This was one of those 36 hour overnight offshore fishing trips that the partyboat Capt. John is known for. Leaving Pier 19 Thursday morning with 33 fishermen aboard and shortly thereafter turning at the end of the South jetty, Capt. Tony Langston pointed the twin hulls to the south. Capt. Shane Steber was the required second captain. A stop was made about 65 miles out with red snapper as the primary target. When the anchor was pulled, close to half the allowable double limit was in the fish boxes. The second stop was at Stetson Rock, about 72 miles offshore. Not a lot was happening there and the run much farther offshore began.

Shortly after arriving at the Nancen Spar Platform, the numerous drifts that were made during the overnight period began. Nancen Spar is located 117 miles south of The Island in 3,675 lb. of water. When the trip inshore started on Friday just after sunrise, 165 blackfin tuna to 18 lb. had been decked, gutted and iced down. Most were taken on chrome diamond jigs of 4 or 6 oz. The attention getter at Nancen was an estimated 250 lb. mako shark that hit a piece of cut bait. The fun lasted until the mono leader that obviously was not intended for a shark was bitten off near boatside.

Stops on the return trip were made at a shrimpboat where an 8 lb. Dorado (mahi-mahi) was taken, a coral outcropping in 175' of water, a sunken platform and another bottom spot. These stops produced a variety of groupers, barracuda, other bottom fish, vermilion snapper and the bulk of the allowable two day limit of red snapper.

Baits used over the two days included pieces of cut squid, whole squid, Spanish sardines and a variety of artificial lures. These baits combined with the efforts of the 33 fishermen and produced this catch:
?Ģ 132 red snapper to 14 lb. (allowed double daily limit)
?Ģ 52 vermilion snapper
?Ģ 19 lane snapper
?Ģ 3 mangrove snapper
?Ģ 18 Atlantic sharpnose sharks
?Ģ 4 barracuda
?Ģ 4 kingfish
?Ģ 1 piggy perch
?Ģ 2 whitebone porgy
?Ģ 2 creolefish
?Ģ 1 dorado (mahi-mahi) of 8 lb.
?Ģ 5 rockhind grouper
?Ģ 2 scamp grouper, 12 lb. ea.
?Ģ 9 gray triggerfish
?Ģ 165 blackfin tuna to 18 lb.

During this 36 hour trip, there was a weak low pressure working its way to the west, just off the coast. Its effect was minimal as the seas were about four feet, and began with a steady drop over the thirty six hours to about a foot by Friday afternoon. At this time, there are eight more of these overnight trips on the books for the partyboat Capt. John. Give the office a ring to make your reservations and see what part of one of these great multi-species catches you can wind in. Call today, the numbers are either 409-762-8808 or, in the Houston area, 713-223-4853. The friendly informed office staff is waiting for your call. Among others, that nice mako is possibly out there waiting for someone to hook up with...make the call today.