I spent the weekend at my friend Max's place since he was hosting a party at his house on the intercoastal in Boca Raton. While we are good friends and have bonded over our interest in fishing, we hadn't quite had a chance to fish together until now. Most of the fishing this weekend took place on Saturday, although I tried at first on Friday Night as well. Here's how it went down:
Friday, May 4th
After driving up to Boca and getting dinner with Max and some others, I was excited to test out the docks behind his house in the intercostal since I knew it had underwater lights which would attract fish. As soon as we got back from a great time at the restaurant, I picked up a rod, tied on a lure, and started casting. I saw Snook all around, weaving in between the lights. However, as much as I tried to bring it past their faces, they did not often chase it. Sometimes the lure would not stay in range long enough, sometimes it would go too close to the surface, and sometimes the fish would simply not go for it. That being said, it wasn't impossible. I managed to get three or four bumps from Snook that would instinctively hit the lure without taking a big bite. It was frustrating, but after a couple hours of fishing the dock at night, I figured I'd have to try again another day. The elusive Snook were so close yet so far.
While setting up for the party to be had at night, I took a break to fish on the docks during the day. I went with my friend Jacob Maskin to a bait and tackle shop in the morning first to pick up some live bait and ask about good lures to use for the Snook and whatever else might bite on the docks. They recommended a bucktail jig which I picked up too, and we went back to the house to start fishing. Most of the fishing we did on the dock today was just for fun to see whatever would bite. The sun was shining and there was a cool breeze - a great day to be on the water. The fish were there in full force around all the rocks and structure, and we could see them through the clear water. We used the live shrimp, and soon after dropping it, I gave the rod to Maskin who caught a nice Yellowfin Mojarra. A cool fish to start off the day. The more we fished, we caught a Blue Striped Grunt, 4 puffer fish, 2 Mangrove Snappers, and as we fished by some bricks Max had laid down underwater to create a sort of reef, we also caught a Dog Snapper. Towards the end of our time fishing in the daytime there was a Barracuda that came and kept stealing our bait. We tried different things, including a steel leader I had, but it wasn't quite enough to keep the Barracuda from darting in and grabbing the bait off the hook before we could set the hook. Regardless, it was a cool sight to see.
We ran out of live shrimp since we were having a lot of fun fishing for the snappers and Barracudas, which was unfortunate since I was hoping to use some at night for Snook. By the time I was gonna go to get more shrimp, the party was starting and I didn't have the chance to. That being said, once I was drunk enough and the water was calling to me, I slipped out to get my rod from the car and tied on a jig to drop by the dock. Clearly the call of the fish didn't just come for me, as when people started to notice I was fishing on the dock, a small crowd started to form around. I was casting and retrieving the jig while bouncing out along the bottom. The Snook I was hoping to catch did not bite. As I was jigging, my friends and I were talking about how much we prefer live bait to lures - however, coincidentally, just as I said "yeah, artificials suck" while bouncing the jig, I got a hit. I reeled in a solid Bluestriped Grunt, which got some applause from people in the pool. It was a pretty funny situation. Soon after I gave my rod to people who wanted to take a few casts. No more fish were caught that night, but it was a good time as I went back into the party, satisfied with having caught one.
Sunday, May 6th
After a great night before, waking up on Sunday morning was a little eery. The house needed some cleanup, but after that I had to step outside on another sunny morning to use my jig and get some more practice. Harrison followed me out there, and so did another friend, Alex Slintak. I showed Harrison, eager to learn how to do this kind of fishing, how to jig, and just as I gave him the rod, he jigged it and a fish bit! He reeled in a nice Lane Snapper, the same kind of fish we had seen prevalently when we'd fished in Naples. After that I gave the rod to Slintak, who had never caught a fish before. He saw how we had jerked the rod to jig it and he did the same. Soon he hooked up and reeled in a Sailor's Choice! Those fish were a great way to end the weekend.
