We went out deep to look for some red snapper on Sunday. We weren't chumming heavy enough to get the snapper up and feeding, but we still managed a few fish.
The first stop had a non-stop school of 20-40# amberjacks. We put three on the boat (while cleaning them, we found out that there wasn't a single worm in any of them). There was a school of about 10 African Pompano swimming around. I must of had some kind of AP attractant, because they swarmed me on just about every drop. Unfortunately, Matt Rey was using the repellant, because he only saw one from a distance the entire time we were there. I also got one of my "poor man's tuna" (rainbow runner) at the spot. Matt Rey had a passby from a wahoo at the spot, but he wasn't able to connect. The red snapper were a no-show on the spot.
The next spot, was swarming with 20-30# kings. We didn't have much chum left, so we weren't able to get the reds up and feeding. Every once in a while one would pop up into the chum, but they kept their distance. On one of the first drops on the spot, I had a shot on one about 10#, but took a 7-8# mangrove swimming with him instead. That ended up being the only one I got within range of.
The guys on the boat were catching a lot of small 18-20" amberjacks, and instead of going back down, they were hanging under the boat. One of the AJs started drifting back and then started dropping down. When he got about 50 feet down, I followed after him. Below him was one of the kings. The king started to leave when he saw me, so I swam towards the AJ, and that got the king's attention. He turned and darted towards the AJ.
I tagged the king and off went the float. When I finally got him close, I grabbed him by the throat and impaled myself with a j-hook. He had the treble hook from a stinger rig stuck in him. So now I'm connected to a still green king - a j-hook in my hand and a treble hook in his throat. I didn't want to find out what would give first - his throat or my hand. So I just ripped the hook back out the way it went in. Now that I had a free hand, I brained the king and swam it back to the boat. When I took off my glove, there were two holes from the hook and a chunk of me hanging out of the entry hole. Rather than trying to tuck it back in, I just finished pulling it out. All five fingers still work, so I'll call that one a "win".
