Deeper is not always better
The story about the 2004 STAR winning kingfish and the 2004 Deep Sea Roundup winning kingfish is not all that much different from countless other tall tales about big fish, except for the fact that it actually happened. We cleared the Port Aransas jetties about 4:30 in the morning aboard the charter boat the “Sea Pleasure” with Captain Nate Forbes at the helm. The seas were relatively moderate that day, and I was serving as first mate aboard the vessel. Our original plan was to start out by going deep to look for amberjack and big snapper when we were suddenly alerted by an angry noise, a puff of black smoke and a well-noted loss of speed. Much to our surprise, we learned that we had lost our port engine. Eleven miles from the jetties, the captain and exuberant crew of anglers decided that, instead of turning back, we would slowly work the rigs continually offshore in search of big kingfish or perhaps a big shark. We had made it about thirty miles from the jetties when Robert Daugird, the only angler on board registered in the STAR tournament, hooked a fifty-eight pound, ten ounce kingfish that won the kingfish division of the Roundup, and went on the win the STAR tournament that year. I remember thinking that there are times when luck can outmatch skill, and that this must surely be one of those times, as we gaffed the fish and began our three and a half hour, eight knot cruise home.
In the day and age when Sportfishing vessels are built to cruise at over thirty knots and the triple outboard, aptly nicknamed “go fast” boats can run at over seventy miles an hour, the ability to go far and go fast seems to be a marked advantage in tournament fishing. Granted, in most cases, the ability to go fast is an advantage. However, if you talk to virtually any of the “old-timers” at the docks, guys who have been fishing the Gulf of Mexico since the sixties and seventies, they will tell you that ninety percent of anglers today overrun the fish i.e. they run farther offshore than is necessary to catch the species they are after. Case in point: last July, my younger brother, Christopher Young, fished with Captain David Lehman aboard the 31’ Bertram the “Bill Busters I.” In two days, with two separate charter crews, these guys caught two fish that would have easily won or placed in the STAR tournament, based on the 2005 winners, had any of their anglers been registered. On the first day, cruising at about twelve knots, the crew aboard the “Bill Busters I” headed for a small group of rigs about six or eight miles off the beach and about fifteen miles from the Port Aransas jetties. While bump trolling ribbonfish, they hooked, and caught a kingfish that weighed in at 62 pounds. Returning the next day to the same spot with a different group, the “Bill Busters I” crew caught a seventy-two pound ling and another ling that weighed over fifty pounds.
It is generally accepted that kingfish and ling will usually aggressively feed when they are present. If you are not getting any bites, it is assumed that the fish are not there, and after a few unsuccessful drifts or a few unsuccessful laps around the rig, a lot of anglers will pick up and run, seventy miles an hour to the next spot. I can’t think of a better sport than fishing, which will time and time again teach a person the value of having a little patience. Take the 2004 STAR winning kingfish for example: since we had only one working engine, we were clearly limited in our ability to maneuver and remained tied off to the same rig for well over an hour. We were drifting sardines out behind the boat and catching small kingfish here and there, but nothing really substantial. We were about to leave when Robert put out a two-foot ribbonfish and caught the king we had been looking for all day.
Similarly, the crew aboard the “Bill Buster I” had been tied off to the same rig all day catching snapper when a seventy-two pound ling came up and ate a snapper as it was being reeled in. In any kind of fishing, tournament or otherwise, you can obviously never beat the often-used adage that it pays to “be in the right place, at the right time.” However, there is something to be said for those who, by will or by chance, remain in an area they are confident in, and try to make it happen. Just a little something to think about when you’re out there this year, fishing for that STAR winning monster. When you’re getting a few bites, but not catching the fish you’re after, or you’re marking a lot of fish on the bottom machine, but nothing seems to be happening. Maybe, you should stay a little longer, and work a little harder at it. Or, perhaps you are in the wrong spot and you should fish somewhere else. Either way, good luck, have fun, and don’t forget to take a kid fishing.
Capt. Peter Young