Gulf of Mexico 60-HOUR IRON MAN Trip Report

[VikingFleet]

5/20/2005 4:23:00 PM

60 HR Iron man Deep water 05/17/05 The crew of the Starship, and the Air condition installers scrambled on Monday getting our new 10 ton a/c unit working before our 60 HR trip. I am sure glad we did because it was HOT the last couple of days even with a light breeze.
Now to the fishing; this 60 HR Iron man trip was very different than any head boat trip on the West coast of Florida; that I am aware of anyway. We had 37 anglers and our plan was to fish from 200-600 ft of water for big grouper like Warsaw and Yellow-edge, Queen Snapper were also on the list of fish to hunt. We did not get to fish for Queen Snapper because of a strong current, but we did catch a lot of different species.
The groupers we caught were a Warsaw grouper going about 50 lbs, True black Grouper up to 36.8 lbs, gag grouper up to the same weight, Yellow-edge grouper up to 33.2 lbs , Kitty Mitchell grouper to 15 lbs, a whole mess of Scamp grouper to about 15lbs.
The Snappers that we caught included Mutton, American Red, Mangrove, Toro, and Creole; we also got the biggest bar jacks that we have ever seen, they weighed up to about 30lbs.
Steve Fisher and Patrick Parks tied for the largest grouper , Steve had a True Black of 36.8 lbs and Patrick got a gag going 36.8 lbs, Patrick also had another gag about 31 lbs. Steve Fisher also took second place grouper with a gag of 36.6 lbs. Mike Dodich of Boca Raton FL won third place grouper with a 33.2lb Yellow-edge grouper.
The snapper pool also had a -split between two Red Snappers of 14.5 lbs each. Chuck Jackson and Josh Friedman smiled for the camera with their beauties. Captain Bob Ehman was the angler who caught the Warsaw grouper using a live vermillion snapper for bait.
Overall we are happy with how our first deepwater trip in the gulf turned out. We are already planning next season’s deepwater trips with some modifications in mind to improve our deep drop success. Awesome pictures should be posted in a couple days.
The Viking Starship will be leaving Tarpon Springs on 05/28 for Montauk; the boat will be in Montauk for the summer season. The first Trip in the fall to the Middle Grounds is scheduled for 11/04/05 @ 8pm. I will have a completed schedule in just about a week, check the home page soon.
Capt Rich

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