Capt. John 10 Hour Offshore
With the weather Gods threatening to cause this 10 hour trip to be a rough one Captain Johnny Williams headed the party boat Capt. John out of Pier 19. Fortunately for the 66 of us fishermen aboard the forecast was incorrect and the sort of gentle 3 to 4 foot swell wasn’t bad….. at times it pays off to give it a try, today was one of those times.
Our first stops were in the area of the old bucaneer fields north bouy. Those two stops in the 70 feet deep off color green water produced only 8 red snapper, one was a nice 14 pounder by John Berry that hit a squid tipped, 5 ounce, pink/chartreuse snapper slapper. With the rest of the mix consisting of undersize red snapper, hardhead and gafftop catfish it was time to make a move.
The offshore run continued, ending at a wreck about 15 miles farther out in 90 feet of water. Two stops there produced the remainder on the red snapper limit along with gulf trout, lane and mangrove snapper. Including in the red snapper count were several in the 11 to 17 pound range….nice.
With “nice” iced down in the fish boxes it was time to head for the house with this total catch:
- 132 red snapper to 17#
- 2 lane snapper
- 8 gulf trout
- 2 bluefish
- 3 gafftop catfish to 7+#
John Berry, Houston, his red snapper limit was a pair going 12 and 14 pounds each. The snapper slapper that fooled the 14 pound red snapper into biting also had the over 7 pound gafftop hitting it on another drop. His other red snapper was taken on a Carolina rigged squid piece.
The numerous mentions of red snapper also requires the mention of several hundred being added back to the years allowable catch number for the Capt. John. I say “added back” because there were removed as a matter of procedure early this year. Their re-instatement means red snapper can be caught and retained on the Capt. John’s offshore trips thru the end of this year.
See you on the Capt. John!
Patrick Lemire