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Another great fishing trip in my PA - Offshore
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Author:  mythman [ Sat Mar 27, 2010 4:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Another great fishing trip in my PA - Offshore
Well the weather turned good for a day and a few of us jumped on the opportunity to fish for bull red in the Gulf of Mexico. We met at the High Island area and were greeted with an extremely low tide but a slick surf and water.

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We were on the water by 8:00 am and very quickly started catching fish. Here is my first bull red for the day!

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There were three kayak fishermen and we were about 3-400 yds off the beach. Here is number two for me. He swallowed the hook and gave me a nasty bleeding bite on my finger when I got the hook out.

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This is Jonsey, one of my fishing buddies, with a double he caught!

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This is me zipping around with my PA and eVolve.

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I caught a double, myself!

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This is Kent letting a big bull red drag him around the Gulf............we call this "a Texas Sleigh Ride"!

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Another bull red caught in the Pro Angler:

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We were off the water by 12:45 and we had caught 27 bull reds...........all released to fight another day.
It was a great day on the water and a good trip!
Author:  TDK [ Sun Mar 28, 2010 5:17 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Another great fishing trip in my PA - Offshore
That's a good way to start the day, Mythman! What's with the tennis balls in your rod tubes? They look a little too big to be plugs?

TDK
Author:  atavuss [ Sun Mar 28, 2010 5:29 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Another great fishing trip in my PA - Offshore
are the reds good eating? the reds must be tough fish as I never even pull the trout I release out of the water. I lift them enough to use long forceps to remove the hook and if they are not bleeding I release them. any bleeders are kept for table fare.
Author:  mythman [ Sun Mar 28, 2010 6:45 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Another great fishing trip in my PA - Offshore
TDK,
The foam balls are to keep water out of the rod tubes, when they are not in use. Although the day of this report had a flat surf, there are times that our surf is high enough that going out, you will encounter crashing waves that come over the bow and put a lot of water into the cockpit of the kayak. When that happens, if water get into the rod tubes, since they are slanted down, they hold the water and add weight to the bow. In large waves, you want as little weight as possible in the bow, so you ride up over the waves, not plow into them. The PA has a tendency to plow into them without weight, so we have to be very cautious not to add assistance to this tendency.

atavuss,
Yes, bull red fish are super tough. I have caught them with large hunks of their bodies missing due to shark bites and they healed and lived. We fish with 20 lb line and horse our fish in pretty quick and most are still green when we land them. Most times they are in the boat and out in less than 2-3 minutes. By using circle hooks (size 14/0-16/0) most of our hookup are in the corners of the mouth. However, when they are feeding super aggressive we get some that swallow the hook. Then your options are cut the leader and leave the hook in to eventually rust away or have some tool to remove the hook quickly. I use a 15" long locking pliers to remove the hook. I, also, fish with barbless hooks. Last year I caught 200 of these bull reds and all 200 were swimming strongly when I released them.

They are not good to eat, as they are too tough and many have a lot of parasites in them. They are strictly breeder fish.

Here are the pliers with a hook removed.

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Author:  TDK [ Sun Mar 28, 2010 8:05 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Another great fishing trip in my PA - Offshore
Thanks, Mythman. I figured the balls were probably to plug the tubes. They looked like colored tennis balls, so I wasn't sure how you wedged them into the openings. Knowing that they are foam balls, that makes loads of sense. Good idea. I've seen another person on the forum use large scupper plugs. I'll mostly be on calmer water, but sometimes the Potomac river can get pretty choppy, so being able to plug those tubes seems a good idea.

TDK
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