Hit the SLI around 5:30am to calm seas and slack tide. Taking Ron and Lonnie out today in hopes of anything that bends a rod. Ran down to Bullshark after hitting the red buoy out front and loaded up on Blue Runners in the lights. Ran offshore in darkness and hit Shrimpers and found Greenies, runners and hornbellies in the mix.

After picking up a few dozen greenies we ran over to Evans Crary.



We loaded up on Cigar Minnows and a dozen or so sardines. Started bump trolling some baits around this area in hopes of picking up a Sailfish right off the bat like last weekend with no luck. Got a shout out from Shoeless that he hooked up a Cobia in 100ft on a weedline so we ran out and drifted some liveys in the area.

Heres half the crew taking a breather... Daylight Savings time was not kind to Ron



Nothing like screaming FISH ON to get Ron fighting the first fish of the day... A Bonita...





We started trolling out from here towards the USS Rankin then on to the AJ Spot. Dropped down a runner and Lonnie gets hooked up to a big one. He worked the fish from 156ft on up to 106ft on the line counter then he dove again... He peeled off 276ft of line before he pulled the hook straight. (Note to self, start using beefer hooks for bottom rods.)

Decided to run out to Push Button Hill to make a drift along the ledge with some dines. No luck there .



Pulled in the lines and ran in to 290ft and spotted this floating.



Immediately hooked up a fin and did a tag and release as he was short. Water temp here was 74 degrees... Pulled back up to the bucket and picked up a few more fins with one of them a keeper. We left a couple hanging on the hook to keep the school around and boated a few more.









The bite stopped even though they were still around so we dropped in some of TJ's lures from Rays (naked, no hoos) and trolled past them and picked up another fin. After making 3 or 4 more passes by the bucket we seen a splash next to it and pulled back up and dropped in some liveys. We are on again. We drifted around this bucket from off the Loran Tower to off of Jensen Beach Condos... All the while changing out the schoolies with fresh ones and had larger schools of fins cruise through now and then and we would capitalize on them.

We picked up (3) fins around the 3ft range and (2) at 22 inches. We tried something new a few times and it worked to turn the bite back on. We let the schoolie that we had on the hook go out for a swim and when we reeled him back up, the others were in tow and ready to chew.

Heres Lonnie with one of his keeper fins...













We had a blast today that is for sure. Heres one of my fins with a partner swimming next to it.







Todays Tally:

20+ fins - Keepers = 3 gaffer size and 2 at 22". All the rest were schoolies.
0 for 1 AJ - Lonnie, you got your azz kicked today.
1 Bonita

How did you all do today?

Tip of the day: 3/13/2011:

Here are a few maintenance tips that I use to help keep that motor free of salt. Pick up some Silicone spray (cheapest I found is CRC Silicone from Wal-mart - $2.17). Twice a month, spray the entire motor. Remove the cowling and wipe down the motor to remove all debris and oils then spray the entire motor with the Silicone. Next, thoroughly clean the outside of the motor and dry. Then spray the entire outside of the motor with Silicone. Tilt the motor up and down to insure you cover all areas and moving parts get covered.

Another thing people forget to clean is the Seastar steering shaft. Crank the steering back and forth while keeping the hose on the steering shaft and rinse thoroughly. I learned the hard way (thank goodness for my warranty). My steering shaft had pitted due to not cleaning it thoroughly and it had to be replaced. Hope this helps someone…

http://www.teleflexmarine.com/wp-con...aroutboard.pdf


Random shots on the day. Some pretty cool pics of the fins.