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Pit Fishing Thread

Hit OIB pretty hard this weekend. Absolutely nothing on Saturday except for a blue fish that wasn't even big enough to spring our spanish trap. One King Mack at the Jungle around 1:00pm on Sunday. 20 lbs. Got torn apart yesterday at 90' - 90', 3 smaller King Macks and 10 small sharks. Had two baits left out and was about to head home when the line started screaming at a pace I've never heard it scream before. Could barely get the boat turned around before getting 75% spooled. After 15 minutes of chasing and 45 minutes of fighting, a 12 foot shark finally surfaced 5 feet from our boat. I'll post images later today when I get them on my computer.
 
Sounds like the sharks are pretty active this year. Listening to the radio traffic on the boat when we went out, quite a few boats were also pulling in shark after shark.
 
Yep, took pretty much every bait I had out yesterday. Eventually I got tired of it and let me girlfriend start fighting the sharks to the boat so I could gaff and gut them. Dick move, but they were being dicks.
 
so they took your bait (as part of their natural instinct) and you just decided to gut them for it? you're right, that is totally a dick move and I wonder if it's illegal.
 
If you can use gutted fish as chum as it be legal then I don't see how doing the same with a sharks would be illegal
 
Went out on Sunday on a 39' boat with triple Yamaha 250s into the Gulf of Mexico. Caught a cobia and a bunch of dolphin and grouper.
 
Pretty much got skunked this weekend, but in reality I really didn't get to fish that much even though I went out both Saturday and Sunday Mornings (had to be back by noon each day and didn't get out before 8 either day).
I had my brother get some live blue crabs on Friday that we were going to use on Saturday, but for some reason he was insistent that 6 blue crabs would survive in a trolling bucket over night. He was wrong and they all died (thus were useless) so we only had frozen finger mullet and mud minnows that I netted at our dock. Frozen stuff generally sucks and Saturday was no exception. Tried to find some live mullet on Sunday morning but couldn't. Caught a few really small black sea bass and a croaker (were hoping to catch a lot more and use them as fresh bait, but didn't) but that's it.
 
Went out on Sunday on a 39' boat with triple Yamaha 250s into the Gulf of Mexico. Caught a cobia and a bunch of dolphin and grouper.

Couldn't get the cobia to bite about 10-20 miles offshore. Saw quite a few swimming in pairs but never had a hit.
 
We never saw the first cobia, or any bait balls. We saw a few sea turtles, but not the first cobia. I did hear on the radio a guy caught one that was 40", but those reports were few and far between.
 
Saw a guy pull in a 30lb Cobia right beside us. We passed again a few hours later and he confirmed the weight.
 
there's a sad story over the weekend from my hometown of Pensacola, FL with a 4-year old boy drowning on a fishing trip with his grandad. they were in the bay in their boat and reportedly the kid was wearing a life jacket and he took it off to remove some sand and then before you know it he was missing. took a multi-agency search effort but his body was recovered in the bay yesterday, not far at all from where he was first reported missing. the story seems a little sketchy, but the moral is, have little kids in life jackets at all times no matter what.
 
First King of the year (21.5 lbs, not that impressive, but didn't see or hear of another caught that day)

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Finally surfaced after a 1 hour fight

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Right before I cut the line

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Fished at HHI Saturday near Salty Dog. In about 3hrs of fishing I caught 12 whiting 1 bluefish and 1 small blacktip shark using a bottom rig with shrimp. I wish I had a second rod to fish for sharks or king mackerel or cobia. I saw a monster (30-50lb) king mackerel jump 50yds from the beach.

With sharks I only kill them if they swallowed the hook AND if they are thick, and once I kill a shark I move spots. I try not to needlessly kill sharks but I also don't judge fishermen who kill sharks. Sharks typically don't bother a shrimp bottom rig too much (I could just be lucky), in my experience they seem to be more attracted to squid and cut bait. Apparently they've been hitting Gotchas and jigs too.
 
How well did the shrimp hold up on the hook? We've started using skate wings as bait, mostly because they're practically indestructible. We'd go through shrimp at a pace that just wasnt economically feasible. I used a double hook rig while bottom fishing, caught a dozen fish or so, and didnt have to change bait once.
 
How well did the shrimp hold up on the hook? We've started using skate wings as bait, mostly because they're practically indestructible. We'd go through shrimp at a pace that just wasnt economically feasible. I used a double hook rig while bottom fishing, caught a dozen fish or so, and didnt have to change bait once.
I've never used skate wings but I hear they are a really good bait for sharks. Also apparently Europeans like to eat the wings FWIW. They say it tastes like scallops.

Shrimp are tough to use at a deep depth because while they stay on the hook fairly well, it only takes a bite or two for them to come off the hook, and then it's a time-consuming process to reel in, rebait, and drop back down. While surf fishing with the shrimp, I take the shell and legs off and typically split it in half, so one shrimp per bottom rig. When the bite is off (slack tide) I'll put a Fishbites on the end of the rig. Fishbites are incredibly durable and they work well especially on Sabiki rigs. When the bite is on (running tide) I throw some shrimp on and then I check my rod every 5-10 minutes and put new shrimp on if I'm 'cleaned'. I am really particular about checking my baits because there is nothing more frustrating than leaving a rod out for 30+mins with no bait. Also this is a personal belief but I like to have fresh shrimp on my rods at least every 10mins as I believe the fresh scent makes a difference. Shrimp certainly aren't as durable as skate wings and they can only withstand a few bites but I think they are durable to the point where 9 times out of 10 they come dislodged from a hook due to a bite. It's also important to have sharp hooks to take advantage of the bites. This is all from a surf fishing perspective though, and it doesn't take into account the nuisance of reeling in a rod every 5-10mins from a greater depth. You have more experience with this but on the wrecks and deeper depths I'd probably try to get my hands on any live bait (live mullet works great) and if that ran out I'd opt for the more durable stuff like jigheads with soft plastics, squid, skate wings etc.
 
Hey SD3. My family's place is the gray house in the left background of your first pic.
 
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