Just got back in from an overnight offshore trip for the last two days with a group of mennonites from Maryland.
Fishing was just ok- not great, not terrible, but the group were really nice people and just fun to have on the boat. These young men were just amazed with everything offshore. They were very polite and eager to learn everything there is to know about offshore fishing. At first I kind of thought that they were like will Ferrell's character "Buddy the Elf" from the movie elf, but I quickly realized that they lead a very different lifestyle than me and this overnight offshore fishing adventure was something they have been dreaming of doing for years. They were giddy with excitement like kids and it was awesome to get to be a part of that experience with them. We had some interesting conversations and I find their culture fascinating, as they find my lifestyle fascinating, so it was cool. We caught this nice dolphin trolling ballyhoo. We caught a white marlin on the greenstick. It wasnt very sporty on the bandit reel and it just kind of suicided itself without breaking the breakaway. Those mennonite dudes thought that fish coming up and basically tearing it's own head off was the coolest thing they ever saw. Mennonites I suppose dont really show emotions much but when that white marlin hung itself on the stick with a big red splash, they all got really excited. We had a couple tuna bites that didnt come tight before we set up for the night. We drifted perfectly across the mouth of the norfolk canyon in slick calm seas with little to no current and NOTHING, not even a shark bite or squids tearing up the baits. Not a single bite during the night with a variety of mackerels and squid staggered at different depths. We didnt even see much in the lights last night- a few squids, some 2" long dolphin, a little tiny flying fish or two- but no predators and no marks. Nonetheless the mennonites had a great time and none of them slept last night. They pulled up coolers to the back of the cockpit and sat there staring off into the underwater lights telling stories to each other, in Dutch, all night. We werent getting bites and it was calm and I was tired so I laid down and got a little rest hoping to get awakened by a rod going off, but I woke up to sunrise hitting me in the face. Not having any bites in the night, I asked the guys what they wanted to do and they said "catch some fish" so we went deep dropping. We stopped at a spot and caught a couple small barrel fish. Then we looked around in some marks on the bottom but could only catch squid- no tinkers. Then next spot a limit of 30 nice blueline tiles in two five minute long drifts. The guys seemed to enjoy the bottom fishing more than trolling so we went to a couple wrecks working closer to home and caught a catch of sea bass and a flounder or two. I thought it was a slow two days of fishing but the mennonites told me it was one of the best times they've ever had and they cant wait to go again and wanted to get into the schedule for another overnighter for the third week of September.
Boat ran good. Caught some fish. Weather was great. Most of all group was happy as they could be. I gotta say, today was a good day.
