After five weekends of bad fishing and horrible weather the Gulfstar and passengers finally got a break!
We fished deep, we fished shallow, we fished north, we fished south – the only thing we could find was wind, rough seas and a few lost fish. This past weekend we broke that trend! We had the most fantastic weather and fishing that we have seen in 4-5 months. We left Thursday afternoon bound for the warsaw grounds on a special Ultra Limited load (6 passengers) deep water trip. We were determined to catch our limit of 2 warsaw grouper but we wanted them to be giant! In the past we have had passengers hook up very large warsaw but fail to land them because they are unbelievably strong and tactful at breaking you off. Because it was an Ultra Limited load, with 6 passengers and we were allowed only two warsaw. We decided to make teams and tie three lines to one swivel and hook to increase our chances of landing a monster. At the very least, it was going to be a good laugh! Friday morning we made a few stops that were at best a slow pick. When we got to the spot that we felt confident that the warsaws would be, we hooked up our crazy three person rig and used a whole bonita for bait, tied to a double 18/O hook with 250 lb. test. It did not take long for the warsaws to attack our bait. Within 10 seconds of reaching the bottom, all three rods bowed over with rod tips in the water! It took us about 2 hours after a few break offs and a few missed fish to to land our limit of warsaw. Wow, what an intense time reeling up one fish with three fishing rods. I can’t wait to do it again! With a few hours of sunlight left, we headed offshore towards our swordfish area. Along the way we stopped at a few spots around 700 ft. and fished for grouper and tile fish. The fishing was pretty decent but we didn’t have much time to stay because we needed to get setup for swordfishing. Swordfishing proved to be pretty much uneventful so at 1 am we made a 35 mile ride to a different fishing zone. Arriving before sunrise, we dropped down in 800 ft. of water and the grouper and tile fish started to bite. We fished that area for the whole day on Saturday. The fish were so aggressive that we had many multiple hookups – as many as 5 on one line! All anglers caught many grouper of different varieties and golden and grey tile fish. Wow, what a day of fishing! Unbelievable!!! Swordfishing later that night, we had one bite and a couple swords swimming around the boat, but no solid hook ups. This was the most excellent fishing that we have seen since last summer and I can’t wait to get back to that deep water!
We have another specialty trip scheduled that is very similar to this one with two spots left on August 23rd. If you would like the opportunity to get on this trip, call the office at 727-938-5300 or book online!