BassyiusMaximus
08-21-2006, 11:20 AM
. . . As we had done well last week on the bonito, I wanted to get my girl and my Dad in on the action as neither of them have never caught a bonito. My Dad more so as he has been fishing as long as I have and after all, is the one who got me into fishing so it was only right that I get him onto some of the toothy critters as I had gotten him on some nice bass last season.
I got us up around 5:30am hoping to get us out there early and to catch the smooth water for the trip out and we got on the water around 6:30am and did have the smoothest run of the season out to the "boneyard." We were all able to sit for the whole ride out there as even the rips and shoals on the way out where relatively calm and maybe 1 ft. at the most.
Once there, there were about 7-8 boats with 1 anchored, 2 drifting and the rest trolling willy-nilly. By the time we left around 9:30-10am, there were 22 boats in the area. 22!!!
We set out one line since the boat does not have angled rodholders so they sit up straight in the gunwales and with only a 7'10" beam, two lines get crossed up too easily. After we troll out past the crowd all huddled up in about a 1/2 mile area we get the first fish and it is a good one. Rod goes to dad who gets a nice 6-7 pounder boatside and the fish is already bigger than any of the fish we had caught last weekend, a great sign.
Second troll and my girl gets her first bonito. There were several times when she believed that there was no fish on the line as the fish almost always swim towards the boat or not against the tension, but when the fish see the boat, the fight is on and she smiled every time the fish would bolt either down or away in a zig-zagging line and the M/H 7' rod would double over and the line and drag would sing out to sea. I was so happy to get them on fish. My Dad finally got to feel what it was like to fight a bonito and my girl, who never fished before she met me, has caught about every fish indigenous to the waters on just about every bait and lure and method available and loves doing it to boot!
Two interesting scenarios happened on two different fish. Once, while on the troll, I could tell by the bend of the rod that the lure was not riding in the water like it should. I had the boat stopped and was reeling the lure in to check it when I could see it skipping and splashing on the surface in the distance, some 100 yards out. I jerked the lure to get it to dig and as soon as I did I was tight. I suspect that the fish were interested in the splashing but until the lure swam, they wouldn't hit.
The last fish of the day was a thriller. As the 40 series reels don't hold all that much 15 lb test and we were letting our lures out pretty far out, we would set the drags at the minimum and when the fish would hit, the drags would scream. So when we would get a take I'd turn up the drag to minimize the amount of line going out since when the boat is going 5-7mph and the fish runs, it can take a lot of line very quickly. Well, this last fish hit and hit hard. I tightened down on the drag but it didn't do much at all and I could tell I was on a nice fish. I could see the end of the spool and was really worried that I'd see and hear the PING!, the sound of the line popping off the spool so when it got to the end I tried to cushion the stop and moved my hand/arm with the line and the fish stopped. Thank goodness, the arbor knot held and I got some wraps on the spool and worked the fish in. Turned out to be the biggest fish of the day but still only about 6 or 7 lbs, but much bigger than the 3.5-4.5 pounders of last week. They are getting bigger though.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a184/thundra04struck/mindymebonitodock.jpg
I got us up around 5:30am hoping to get us out there early and to catch the smooth water for the trip out and we got on the water around 6:30am and did have the smoothest run of the season out to the "boneyard." We were all able to sit for the whole ride out there as even the rips and shoals on the way out where relatively calm and maybe 1 ft. at the most.
Once there, there were about 7-8 boats with 1 anchored, 2 drifting and the rest trolling willy-nilly. By the time we left around 9:30-10am, there were 22 boats in the area. 22!!!
We set out one line since the boat does not have angled rodholders so they sit up straight in the gunwales and with only a 7'10" beam, two lines get crossed up too easily. After we troll out past the crowd all huddled up in about a 1/2 mile area we get the first fish and it is a good one. Rod goes to dad who gets a nice 6-7 pounder boatside and the fish is already bigger than any of the fish we had caught last weekend, a great sign.
Second troll and my girl gets her first bonito. There were several times when she believed that there was no fish on the line as the fish almost always swim towards the boat or not against the tension, but when the fish see the boat, the fight is on and she smiled every time the fish would bolt either down or away in a zig-zagging line and the M/H 7' rod would double over and the line and drag would sing out to sea. I was so happy to get them on fish. My Dad finally got to feel what it was like to fight a bonito and my girl, who never fished before she met me, has caught about every fish indigenous to the waters on just about every bait and lure and method available and loves doing it to boot!
Two interesting scenarios happened on two different fish. Once, while on the troll, I could tell by the bend of the rod that the lure was not riding in the water like it should. I had the boat stopped and was reeling the lure in to check it when I could see it skipping and splashing on the surface in the distance, some 100 yards out. I jerked the lure to get it to dig and as soon as I did I was tight. I suspect that the fish were interested in the splashing but until the lure swam, they wouldn't hit.
The last fish of the day was a thriller. As the 40 series reels don't hold all that much 15 lb test and we were letting our lures out pretty far out, we would set the drags at the minimum and when the fish would hit, the drags would scream. So when we would get a take I'd turn up the drag to minimize the amount of line going out since when the boat is going 5-7mph and the fish runs, it can take a lot of line very quickly. Well, this last fish hit and hit hard. I tightened down on the drag but it didn't do much at all and I could tell I was on a nice fish. I could see the end of the spool and was really worried that I'd see and hear the PING!, the sound of the line popping off the spool so when it got to the end I tried to cushion the stop and moved my hand/arm with the line and the fish stopped. Thank goodness, the arbor knot held and I got some wraps on the spool and worked the fish in. Turned out to be the biggest fish of the day but still only about 6 or 7 lbs, but much bigger than the 3.5-4.5 pounders of last week. They are getting bigger though.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a184/thundra04struck/mindymebonitodock.jpg