3/16 Offshore Venice FL
 

Offshore 3/16 Venice
I got a call asking me if I wanted to join a charter going offshore with Capt. Joe Miller on Sat. Of course I said sure! Bait was easy to find, almost all pinfish, no runners. Soon we were on our way out, since the weatherman called for calm seas, Capt. Joe decided to try some spots in 150' for some AJs first. After a long run out at 33mph we arrived at some beautiful deep blue water, only to find the fish were not hungry!! We made several moves in the area, no luck. We moved back in to about 135' of water and while some of us stuck it out with live baits, we were only rewarded with some BIG red and scamp grouper that swam up off the bottom to grab our baits, we did manage one NICE mangrove on a live pinfish. Those of us who switched over to cut bait caught several nice mangroves, but the bite was not hot. The rest of the morning and early afternoon was more of the same, moving around, finding the fish were not really hungry. At about 3pm or so Capt. Joe moved us to a new spot in about 130' of water were the Ajs WERE hungry, a live pinfish about half way to the bottom would soon be hammered. These ajs were nice sized going 25# to 30# and for several of the novice saltwater anglers almost too much to handle. One fish took 3 guys working together to bring to the boat!! Quite a sight!! I landed two on live baits before I switched over to a diamond jig that I dropped down just as an AJ was being landed as we saw several AJs following our hooked fish. Almost immediately my jig was slammed hard. After about a 15 minute battle I had a 60#+ blacktip to the boat, after a short discussion we decided to keep it, and after it was cleaned, on the ice it went. Since we still had one more AJ to fill our limit, I dropped a live bait down, almost immediately another fisherman had an AJ on, so as I quickly reeled my bait in it got slammed hard! This fish took 400' of line off my Avet LX with the drag almost all the way down!! I was hoping this would be the huge AJ I had wished for, but soon Capt. Joe said he feared it might be another shark! Sure enough, after a 30 to 40 minute fight we caught sight of the fish, it was a BIG blacktip, Capt. Joe estimated it at well over 100#s!! We had it boatside several times, each time it would take off 100' or so, finally we got it close and Capt. Joe cut the leader off. It was a beautiful sight to see it swim away slowly!! All in all it was a very slow day with a couple of hectic hours of fishing at the end. It was 7:30PM when we arrived back at the dock!
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z...esBlacktip.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z...3/Mangrove.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z...CharliesAJ.jpg

Re: 3/16 Offshore Venice FL
 

Forgot to mention, all grouper are currently closed, all were released! We had several very nice ones, mostly red and scamp grouper.

Re: 3/16 Offshore Venice FL
 

Another rewarding trip out with Capt Joe!

Re: 3/16 Offshore Venice FL
 

I didn't know people ate black tips? Are they good to eat?

Re: 3/16 Offshore Venice FL
 

I was aprehensive at first, but after every fisherman onboard insisted they are good, I tried it. Very good, specially if someone does not like fish. Very firm white meat with a mild flavor. The shark is bled and gutted and put on ice as soon as caught. Great on the grill as it holds together well.

Re: 3/16 Offshore Venice FL
 

Nice going and eats! Nice to fish in shorts!!! :D

Re: 3/16 Offshore Venice FL
 

Chico, what do you do with those reef donkeys (AJ's?)

I had the displeasure of filleting one and it had some of the biggest worms I have ever seen. I don't think a cat would've eaten it.

I heard people use the cheeks to make a fish dip. Do you eat the fillets? Smoke them?