Anticipation battles reality as fishing season begins
There is just something about that first trip of the season to the Gulf Stream that can never be repeated, no matter how many times you go after it. In a word, it’s all about “anticipation.”
Add to that tons of preparation and, if things go according to plan, you don’t get out there and realize you’ve forgotten some critical piece of equipment like a gaff or something. Not saying that has ever happened, but also won’t say it hasn’t in my fifty something years of blue water fishing.
With that said, I made my first wahoo trip to the stream last Saturday with Hilton Head Boathouse manager Grant Kaple and Bluffton CCA head honchos Bryan Baker and Erik DeLong.
Grant and I have fished many times together and between us we had enough rods, lures and gear to outfit a boat twice the size of the 33’ Grady White we took out.
Up at 2:30 a.m. and off the dock by 3 I actually had butterflies as we ran offshore. Sleep wasn’t even an option, so I put on headphones and listened to my “fishing” play list, meticulously chosen for just such an occasion. There is something about listening to the song “Ain’t Nobody” by Chaka Khan as the sun rises over the ocean that can’t be described. I was ready and rockin!
Having studied satellite images of the Gulf Stream, we knew warmer water was going to be south. As the sun peaked over the horizon we were short of our destination, but because the early bite is usually the best, lines went in the water.
On the first trip of the year it usually takes a bit of fine-tuning to get things right. Most folks can forget a few things in a year’s time, while I can forget just about everything. After a few minutes of mayhem we were fishing.
At most, ten minutes passed when the corner rod screamed, and I mean screamed. Line was peeling off that reel in a blur and Bryan was first up. I knew it had to be a stud wahoo making such a scorching run and there was really nothing Bryan could do until it stopped.
When it finally did, two more rods screamed and the big wahoo took that moment to do a 180º turn and charge toward the boat so fast that no amount of reeling could catch up to it. Then, in a matter of seconds, all three rods went slack. I won’t say this hasn’t happened before, but I won’t say it hasn’t either.
Hey, that’s fishing. It took us until midday to find a warm water edge that was 69º on one side and 72º on the other. No sooner had we crossed over that edge than another wahoo hit.
This time we were ready and Grant floored the boat with hopes of driving the hook through that dang fish’s head. Landing it, it was a nice wahoo but definitely no winner in the wahoo tournament we were fishing in. Working that temperature break, we also managed to catch a nice mahi to weigh in, but overall the bite was extremely slow. Listening to other boats on the radio, they too were having trouble catching fish.
But you know what? Just being out there was a purging experience for me. The ocean was calm, the sun gave me energy and there was no shortage of unique sights.
We had wads of flying fish, startled by the boat, spray through the air, about ran over a huge hammerhead shark basking on the surface and life was good. Calling it a day, I settled back in a bean bag chair, headphones on, and dreamt of days to come. Yep, life is good again.
This story was originally published March 29, 2018 at 2:21 PM with the headline "Anticipation battles reality as fishing season begins."