Fished a couple days out of Murrells Inlet SC this past weekend with my good buddy Sparky. We had a fun time. Spent over 20 hours on the boat, burned nearly 200 gallons of fuel and covered over 250 miles on the water in the V21. A lot of work and just enough time at the end of each day to prepare for the next and wash down a bite to eat with a couple cold beers at the local watering hole.
Saturday 10/29
Rose around 6 am. With worries of debris floating in the water we didn't want to run the boat in the dark so we opted to start a little later than normal. Headed out the first 20 miles were a little bumpy but we managed around 20 - 22 mph. After that they spread out and we averaged 25 - 27 mph. Not far into the run my fish finder took a dump. WTF? Out to 120 ft to our spot and it was time to go to work. Plan was to troll for half hour or so for wahoo. With the FF not working I had no idea what depth we were in. Not good. Only spent about 30 min trolling before we decided to bottom fish. We got our limits of vermillion and silver snappers and tried to find the triggers. Only got 2 triggers this day before heading back in to 90' to find some black sea bass. Hit several spots, nada. Finally managed 2 keepers out of 3 fish caught. Back to the ramp by around 5 pm to wait in line for the spot fleet to clear out. Made 30+ mph the last 30 miles in.
Sunday 10/30
More of the same. We decided to get started earlier so we'd be ready at first light to head out. Rose at 4:30 am. Flatter ocean this day, so we managed to be around 15 miles in when the sun peaked above the horizon - a full hour ahead of the day before. Nice. Managed to run 27 -30 mph just about the whole way out. FF still not working, too tired the day before to investigate, so headed back to where we knew there were fish. Done about the same except the vermillions got BIGGER and we found the triggers - limits of silvers and vermillions plus a big grunt and 7 triggers. Tried the BSB again shallower and nada. Ran in around 25 mph or so.
Two day total was:
20 vermillion aka beeliners
12 silver snappers
9 triggers
2 black sea bass
1 grunt
Saturday 10/29
Rose around 6 am. With worries of debris floating in the water we didn't want to run the boat in the dark so we opted to start a little later than normal. Headed out the first 20 miles were a little bumpy but we managed around 20 - 22 mph. After that they spread out and we averaged 25 - 27 mph. Not far into the run my fish finder took a dump. WTF? Out to 120 ft to our spot and it was time to go to work. Plan was to troll for half hour or so for wahoo. With the FF not working I had no idea what depth we were in. Not good. Only spent about 30 min trolling before we decided to bottom fish. We got our limits of vermillion and silver snappers and tried to find the triggers. Only got 2 triggers this day before heading back in to 90' to find some black sea bass. Hit several spots, nada. Finally managed 2 keepers out of 3 fish caught. Back to the ramp by around 5 pm to wait in line for the spot fleet to clear out. Made 30+ mph the last 30 miles in.
Sunday 10/30
More of the same. We decided to get started earlier so we'd be ready at first light to head out. Rose at 4:30 am. Flatter ocean this day, so we managed to be around 15 miles in when the sun peaked above the horizon - a full hour ahead of the day before. Nice. Managed to run 27 -30 mph just about the whole way out. FF still not working, too tired the day before to investigate, so headed back to where we knew there were fish. Done about the same except the vermillions got BIGGER and we found the triggers - limits of silvers and vermillions plus a big grunt and 7 triggers. Tried the BSB again shallower and nada. Ran in around 25 mph or so.
Two day total was:
20 vermillion aka beeliners
12 silver snappers
9 triggers
2 black sea bass
1 grunt
