Port Aransas Party Boat 5-18-03


Some of us Texas Surfmasters Board guys booked a 12hr. night trip Saturday to get a few snapper maybe an amberjack or two. We, (Me, Doug(sHArK), Jeff and Bruce), arrived at the docks a little early, went around the back and watched the boats arrive occasionally. The boats were not very impressive, with mainly shark and a few snapper, but no sows. Things weren't looking very good for us. Russell(Yakmon) shows up and we have a little while to inform him of the catches we've seen. Then, our boat came in and man were things looking up, there were a good many larger snaps on this one. We are beginning to feel a little better about the trip now.


This is the trip that came in before we left

Well, we boarded the boat and the captain came on the intercom and told us to come into the cabin for a saftey meeting. A few minutes later we were back out and breaking the jettys. The water was not too bad I guess, 3 to 4 foot seas, but a 5 to 6 footer mixed in the bunch every once in a while. It was going to be about 2 hours before we got to the first stop, about 40 miles out, so we sat around ant shot the breeze for a while. The sun was setting and Russell rushed to the camera to get this great sunset from offshore.


This is, from left, Me, Jeff and Doug just kicking back a little. Picture by Russell


Sunset from the boat. It doesn't getty any better than this

We arrived at the first fishing spot, a wreck of some sort, and dropped lines. Within no time, we were catching snapper, mostly small, but legal, so were throwing them back. Not very many large snapper were caught at all. There was a kingfish landed from the back of the boat and a sharpnose shark, but we were in small snapper. Well, its about now that I realize that Im not feeling very good.. You got it, Im seasick. I fished a while longer and got really sick, but I still tried to get a snapper limit. The Captain says for everyone to pull lines in, were moving. Most of us have not kept a snapper yet, we probably could have had a limit, but small ones. We swithc spots and have the same results, mostly all small. I had one fish on my stringer and we had been out for about 5 or six hours. The captain decides we are going to move abgain, but the boat doesn't want to cooperate at all. The anchor is not coming up. The chain broke down below. One of the deckhands comes to the back and grabs a few of us and we attempt to pull anchor by hand. About halfway up, my sea-sickness gets the best of me and I have to trade out with another guy. Finally we get it up and the captain buys us a round of drinks and were off again.


Some of the guys pulling anchor, Jeff in the middle. Photo by Russell


Russell got a picture of me and Doug catching a little shuteye.

We move to a rig and tie up for a while. Same story, different place. One sharpnose shark was caught and some small snapper. The captain gets the chain fixed for the anchor and we end up moving to a spot to drift for some kingfish and sharks. There was one more king caught and a few shark. Snapper was the same, small with an occasional nice one in the mix. By now, Im feeling bad so I head to the cabin for a little shuteye and wake to the sounds of people saying we were at the docks. Seas smoothed out for the trip in, but I was asleep and didn't get to see it, but Russell got a nice morning shot at the jettys, so I was able to see what I missed. We got off the boat, gathered our fish for a picture, and headed for home. Total count for the five of us: 3 vermillion snapper(beeliners), 10 snapper, and 1 shark. Not very productive at all, but the Captain and crew were a nice group, the fish were there, but small. Even with sea-sickness and not a lot of fish caught, Im happy with the trip. Hey, you're on the water, so it cant be all that bad huh? It was nice fishing with Doug, Russell, Jeff and Bruce again, I just cant wait for the next time.


Photo of a passing boat in the jettys the next morning. Photo by russell


Full boat catch for the night.

UTCF Home
UTCF Reports