blade in it and grab it with my Gerber needle nose pliers (Thanks to Jaker for showing them to me and Dean-o for ordering me a pair!). I gradually rotated it with multiple grabs and turns until the hook was rotated off.
By the way... when I didn’t move it, the hook really didn’t hurt at all. It was kind of sore, but it only really hurt when I had to tug, twist, or otherwise disturb it.
So...time to try my trick. The idea is to take a piece of line, dental floss, or whatever, and wrap it around the shank of the hook. Then you pull it tightly toward the tip. This should have the effect of running the line up under the barb so it can’t grip the flesh. Then the hook should be able to slide easily back out the way it came in. You pull the line tightly toward the tip of the hook at the same time as you pull the hook in the other direction and out of the wound. I saw it done once in an emergency room, and it was done with perfect timing and precision by a medic who also had both hands free, and the kid had his finger numbed - slightly different situation - heh!
I cleaned it well with hydrogen peroxide (you DO have a good med kit on board, right?) and put a band aid on it. It was just a small hole with a very little bleeding. Today it looks great and is only a little bit sore. I soaked it in a hot mixture of hydrogen peroxide, salt, and water, and I had a tetanus booster recently, so it should be fine. If it get red, swollen, or begin to seep anything, I’ll have the doc check it out.
Water was 86 degrees, wind out of the south about 10 mph. Ripples on the backwater, 2-3 foot waves outside.
Cast netted for bait at the Big Carlos Pass bridge. Caught a few threads, but tore my big net badly. I’ll have to spend some fixit time this week.
Went to SC tripod, but no bait.
Headed for shoals north of tripod and fished with Yo-Zuri and threadfin. Hooked one big ladyfish but it got off.
Headed for some structure off of Sanibel. Saw a school of about 20 tarpon rolling and throwing their tails up. They were awesome! It was like some joyful ballet or something. So graceful and smooth.
We chased them toward Ft. Myers Beach for 15 minutes. Threw threads at them and drifted one in front of them, but no luck at all. They went down and we didn’t see them again, so we headed toward where we had first spotted them along with a bunch of bait.
Anchored in 18 feet of water and put out a bag of chum. In short order I caught a nice gag grouper on a dead threadfin. Here’s a pic of me fighting him and then one of him. He gave me a great fight - 5 lbs, 22 ½".
A while later, I hooked something really big (using a ladyfish tail). Took me forever to get it near the boat. By the way it was fighting, I thought it might be a big ray. Finally got a glimpse of something huge down there - it was a grouper! Well, a jewfish as it turned out. What a monster! Between four and five feet long. I tried to hold it to get a picture of it measured against the side of the boat (and with me in the pic) but it gave a big surge and snapped off my line. Almost broke off my rod tip. I had made the mistake of setting it down to grab his lip with the boga grip, and he still had some surprise left in him!
And here's the nurse shark:
By the way, this is Paradise on board the Bayou Belle. A big fish, tight line, and feet up on the rail. What more could I ever ask for?
A little later I caught an 18" cobia on a dead threadfin.
Within a minute I had a bite, but it got off. Then Tim got one on. Turned out to be this beautiful red grouper! 5 pounds.
We got more bites, and I got rocked up by something big. Set that rod aside and waited several times, but each time I checked, it was still holed up. Finally broke it off.
Then I hooked into something HUGE again. 15 minutes later my arms were about tired out, and I brought another 8 foot nurse to the surface (no pic, you’ve seen one, you’ve seen em all). Maybe I need to start lifting weights! Naw, this is way more work than that already!
Caught a couple of 3 and 4 foot sharks and finally decided to call it a day. (Whew!)
As we headed in, we saw the beginning of exactly the same weather that hit us last Monday! This time I figured we’d dodge north toward Sanibel and go around it if it started to get bad again. The wind was changing around and picking up as we headed in. At 14 miles I reminded Tim that that was where we got hit last Monday, but the clouds were still quite a way ahead of us, so we kept on. The winds got really hard just a few miles out of Big Carlos Pass, and the waves were starting to build rapidly. I figured we could beat it and I was barely right. As we came in the pass, the waves were nasty behind us and the rain hit hard, but we made it! Got soaked and cold, but no hair raising adventure this time.
Got back to the ramp at 6:15 and cleaned our catch - a great day!
www.floridasportsman.com and click on "Forums".
Go to "Southwest Florida Fishing Reports". Do a search for BarryNicholls (one word)
and it will show you all of my fishing reports.