Whatever it takes to get the job done!
Sometimes in the charter business there are clients that you especially want to have an exceptional day. There can be many reasons, but none so compelling as a trip that I had a few days ago. Jordan is a Medical Miracle child. He has been through more surgeries in his short life than most of us will have to endure in a long life time. Jordan is not done yet; he is still on a waiting list for a new heart.
His mother and grandfather had chartered the FUNYET to take Jordan out for a half day of reef fishing. The weather was good and the conditions seemed like there would be plenty of activity to make a day of it, but it was just not happening. The current was flowing painfully slow and so was the bite. Some short grouper and a few keeper snapper were all that we could manage. Into the second hour it was looking like it was going to be an exceptionally slow day when a barracuda showed up and helped himself to what promised to be one of only a hand full of keeper sized snapper for the day.
The barracuda left nothing of the yellowtail but gills eyes and lips. It would be near impossible for an angler with the best filet knife to clean out a fish head that skillfully. The thought of putting out that particular head as bait was dismissed out of hand.
The next Yellowtail snapper that the barracuda helped himself to was taken off cleanly just behind the pectoral fins leaving enough meat to resemble bait. We put the head out on a stand up spinning rod with 50 lb braid and a trace of steel leader. We just tossed it behind the boat and allowed the head, with leader in tow to sink naturally. My hopes of hooking this big and wary reef cuda were dashed when the head finally made the slow sink to the bottom and line ceased to pay out of the open bail.
We had just gotten back to the chores at hand when the line slowly started to pay out of the spinning reel. It seemed like a longtime between the when line started to move and the bail was closed but it was probably only a few seconds. When the rod was struck the hook found home and the fight was on.
It was not a clean and easy fight, but one taking a trip to the bow and around the anchor line twice before heading back into open water. A few minutes later the fish was securely on the gaff and in the boat. The fish measured out to 54 inches and was the second largest taken on the FUNYET in 25 years.
Jordan was winded and immediately started to take his own pulse incase the fight had started another episode of heart arrhythmia. In a few minutes his pulse came down to a manageable level and he could enjoy examining his fish. It was only a few inches shorter than his shorter than normal height. It was a no brainer to the family that the fish was destined for the wall. When we returned to port the mount book for Grey Taxidermy came out and the paper work filled out.
While there are provisions for doing a release mount with all synthetic parts including teeth. Grey Taxidermy will use the real teeth of the fish if supplied. There is a world of difference in the fake and real version of the teeth in a barracuda mount.
That very afternoon Craig Geovani from the charter Boat Grand Slam, who also happens to be our local representative for Grey came by and picked up the head for processing and placement into Jordans mount.
What started out to be an uneventful day of fishing for this young man turned out to be the highlight of his life. (His words not mine)
Leave a comment
Comments will be approved before showing up.
Capt. John Sahagian
Author
Offshore and backcountry fishing in the Lower Keys, Capt. John fishes out of Little Torch Key. Catch up with him at 305-872-3407 or on the web at fishingthefloridakeys.com