First off, sorry about the late report! Late thrusday afternoon I came down with some sort of stomach bug, most likely form a bad piece of chicken I ate for lunch and it has taken me a while to get back up to speed...but none the less I made it out with the Ben Greene charter from Miami, FL. It was nice to get an early start and we loaded up with some runners at the momument bouy and headed off. I think we started setting up at the perfect time, about 30 minutes before complete darkness. As the bite was earlier this week it didn't take long as soon as the spread was out the tip rod set around 100' got slammed and immediately started peeling line! Ben got harnessed up and for the next 10 minutes watched line roll of his reel, finally the fish turned and sprinted to the surface but on the way up the hook came loose. Set the tip back out and 10 minutes later the long balloon take off and in a few short minutes Ben has a pup snagged in the pec fin I grabbed the leader, the fish made a wiggle and he popped off. I reset the drift and moved a few more miles to the south and as I was putting the 3rd rod in the water the
2nd balloon came off and we were tight again. Ben made a great angler and by this time he had the harness thing down pat! About 15 minutes later I sunk the gaff into a nice 58" fish. We hung in with the drift while I took care of the fish and iced him up and had another 2 slashed up baits when it was time to bring them in. With me under the weather and Ben pulling on a few good fish we headed home. Ben will be forwarding me pics soon, so lok for a follow up!
Capt. Justin Nighan
www.liquidgoldcharters.com