Sandy 8/8. 8/9, and 8/10

[Gator]

I started the long weekend on Friday with Isaac jigging kings (thanks, brother!). We set up on a tough screen. and despite giving it our best shot for a couple hours only managed one laker. It's been a while since I wore the "black cat hat" lol.  But it was good to finally get out together after communicating for literally years online. 

 

My plan for Saturday was to run offshore and try to repeat last weekend, but based on a tip from Brian at the dock ("you're crazy if you run past 140 feet"}, we ran to the Nose and set up in 140' trolling East. Unlike what we normally see this time of year, the current was pushing hard to the East, albeit less so than Friday, and we needed to chug to keep down speed at 2.3-2.5 mph. We started poking a few fish immediately, and when we turned back West all he$$ broke loose...I couldn't keep four rods in the water. The break was down 40-50 feet, the fish came mostly on riggers running Warrior XL spoons, either off the clip or on cheaters pinned 10' up, and we had a smackdown on 8-12 lb coho with another 4 for 6 on mature kings topping out around 24 lbs. We quit at 10 am having gone 20 for ?? on hits.

 

On Sunday I was joined by Reel Doc (Greg) and Silver Fox. We hoped to find the same bite we'd had Saturday, only to be greeted by warmer water and a current that had switched 180 degrees from the day before. It's insane how quickly things change this time of year. Anyway, we fished essentially the same water and ground out some bites, going 2 for 4 on matures and boating lots of skippies, but no coho unfortunately. After a couple hours and a rapidly dwindling screen, we decided to take a death troll North. We ended over 400' with only one additional rip that "let go". Temperatures got much colder as we went out, but we never found a good screen. The highlight was probably that one of the kings came on an old school 1980's dodger that Scotty brought on board, which also took another shot. Next time we go out, we're wearing big hair wigs, listening to death metal, and running a straight up dodger spread!

Edited August 11, 2025 by Gator