"Charter From Hell"
This "Charter From Hell" Was Anything But.
Early this June, I got a call from "Richard", who lives and fishes in Brevard County, a great East Coast fishing area. When he booked me, I wrote him in as "the charter from hell", which is something he said when we talked for a while. My wife and I were wondering just what this guy was going to be like, and I braced myself for anything that could happen.
We started fishing on the afternoon of Thursday, June 18, and I met him for the first time. I could tell right away that the Charter-From-Hell had some great experience and had learned a lot of lessons from someplace, and we hit it off immediately. He tied good knots, stayed balanced in the boat, always called me "Captain Ben", and paid close attention to my suggestions. I thought a good way to start off was fishing some "Chew-On-This" Light Tackle (30 lb. Fins, spooled onto Fin Nor Mega Lite spinners, using Cape Fear 12-20 Advance Techs) to put some baits in the well. Pretty soon, a 3 1/2 pound Ladyfish came to visit, and began swimming in the live well with some threads, jacks, and Sugar trout. I asked Richard if he was ready for some "close encounters" and he let me know that, most definitely, he was.
As I've told you before in my “Catching Reports“, our West Coast snook are big, mean, and very strong. Plus they hang out in the gnarliest places you can dream of, usually inches from structure. I felt comfortable handing Richard my "medium heavy gear", in this case a Shimano Calcutta 700TE carrying a 100 yd top shot of HiVis FINS 130#, double uni-knotted to 80# Flouro. This is a strong star drag reel, which I matched up with my Cape Fear 15-40 EXT rod, to get a light--but very tough--combo. And very expensive one, at that. By then, I had enough confidence in the Charter From Hell to trust him with Nine Hundred and 50 Dollars' worth of gear. It didn't take long to get hammered with a Pine Island Special--5 seconds of screaming followed by frayed leader and a lost fish or two.
It was getting late and we hadn’t landed the first fish. So we moved on to the Gladiator Structures, just in time for evening rush hour. Our tide had slipped down to a trickle, and even though Richard had taken a beating in the Racing Mullet Mansion, the tide and wind conditions were just right for the true beasts of inshore water, the Goliath Groupers. Perfect conditions were happening in the water, so when I looked in the live well and said hello to Miz Ladyfish, Charter From Hell was ready to go! We moved up to more serious artillery and I broke out the Trinidad 30 * which had a front shot of 200# Power Pro, tied off to a 5 foot leader of 200# ***regular mono up front. I rigged this with 6 ounces of lead, and a double-surgeon looped to a 20/0 forged steel Eagle Claw Circle Sea hook to set things up for my client. Richard was ready for combat, already wearing boots and a clamp-on fighting belt, so we gave the 2 1/2 foot Ladyfish a kiss, hooked her in the upper lip, and worked our way to the hotspot with the electric motor. YOU KNOW I LOVE BIG STINKY LADYS especially when they are still kicking!
It didn't take long! The hit was about what you'd expect from a huge fish that comes ambling out of her cave to suck up a 3 pound appetizer. Richard's reaction was quick and strong. And Lady Luck was on our side because the Goliath surged toward us just as I goosed the electric to get us away from the structure. By the time she recovered from the shock of being hooked, we had about 100 feet between my stern and the bridge. We both thought the drag was locked down, but the Goliath took line with ease. She stripped off the entire front shot of 200, and Richard let me know we were down to the 130# backing; I threw him a towel so he could thumb the spool and it worked. The big fished turned, with Richard screaming, "We broke her spirit!". I don't carry any kind of gaff, only my Boga Grip, and started thinking about getting this giant in the boat for some pictures. A few seconds later, Richard yelled "We've got color!" and up she came.
I couldn't believe my eyes! Before that day, the biggest Goliath a client had boated on a trip was a 28 pounder, but this fish was something out of a dream. Her tan-yellow-brown coloration lit up in the dark, clean inshore water and I stopped in my tracks. My angler held her with gentle pressure when suddenly, she turned head down and covered us with gallons of water. We were screaming and laughing at the same time, as Richard backed off the star to let her burn off a little more steam.
Then the fun started. One of my buddies had pulled up to offer a hand, and he got photographer duty. We still had to get this Big Gal over the gunnels to take her picture, and I finally got the Boga Grip clamped on the upper lip. The tongs looked like paper clips when I locked them down, but they held well enough to let me drag the beast onto the rear deck for some pictures. Since I didn't have a tape measure on board, I grabbed a rope and tied off knots to measure my estimates of length and girth. As soon as that was done, we had to focus and insure that this great fish got back home safely.
After I got the circle hook out, Richard and I dropped her back over the side and the slow tide carried her back to the structure. We stayed close for about 10 minutes, watched her get right, and make that final power turn to return to the bottom of the bay.
We called it a day after that! I got to learn that my "charter from hell" had actually gotten his training with some of Florida's great guides in Brevard County. Richard divides his fishing time up between inshore, near- shore, and offshore. He even got me fired up to come over there and fish with a group he called his "mentors": the legendary bottom fishing Master Of Disaster, Capt. Ron "Rico" Rincones (Valkaria); Capt. Bruce Alcock (Sebastian); Capt. Kent Fey (Merritt Island); and surfer- icon-turned-fishing-guide, Capt. Dick Catri (Melbourne Beach)..
I gave the rope to Richard so he could take the measurements and apply the classic formula: Length X Girth X Girth Divided by 800. Richard measured our girl, and used 56.00 inches for “length” and 53.75 inches around the belly (I wrapped the rope around her just under the pectoral fins) for “girth”. We did the math and came up with 202.23 pounds, but I got to tell you, I think that is awfully light. Richard is old (he’s teetering on 60!) but fairly strong, and I have been involved in high-school wrestling as a Rassler and a coach, it seems forever, (including all the awful things we do to train) and after the 2 of us got through pushing Big Bertha around the rear deck, we really think she is way up in the two hundreds. Anyway, she is a great fish no matter what she weighs, and today, she is probably bragging to everyone else in the “den” about the way she almost drowned us that day!
The Chew On This Saltwater Fishing Show is available now. It is one of the best fishing shows for Inshore fishing you have ever seen. You can order your copy now. DVD's are $20, VHS $15, and SVCD's are $12 plus $4.95 shipping and handling included included. Shirts, Hats, and Visors are being made up for the "Chew On This Saltwater Fishing Show." The hats will have the "Chew On This" logo on front with web address on the back. The Visors will say "Chew On This" in words. Tshirts will have logo on front and back with web address and slogan. Visors will go for $15 and hats $20. T-shirts will be $15. Email @ Captchancey@aol.com for more info. Be sure to get it while it lasts. Limited production Show of only 1000 copies. Get your copy today.
If you are looking for some tackle busting, leader fraying, excitement then give Captain Chancey a call @ (239)540-7529
I couldn't believe my eyes! Before that day, the biggest Goliath a client had boated on a trip was a 28 pounder, but this fish was something out of a dream. Her tan-yellow-brown coloration lit up in the dark, clean inshore water and I stopped in my tracks. My angler held her with gentle pressure when suddenly, she turned head down and covered us with gallons of water. We were screaming and laughing at the same time, as Richard backed off the star to let her burn off a little more steam.
Then the fun started. One of my buddies had pulled up to offer a hand, and he got photographer duty. We still had to get this Big Gal over the gunnels to take her picture, and I finally got the Boga Grip clamped on the upper lip. The tongs looked like paper clips when I locked them down, but they held well enough to let me drag the beast onto the rear deck for some pictures. Since I didn't have a tape measure on board, I grabbed a rope and tied off knots to measure my estimates of length and girth. As soon as that was done, we had to focus and insure that this great fish got back home safely.
After I got the circle hook out, Richard and I dropped her back over the side and the slow tide carried her back to the structure. We stayed close for about 10 minutes, watched her get right, and make that final power turn to return to the bottom of the bay.
We called it a day after that! I got to learn that my "charter from hell" had actually gotten his training with some of Florida's great guides in Brevard County. Richard divides his fishing time up between inshore, near- shore, and offshore. He even got me fired up to come over there and fish with a group he called his "mentors": the legendary bottom fishing Master Of Disaster, Capt. Ron "Rico" Rincones (Valkaria); Capt. Bruce Alcock (Sebastian); Capt. Kent Fey (Merritt Island); and surfer- icon-turned-fishing-guide, Capt. Dick Catri (Melbourne Beach)..
I gave the rope to Richard so he could take the measurements and apply the classic formula: Length X Girth X Girth Divided by 800. Richard measured our girl, and used 56.00 inches for “length” and 53.75 inches around the belly (I wrapped the rope around her just under the pectoral fins) for “girth”. We did the math and came up with 202.23 pounds, but I got to tell you, I think that is awfully light. Richard is old (he’s teetering on 60!) but fairly strong, and I have been involved in high-school wrestling as a Rassler and a coach, it seems forever, (including all the awful things we do to train) and after the 2 of us got through pushing Big Bertha around the rear deck, we really think she is way up in the two hundreds. Anyway, she is a great fish no matter what she weighs, and today, she is probably bragging to everyone else in the “den” about the way she almost drowned us that day!
The Chew On This Saltwater Fishing Show is available now. It is one of the best fishing shows for Inshore fishing you have ever seen. You can order your copy now. DVD's are $20, VHS $15, and SVCD's are $12 plus $4.95 shipping and handling included included. Shirts, Hats, and Visors are being made up for the "Chew On This Saltwater Fishing Show." The hats will have the "Chew On This" logo on front with web address on the back. The Visors will say "Chew On This" in words. Tshirts will have logo on front and back with web address and slogan. Visors will go for $15 and hats $20. T-shirts will be $15. Email @ Captchancey@aol.com for more info. Be sure to get it while it lasts. Limited production Show of only 1000 copies. Get your copy today.
If you are looking for some tackle busting, leader fraying, excitement then give Captain Chancey a call @ (239)540-7529