After having a great top water trip in Dry Tortugas with
Captain Yuri two years ago and missing last year’s trip with the gang from NY
and Florida, I decided to plan a trip with my Asian gang this year. The crew
consisted of George Lai, John Cheng, John Viet, Jimmy Gee, Sherman Kong and I.
The day finally arrived after a year of preparations, we set
off in our Saltywater Tackle van on boxing day.
Traffic was crazy and we ended up being stuck in Virginia for 4 hours because of the traffic, lucky for us for setting off early and still ended up well within our schedule!
Traffic was crazy and we ended up being stuck in Virginia for 4 hours because of the traffic, lucky for us for setting off early and still ended up well within our schedule!
Captain Yuri and first mate Tommy greeted us at the boat
upon our arrival and we started to unload our tackle and got ready for the
evening departure. We left the dock around 9.00 pm and got to Fort Jefferson
around 2am and Captain Yuri quickly set the anchor for the night. Morning came
fast and the boys woke me up with their excitement and the morning scenery of
Fort Jefferson, we took the opportunity to hop off the boat and onto the island
for a few photos as Captain Yuri had to stop by the National Park to fill up
some paperwork.
We started popping in shallow water but the bite was slow in
the morning, until a massive splash on my lucky Native Works Napalm Diving
Popper 140 with El Maestro 82M(prototype) rod and the game was on, the very
first decent size Black Grouper in the box, the rest of the day was a little
sluggish. Although the bites were a little slow, everyone was happy catching
mutton snappers, groupers, yellow tail snappers, mackerels and of cause
barracudas. The day was not over yet, after dinner, the boys were keen on catching
a Goliath Grouper so Jimmy baited up his Fisherman rod paired with his Daiwa
Expedition 6500 and George baited up his OBX400 paired with Stella 20000. Not
long after, something stole George’s bait and he immediately came tight; unfortunately,
it went straight into the propeller and broke him off. On the other end Jimmy’s
Daiwa was screaming and it was game on, Jimmy fought it like a champion and
brought it to the boat side under 10 mins, after a couple of quick photos by
the boat side we removed the hook and set it free. Jimmy baited up again for
Sherman this time to experience the power of the Goliath, and just like before,
it didn’t take long before the Daiwa reel started screaming again, but this
time it wasn’t the same, the line was unstoppable and started peeling out form
the reel and I immediately screamed “Pour water onto the reel! Get water to the
reel!” but it was too late, the drag melted and we ended the night with a smoking
reel LOL L
Second morning, we again started with popping but it was
different from yesterday, the bite was way better this time and we could see
more activities on the water, fishing turned into mayhem when everyone started
catching fish after fish in all directions. George was the high hooker this
morning followed by John Viet while bringing in his bigger Black Grouper,
everyone had big smiles on their faces as we keep getting more and more varieties
and the coolers were almost getting filled. We ended the day with jigging and
the highlight was Jimmy again. He initially hooked up a small fish on his
lighter jigging setup when not long after a bigger fish ate the smaller fish
and started bolting away, everyone onboard had his chance on the rod including
myself, everyone was also keen to see what was at the end of the line but unfortunately
the main line broke off after over 45 mins of fight and left us with full of thoughts,
the guys said it felt like a Goliath, Shark or Big Amberjack… Who knows?
We ended the day with Chinese Hot Pot for our dinner and it
was the best hot pot ever with fresh fish.
The third day and the final day of the trip, as usual we
went popping on the shallows; the bite was on fire with schools of small
yellowtail snappers, you can catch them every time and on any lures, although
they were small but they were really fun to catch with light tackle. Every trip
will have to come to an end and we left the hot bite and started heading back for
land.
We have already booked for the 2016 and I’m really happy to
be on this trip with great company full of joy and laughter, I’m sure those
jokes and smiling faces and the stories from the trip will stay in our memories
for a long time, I would like to thank Captain Yuri for his hard work and
looking forward to see you again next year.
Tackle used,
Popping Rod: Stealth(Smile), Zenaq, Shimano, El Maestro 710
and 82M(prototype)
Jigging Rod: Saltywater Tackle OBX 400 and OBX300, Fisherman,
Valleyhill, Smith and Synit
Light Jigging Rod: Ajiking and Senses
Slow Fall Rod: Senses Ocean Luna
Lure: Shimano, Smith Tobiika, Ozma, Rodeo, Shout Entice,
Siren, Native Works Napalm and more…
Jig: Shimano, Williamson, Shout Shab Shab, Shiver, Lighten,
CB One F1, Hots Chibitan and more…
Tight lines
Raymond
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