A beautiful winter day on the water...

It's the weekend and we have been invited to go fishing with our friends Rick & Anne on Sea Legs.  Rick's helm is enclosed and has heat and a/c making it comfortable in all sorts of weather.  A beautiful weekend is forecast and we make our way south Friday afternoon.

Saturday morning we awaken to a beautiful day in OB.  The marine forecast is good and we are set to go.  The first order of the day is to find Doggie Day Care for Sadie.  The local vet here provides day care for dogs and I head there shortly after they open, 8am. Sadie rushes off to play with the teenager there, she will be well cared for.  Pickup is between 5-6pm, that will be a factor later.

We leave the Pass with a plan to catch bait and then on to the Tenneco rig looking for amber jack.  As is sometimes the case this time of year, bait was hard to find.  We stopped at several spots to "make bait" but nothing was to be had.  Rick had a proven spot for bait but it was about 10-15 miles out of the way.  Faced with the prospect of catching no bait elsewhere we settled in for the trip to the bait hole.  Sure enough after a few minutes the bait well was full.

When we got to the Tenneco a smaller boat was anchored up, after a few minutes he pulled anchor and headed out.  Our first few drops resulted in large snapper, all over 20lbs.  We vented them and sent them back down.  Still no Jacks.

We had to leave for home by 3:30 in order to pick up Sadie.  Time was closing in on us.  We thought our drops we may be little deep so we scaled back to 60-70'.  Bingo!  Big AJ on the electric.  We fought the fish for 10-15 minutes before we had it on the gaff, fish, 40lb class.  The next couple of drops result in big hits and lost fish but we were running out of time.  We decided to make one last drop.  It was immediately hit and the fight was on.  Unfortunately the line parted and we lost another.  Now we have head back.  Rick turned the boat NW and we begin our 33 mile run in.

Rick had done a great job to put us on the fish and putting bait in the live well.  Bait was hard to find, as hard as I have seen but we got it done.  As the sun went down the heat is on in the helm, the stereo is on, Karen & Anne are enjoying a cocktail, as we head for the hill.

The sunset was beautiful on the ride in.  We dropped Karen at the fuel dock to fetch Sadie.  I cleaned the fish and Rick and Anne tended Sea Legs.

Rick and Anne are such gracious hosts & "fishing buddies".  Rick handles the boat like a pro and we always have fun and catch fish.  We are already planning a return visit next weekend.   Super Bowl & Owners meeting be damned, we are going fishing!!!  A great day with great friends!