Happy Hanukah Offshore Adventure

There are many joys that can come out of a day of fishing. Landing the trophy catch, getting some sun(sometimes too much), enjoying the great outdoors, or simply spending quality time with family or friends. I've seen more than my share of sunny days and I've caught plenty of big fish, so the biggest thrill for me as a sportsman is being able to take someone fishing who has never been before - especially offshore. From loading up the boat early in the morning and trying to beat it to the boat ramp to the long, mind-balming ride in after a day on the ocean; it all feels like I've never done it before myself when I get to share that with someone who doesn't already have a photo album or a mind full of those bluewater memories.

It brings me back to the first few times my dad took me offshore when I was 8 or 9 years old, when he was just discovering the sport himself. The smell of diesel vapors in the back of the heavy party boats and big, towered sportfishers bellowing fumes so thick you can almost taste them, but soon to be replaced by the sweet aroma of sun-baked squid and the successful stench of your salty shirt covered in slime and scales at the end of the day. Watching daisy chains of squid dance and splash upon the glistening surface of the water and gazing back at a spread of lures chugging along and trying to dodge patches of sargassum, the ballyhoo behind them brought back to life by the hands of a mate using the precision of a surgeon. Just watching the mate rig a bait - weaving the wire around the fresh ballyhoo with as much grace and speed as my grandmother sewing a button on my $5 pawn shop tuxedo twenty minutes before prom - was all it took to invoke in me a sense of absolute amazement and wonder about what must lie beneath those rolling waves.

Starting with those trips out of Port Canaveral with my dad, fishing consumed my thoughts and became my world. I didn't get to go out every other weekend like I do now, what with having our own boat and friends with boats, but every six months or so we would, depending on the weather, charter a boat with one of the well-known(some quite infamous) captains. Once aboard I saw my dad try to soak it all in, try to figure it all out. How the outriggers worked, where to set the lines in the spread, why to keep a hooked schoolie dolphin in the water beside the boat; it was all quite a contrast to the bluegill and carp cane-poling we did when we lived up north. We were from Philadelphia so the closest things to the sea I remember were driving over the Ben Franklin bridge staring down at the massive harbor below, and the Jersey Shore with its unique odor of sun-tan lotion and seagull crap. This was a whole new world for us, almost a fantasy land that would evolve into a passion that we share together to this day and try to show anyone who has that spark of curiosity that starts a blazing imagination of the magic beyond our coast.

I had that opportunity recently to rekindle those memories and make some more. In the spring of 2000 my dad bought a brand new 22' walkaround fishing boat with a small cuddy cabin to get some shade. Instead of the costly charters, we now had our own vessel to journey beyond the inlet. In the past year or so I've proved to my pops my savy with boat handling and responsibility taking the boat out by myself, or at least with a couple friends. There's not much better than splittin up the gas bill with a few of my best buds and clearin the inlet before the sun comes up.

A few weeks back my co-worker known best as 'Big Jim', my friends Tombones, Kevo, and I headed out for a day of bluewater brawlin'. As soon as we cleared the inlet we saw giant greenie pods acres across. Using one sabiki rig we commenced to fill our circular livewell with about 100 baits, plenty for the day. We began trolling along the reefline a few miles south of the inlet and after about an hour all we had to show was one mega-sized Spanish mack and an oversized barracuda. The unanimous decision was to head out toward the 90' bar and try some trolling out there.

After boating a couple nice kings and another cuda or five, we opted to try to catch one of the monster Jewfish (Goliath grouper for my political audience) that have been hanging around the Secret Jewfish Reef. As we pulled up to the coordinates of Secret Jewfish Reef, I readied the five pound mackerel on a 15/0 circle hook for its descent to the depths. After marking the bottom I dropped the rig down and waited...for about 15 seconds before I was knees-to-the-gunnel, straining like I was bench pressing a couple people. The fight was on but after a couple minutes the behemoth had his way with me and popped my 80 pound line. These are big fish that are not to be taken lightly. No pun intended. If that was even a pun.

It was Big Jim's turn on the heavy broom stick of a rod with the locked down 4/0 Penn Senator. this time we sent down half of a 10lb kingfish, a meal fit for a king...or a jew. (I'm half Jewish so I reckon I'm allowed to use the humor) I was dropping a jig trying to catch another king to fill the void in the cooler Jim's extra-large bait had made when I looked over and saw Jim in a position similar to the one I had assumed a few minutes earlier; stiff rod doubled over, neck craned back, and pulling against the fish with all his might. This time I put the boat in gear as we forced the fish out of his lair, the boat actually being slowed down by the brute strength of the monster below us. Having gotten the fish away from the structure it was now an all-out up and down battle of man vs. beast. After 10 minutes or so Jim's back could take no more, so Tommy was ushered in to finish the fight. About the same ten minutes later, Tommy threw in the towel and Kevo stepped up to the plate. This fish was no guppy, and Kevo's arms soon turned into jelly and I was up. All the bull I had shot to my friends while they were fighting the fish all came back to me at once, as that fish truly kicked my ass.

The fish was starting to come up, but still had plenty of fight. I handed off the rod, not wanting any more to do with this back-breaker, and donned a mask and snorkel to get a better view of the mega grouper. As I gazed down into the aqua depths I saw the marbled pattern on the Jewfish's side and the big silver circle hook anchored right in the corner of his jaw. The visibility was great, and I could see the fish an easy forty feet down as well as a decent cobia swimming below it. The brownie wanted nothing to do with a jig, so we concentrated on getting the goliath up so we could revive her. Jim finally got her boat side and I grabbed the 150lb leaderand pulled her alongside for a better view. This is when everyone's jaws dropped to the deck. The fish was easily over 400 pounds, a mythical looking creature that looked like a being out of Star Wars and bearing quite a resemblance to Jabba the Hut, but with basketball hoop-sized fins. and a tail as wide as a truck bed.

I leadered the fish up and worked the circle hook out of its huge mouth which was easily three feet wide. She wouldn't swim away after the exhausting fight, so we fired up the Yamaha and dragged her alongside of us letting water flow through her gills to revive her. Finally she made her way down to her reefy home below and high fives cracked between our shaking hands.

We were all pretty beat, so we opted to troll some more live baits around the reef to see what we could dredge up. Not five minutes after putting the lines in we had kingfish skyrocketing on our greenies and a dolphin (mahi) dancing behind the boat. The kingfish sliced our bait in half and missed the hook on his aerial attack, but the dolphin wasn't so lucky and soon later we had a 15lb bull in the cooler. With some big summer-style thunderboomers forming to the west, we opted to head back to the inlet and call it a day. Smooth ride in and a stop at Wendy's put a nice cap on our day.

I know Jim, that being his first time offshore actually getting to fish, will remember that day and that magnificent fish for the rest of his life; I know I will. Fish like that teach you a little respect for whats down there and what fishing is all about. A beautiful, fun day on the water with some of your best friends teaches you what life is all about.

Tight lines and calm seas(unless you wanna surf),

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