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05-25-02
Memorial
Day Weekend - Saturday
I was over on
the left coast all week, and the wind was howling. Even
the pirate ships were looking for a warm port, an escape
from the wind. But, as we all know, the wind would lay
down eventually. It was just a matter of figuring out
when. I called to the Seahunter, looking for an accurate
report for the weekend. He said that the big Daytona
Strike Fishing Tournament had been totally called off
due to the weather, but it appeared to him that the seas
were fishable.
We left the
inlet late, and made our way offshore at nearly 40 knots
with little pounding. We found scattered weed lines,
broken apart and really spread out. The flying fish were
everywhere and there was bait under the clumps of
sargassum. We set out the trolling lines (can you
believe Moose was actually fishing?) and worked the rip
to the south. I wasn't actually fishing, I was just
driving the boat. The shotgun bait took a hit, and the
broomstick folded nearly in half. The reel screamed for
a second, then silence as the rod snapped back upright.
Strike one, a miss.
We continued
trolling, but farther offshore was the direction of
travel. We came into more weeds, and the center rigger
went off again. This time we actually saw the fish. It
was a beautiful dolphin, and I was thinking of fresh
sashimi before it hit the cooler. Unfortunately, it
never hit the cooler. Why? I'll let Dave tell you when
he writes a report. I reminded him over and over,
"If you can't tie a knot, tie a lot!" So we
packed it in, and headed to the dock. The ride in was
better than the ride out, WOT ! ! NOAA needs to get
better weather forecasting. I heard that Friday was a
good day too! There was nobody out fishing, we had the
ocean to ourselves. The bait stores and hotels must have
lost a fortune with this bad call.
The Moose
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