This was one of those trips that was full of adventure and excitement. The weather was picture perfect with glass like seas. The way out hosted a beautiful sunset. This magnificent shot was captured by Joann.(photo by Arnold) As you can see, the dolphins were enjoying the conditions as well.
One comment made was by one of our frequent fisherman, Carlos. “The first day was a steam bath” There was no wind, hot sun and a 9 quart total of consumed Gatorade. Also, on the way out, there was the always disturbing site of many miles of dead fish. The Red tide has hit parts of the Gulf. Capt. Mitch scurried through it to get to some clean water and “live” action.
The depths that he worked in varied from 90 to 130 feet of water. The first part of the trip was on the slow side, but as time marched on, the bite had turned on. Full blast! The Selby Father and son team were out and absolutely slaughtered the fish! Big Bob caught his first Kingfish. They both had a vast variety of species including Red Grouper, Gag Grouper, Red Snapper, Kingfish, Bonita, Scamp, Yellowtail Snapper and an abundance of very Large Mangrove Snapper. “We were on a 2 day mission to catch fish” and catch fish they did! As a matter of fact, Bob Jr. lost the Jackpot to Tim F. by only 2/10 of a pound. These Mangos were all very big. Lee went home with the largest Gag. The biggest Grunt ever caught on the Gulfstar was part of the catch. A whopping 18′ and 3.2 pounds! Wow!!
There was also an exciting moment as our passengers witnessed a low “fly over” by two FA 18 Hornets. “all part of the Gulfstar experience” commented one gentleman. The last evening of fishing was incredible. Mango! Mango! Mango! One after the other. And all were very sizeable.
We had lots of happy fisherman. Rocky came all the way from Atlanta to fish and was glad he did. We also had Alfredo from Gainesville who went home with a fantastic cooler full.
I spoke to the Selby boys tonight and they were still beaming from their memorable trip. As a matter of fact, Big Bob commented that his arms were starting to finally feel better as he & Bob Jr went from non stop snapper catching to having their fish cooked up fresh for them all with in a 12 hour period!
Another awesome experience for all.
Captain Joy