Sitting
at the outdoor bar at Journeys End we had me another couple of guests and
Captain Tom Thomas who ones and operates the 52 foot sport fishing boat he
calls "The Sea
Boots". By pooling our funds, we were able to arrange a 1/2 day
deep sea fishing trip on the "Sea Boots." (Note:
On our trip to Caye Caulker in June 2001 we ran into Capt. Tom who informed
us that he has sold the Sea Boots and no longer is operating as a Sport
Fishing Captain in the area. As I have no information concerning the
current operation of the Sea Boots I have removed the link to it from my
site and no longer can recommend this service. Oldgator 7-14-2001.)
It might be noted that other fishing guides and boats furnish the same type
of fishing trip out of San Pedro. Just ask your Hotel Manager to set
up a trip for you as you will be assured of receiving an excellent guide
and boat by doing it this way.
The next morning
we left the dock at 8:00, heading for a cut in the reef just north of
Journeys End. It only took us about 10 minutes to go from the Dock,
out through the 10ft deep water of the cut and across the shelf into
over 800 feet of water. We started out trolling feathers with ballyhoo
minnows hooked to appear like the were swimming. Almost immediately
we were into a school of Bonito in the 6-10 lb range. I believe that
everyone caught at least one before we lost the school.
We were trolling 6
lines behind the boat using outriggers. By mutual agreement we decided that
we would draw straws 1 - 4 and would fish in that order. In other words
the person with #1 would fight the first fish to bite on any of the 6 lines
and then no's 2-3-and 4 in order and back to no 1. We felt that this
was a far better arrangement that to assign rods to each of us.
After a while we
came onto a group of medium sized Barracuda and again each of us caught at
least one.
After this things
really slowed down for an hour or two until a nice grouper grabbed one of
the baits. It was Norma's turn and she fought the fish for about 10
minutes before the mate got a gaff into it. Capt. Tom estimated that
the fish weighed about 15 lbs.
It was almost noon
and we were in the process of heading back to the cut. All of a
sudden one of the rods bent substantially and we knew that it was either a
large fish or a deep rock. It was Phil's turn to fight the fish. He
fought this fish for almost 20 min before the mate got a gaff into a 35 lb
Grouper.
On the way in to
Journeys End, our mate filleted enough Grouper so that we had the chef at
Journeys End prepare and serve a Grouper Feast for the 4 of us that night
under the stars