Offshore Report: A Blackfin, a Wahoo, and Five Scamp on the Bottom
Some days you plan for one bite and get two. Yesterday was one of those — out the door at 6 a.m., a little searching for bait, an 80-mile run, and action on top before we ever got the bottom gear wet.
Finding bait, then finding the spot
First job of the morning was bait, and it took a bit of looking before we found pogies (menhaden) willing to load the livewell. Once we had them, we pointed the boat toward an area near the Georgetown Hole, roughly 80 miles from Tubbs Inlet.
On the spot
Got on the numbers, locked the Garmin Force Kraken in place with spot-lock, and the crew went to work rigging the Penn Fathom Electrics for the drop. While that was happening, I put a king rig on the Okuma Alijos and fed out a single pogy on the surface — more to keep a line in the water while everyone else rigged than with any real expectation.
Action before we even dropped
Before the bottom gear ever hit the water, that single livebait pogy got crushed — a butterball blackfin tuna, thick and fat, first fish of the day and nobody had a bottom rod rigged yet. We stayed on it up top and added a wahoo before finally turning attention to the bottom program. Two quality fish on a rig that was only in the water to pass the time — the kind of bite that makes you leave a livebait out anytime you’ve got a spare rod and five minutes, even when the plan is bottom fishing.
Down low
Once the Fathom Electrics were rigged and dropped, the bottom bite didn’t disappoint either — five nice scamp grouper, all good, solid fish. Scamp have their own regulations worth knowing before you fish for them — see the scamp grouper rule-of-three breakdown for how the aggregate bag limit actually works before you plan a trip around them.
Bottom line
A blackfin and a wahoo on a rod that was only out to kill time, then five scamp to finish it off on the bottom — the kind of day that reminds you why it’s worth keeping a livebait out even when you think you know what the plan is. Eighty miles is a long run, but with bait in the well and the Kraken holding the spot, it turned into a genuine two-for-one day: top water and bottom structure, both producing.
Regulations on species like scamp grouper are subject to change — always verify current size and bag limits before you go.
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