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outdoors FISH STORY

My best friend and fellow guide buddy Chip, has a boat he runs down there. He landed a 900 pound marlin last year. Chip knows how to catchem' up!
 
Whooo boy... I don't have the gear for a marlin half that size. Missed this thread somehow Nate. My best fish story is when the tuna farm pens SW of us blew open and washed up a bunch of bluefin in the surf. Most people still ain't buyin' it went down at all. (tell that to some of the people w/o licenses that got tickets out there getting them!) That's the nature of fish stories though! People found them on the beach fresh (dead, but still fresh if you got there in time), in the surf, and grouped up just past the breakers. Don't claim to know exactly how it all happened, many were injured from the pens breaking up, net burns, etc. I'm sure they were all pretty disoriented. Guess the weak ones didn't have much of a choice but to come in with the storm surge. As I understand it, dead tuna sink- so they made it up here at least most of the way, then probably couldn't get out of surf. There's a big thread on Bloody Decks in the California report section-here

Fish like these were washing up. I don't recall where I was that night. :lol:
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Awesome pics and fish you have there TB and AJ! And you too of course Nate. FL's got fish I sure don't know much about. And never seen trout like that before! Plus a saw-fish? 17' AJ? Don't even know where to begin on that one, lol... Stunned! The gulf must be paradise. I know there's a lot of fishermen here on this forum that have probably forgotten more than I have ever known about angling.
 
Noshownate said:
AJ how big was the boat u were in when u caught the saw? cut bait
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it is only about 5 month late but the story of the sawfish is here...

I was a commercial mullet fisherman for the fall run season in the 10,000 islands...we fished mostly south and east of Goodland...lots of back country fishing...there are two sets of tides each day in Goodland (and the 10,000 islands), two highs and two lows...the high tides in the back country are about 2-4 hours behind the highs outside. We fished both high tides each day in October, November, and December...this story happened in November...around Thanksgiving if I remember correctly...

Frog came over (he lived across the street from me and kept his boats tied up in the canal behind his house) and we went out...

we had caught quite a few mullet on the outside before we went into the back country...probably 2,000 lbs, came back to Frogs house, unloaded and iced the mullet down, then went back out to see what we could find inside...we were in a bay probably 3 miles inland from the gulf on the north shore and saw a "shimmer" on the water...school of mullet....so Frog went to the shoreline ahead of the moving mullet and I threw the letgo (weight to hold the net end in place) on the shore...Frog went about twenty feet from the shore and made a long set with one line of net (we used 440 yards of 4 inch multistrand, 12 foot bag net)...after he made the set, he "beat up" (beating up is running up and down the net revving the motor to scare the mullet into the net)...there were a few mullet hitting the net but most had found a little creek running back in the mangroves where they took shelter or escaped around the end of the net...

we were shucking mullet out of the net and I noticed the net had sunk about midway...then I saw a fin...SHARK I was thinking....but it was not a shark, it was a Sawfish but we didn't know that just yet...I go my pistol (357 mag loaded with 158 grain semi-jacket hollow points) and shot in front of the dorsal fins all six rounds, reloaded and shot another 6 rounds...12 rounds at 4' range....the fish quieted down and Frog grabbed the tail....he was standing in the front of the boat and I was in the net table...out of the corner of my eye, I noticed some movement that looked like it was coming at my head...I ducked just as the saw "swished" by my left eary not missing me by more than 4 inches...very scary moment...after I realized it was a sawfish, I also realized all the shooting I did just pissed him off and I had come no where near the brain....so I reloaded again and shot it another 6 times, this time hitting the brain or so close the concussion killed the fish...

clearing the saw out of the net took us about 30 minutes and now we have to figure out how we are going to get the huge fish that is only a couple of feet shorter than our boat back to the dock....Tail Rope and tow...I hooked up the tail rope and Frog set off for home....long ride at 3-4 MPH towing a 17'10" sawfish...

the sawfish was turning over and over in the water beside the boat and I noticed something sticking out of the underside of the belly...I told Frog to pull over to a mudflat so I could get out and take a closer look...my first suspiscions were right, this sawfish was a female and had gone to the shallows to have her babies...I got out on the mudflat sinking about 18", about kneedeep, and got back to the fishes underbelly, reached inside and pulled out about 25 little sawfish and set them free....

I don't know how many of you know what a coon skiff is but thats what we fished out of...motor mounted in a well in the center of the boat 1/3 way back from the bow and a net table in the back...boat was 20' long and 8 feet wide at the top of the gunnel..

here are three pics of us hauling the sawfish up on the dock that shows the boat....

sawfish1.jpg

sawfish2.jpg

sawfish3.jpg


pick of the head and a couple of little ones...

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Noshownate said:
oAJ you been doing any fishing in the gulf at all?
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haven't been fishing in the gulf since November of 2000 but I think it is time to go again...all this talk has got me pumped...I for sure will be headed down to Fort Pierce this may to hit a week of the dolphin run in May...
 
OK, OK, I can't stand it any more...was looking thru old photographs of me fishing and my catches and have to post one and tell this story too...

I was on my way to Navarre pier in the spring of 1975...it was fairly early in the morning so I stopped at the Tiki House restaurant for breakfast...I was my waitresses last customer and she had been working all night and was about to get off...small talk led to her going fishing with me that day...I was going "sharkin' "....we got on the pier about 10 and about 10:15, fish on....after about an hour and a half, I finally got the shark to the pier, we got a tail rope on it and hoisted it up on the pier...it took 6 or 7 of us to raise the fish...weight was about 350 so not that big for a shark but it gave a great fight...it is a bull shark...this was the first date of many for the young lady in the pic and myself...dated her for about 2-3 years...

BullShark-1.jpg


and here is another shot I found that was taken in 1981 or 82 with a bunch of trout...

trout1.jpg


the reason I don't post any recipes with my fishing pictures is that if it ain't deep fat fried fresh fish, well, I won't say it, but that is how I love it...very simple...salt, pepper, granulated garlic in a bag with 1/2 flour/1/2 corn meal, oil at 350-360...perfect for frying fish...
 
great fish guys!! all these pics are making me hungry!! my dad is a huge fisherman and could post some very respectable pics here :D he has a mounted marlin above his TV :D (he caught it and got the beak attached to a fibreglass thingo)... very impressive!! and AJ.. woot woot! look at you in your young days :D yeehaaa!
 
i dont have a story.. but i did eat the fish.. does that count?? my dad and brother, second and third from the left... and then my crazy cousin below on a big family fishing day! i forget what they're called.. wahu or something..

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great looking photos mel...I bet they had fun...did they drink any beer that day?...

and thanks for noticing my looks when I was young...lets just say I enjoyed life...
 
I m late for work but just saw all these pics heeel friggin yeah makin me wanna go catch something thank you all for postin and telling some stories stories or no stories pics are a thousand words. I have never seen pics of people catching things in australia thanx for the pics mel, bnoutros i bet you had tuna fish snadwichs for a month:) those wahoo are mean looking. AJ that Bull shark is intense i guess i gotta post some more pics now!!
 
Yeah Nate, I love my tuna. Sashimi style, seared loins when super fresh. Grilled for tacos after that. Here's some yellow fin from last year. Pics really don't convey their girth. Solid suckers and good loins.
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AJ, I have to ask- (I know what you said about fried, that's the way you like it) what did you do w/ that saw fish? And you fried some shark too? Great story and pics! You too Mel, not familiar w/ those fish.

Nothin' spectacular but I have to leave this one quick. Bonito are usually used as lobster bait here. I smoke em and eat em anyway! Had a dip in Mexico one year, the fish is brined in pickle juice, smoked over manzanita, and made into a dip. I'll eat pretty much anything, and of course don't take what I won't eat. Like bay, kelp, or sand bass :sick:
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I have caught a bunch of great fish in my life but that Sawfish takes the cake AJ. Great story catching him in a mullet net of all places. Fishing starting back up here and I have my first offshore trip next week on the 24th. Scott it has been many years since we have seen the Yellowfin Tuna offshore Charleston but I hoping to see some tuna loins on my dinner plate before too long. I was fishing on a 42' Bertram back maybe 8 years ago and we were fighting a multiple hookup of dolphinfish and this Porbeagle Shark swam right under the boat like Jaws. I hooked him and measured him against the beam of the bertram close to 13' and release. When I was yonger living in florida I landed a hammerhead shark bigger than the canoe I was fishing in. Nowdays I charter fish and land at least one Blue, several whites and countless number of sailfish almost every year. I am running a 48' Ocean and a 36' Hatteras out of Ripley Light Marina this summer and ready to get back on the water. Went redfishing yesterday afternoon and caught a couple of 28" over slot sized fish about 6 lbs., nice fight in 2 feet of water on the oyster flats. Love fishing.
 
Pepper Ridge Farm said:
Love fishing.
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We know ya do, and I'm lucky to have run across that older Marlin/Man in the blue suit one, would love to see any more any time! Can't wait to see what you come up with this year!

Hold on, I gotta go call U-haul and blow this dump- destination South Carolina :cool:
 
Wow that's a huge saw fish. Do people actually eat sawfish? I'm not a huge fisherman, but I have gone several times with a few buddy's on Tuna trips out in the deep parts of mexico and most of the fun in catching a fish for me was the thrill of seeing them come up and destroy a piece of bait and the long and hard tough fight you had to endure after getting the fish hooked. It was a battle between you and the fish and my biggest 40lb tuna took me over an hour to land. The fight left me exhausted and sore, but thrilled non the less.
 
Noshownate said:
AJ that Bull shark is intense i guess i gotta post some more pics now!!
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it was pretty intense on a 6-0 reel...dang near stripped me a couple of times...

boutros said:
Yeah Nate, I love my tuna. Sashimi style, seared loins when super fresh. Grilled for tacos after that. Here's some yellow fin from last year. Pics really don't convey their girth. Solid suckers and good loins.

AJ, I have to ask- (I know what you said about fried, that's the way you like it) what did you do w/ that saw fish? And you fried some shark too? Great story and pics! You too Mel, not familiar w/ those fish.

Nothin' spectacular but I have to leave this one quick. Bonito are usually used as lobster bait here. I smoke em and eat em anyway! Had a dip in Mexico one year, the fish is brined in pickle juice, smoked over manzanita, and made into a dip. I'll eat pretty much anything, and of course don't take what I won't eat. Like bay, kelp, or sand bass :sick:
IMG_3582-1.jpg
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almost any tuna is good if it is fixed right...even the lowly bonehead...

would you believe the sawfish was sold for 1.50 a pound and I didn't keep any of it...Frog got 500 for the saw I think....he really didn't went to sell it...and the shark....I didn't taste it...

now this is probably going to aggrevate some people, but if you got redfish, cobia, dolphin, trout, and throw in a few mullet, why would you eat that nasty smelling fish...I know about soaking and stuff to get the ammonia smell out, but most of the time when I am fishing, I am eating as soon as I catch....

Pepper Ridge Farm said:
I have caught a bunch of great fish in my life but that Sawfish takes the cake AJ. Great story catching him in a mullet net of all places. Fishing starting back up here and I have my first offshore trip next week on the 24th. Scott it has been many years since we have seen the Yellowfin Tuna offshore Charleston but I hoping to see some tuna loins on my dinner plate before too long. I was fishing on a 42' Bertram back maybe 8 years ago and we were fighting a multiple hookup of dolphinfish and this Porbeagle Shark swam right under the boat like Jaws. I hooked him and measured him against the beam of the bertram close to 13' and release. When I was yonger living in florida I landed a hammerhead shark bigger than the canoe I was fishing in. Nowdays I charter fish and land at least one Blue, several whites and countless number of sailfish almost every year. I am running a 48' Ocean and a 36' Hatteras out of Ripley Light Marina this summer and ready to get back on the water. Went redfishing yesterday afternoon and caught a couple of 28" over slot sized fish about 6 lbs., nice fight in 2 feet of water on the oyster flats. Love fishing.
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yeah PRF...when we got back to the dock and finished dealing with the fish, Frog and I giggled about it saying this was a story we would be telling years from now...you never know what you will catch in a multistrand 4" mesh net....multistrand catches anything...and we ALWAYS threw back the redfish, snook, and trout that got tangled in the net too... ;)

LGHT said:
Wow that's a huge saw fish. Do people actually eat sawfish? I'm not a huge fisherman, but I have gone several times with a few buddy's on Tuna trips out in the deep parts of mexico and most of the fun in catching a fish for me was the thrill of seeing them come up and destroy a piece of bait and the long and hard tough fight you had to endure after getting the fish hooked. It was a battle between you and the fish and my biggest 40lb tuna took me over an hour to land. The fight left me exhausted and sore, but thrilled non the less.
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I assume they do, we had a market for it at $1.50 per pound...didn't sell but about 350 lbs of meat...there really ain't much to them after you get aft of the dorsal....they are essentially a big ray when you look at their mouths....they are just another cartalagenous fish in the sea that bares live young......
 
your story was really good aj almost felt i wasd theyre the saw almost hiitin ya in the face that would have probabliy hurt:)
 
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