I was smoking the drag on my reels.
This weekend I tried something new in the way of fishing. I have always been an inshore fisherman and never ventured out into the open gulf. Saturday morning I along with 2 good friends ventured out into the gulf looking for kingfish. The kingfish is among the fastest fish in the ocean. Which I learned the hard way as the first strike resulted in a hookup and 5 seconds later 120yards of line had been stripped from my reel leaving me with only a small bit of line still tied to the spool. I got spooled! :o :o :o All the fish I have caught before have never done that to me. I was amazed.
Later as I was trolling I got another hookup on my heavy rod. Drag started to scream and it was on. It was a battle to bring this fish back. A king is able to make drag burning runs for long distances and even when not running they pull hard. After an extended fight which included the king trying to pull me out of my boat I finally succeeded. I landed my first Kingfish!
Yes I am holding that fish away from me. It was still struggling and after looking into its mouth full of razor sharp teeth I wasn't going to allow it near me. After the photo it thrashed its way out of my grip and landed in my lap. :o That was fun >:(
Later on another hookup while the drag was screaming the fish managed to get past my steel leader and cut my 80lb leader. Yikes!
2 days of fishing 3-4 hours per day in tough conditions resulted in 10-15 kings and many spanish mackerel landed. My body feels the constant paddling over 2 days and is not happy with me. I am beat and glad the work week has started so I can get some rest. I will, however, be out there again both days next weekend chasing the kings again. This is the start of the fall run and the big ones are not here yet. I can't wait.
A few more picts.
Phinla with his very nice King!
Mark playing with his shark.
The successful return to the beach.
This weekend I tried something new in the way of fishing. I have always been an inshore fisherman and never ventured out into the open gulf. Saturday morning I along with 2 good friends ventured out into the gulf looking for kingfish. The kingfish is among the fastest fish in the ocean. Which I learned the hard way as the first strike resulted in a hookup and 5 seconds later 120yards of line had been stripped from my reel leaving me with only a small bit of line still tied to the spool. I got spooled! :o :o :o All the fish I have caught before have never done that to me. I was amazed.
Later as I was trolling I got another hookup on my heavy rod. Drag started to scream and it was on. It was a battle to bring this fish back. A king is able to make drag burning runs for long distances and even when not running they pull hard. After an extended fight which included the king trying to pull me out of my boat I finally succeeded. I landed my first Kingfish!
Yes I am holding that fish away from me. It was still struggling and after looking into its mouth full of razor sharp teeth I wasn't going to allow it near me. After the photo it thrashed its way out of my grip and landed in my lap. :o That was fun >:(
Later on another hookup while the drag was screaming the fish managed to get past my steel leader and cut my 80lb leader. Yikes!
2 days of fishing 3-4 hours per day in tough conditions resulted in 10-15 kings and many spanish mackerel landed. My body feels the constant paddling over 2 days and is not happy with me. I am beat and glad the work week has started so I can get some rest. I will, however, be out there again both days next weekend chasing the kings again. This is the start of the fall run and the big ones are not here yet. I can't wait.
A few more picts.
Phinla with his very nice King!
Mark playing with his shark.
The successful return to the beach.
