Capt. Pip's owner Johnny Maddox wanted in on the fun David and I have been having offshore fishing. Needlessly to say we readily obliged; the extra challenge of finding a big fish for the boss could not be passed up. Calm seas and poor fishing reports the day before added to the excitement. After checking the offshore temp charts, I decided that the 1000' (the wall) was not the place to start and I would need to find something that would hold fish without going so far. The first bird line in blue water was at about 600' (also the edge of the gulf stream), had quite a bit of "broken and scattered" weeds and had birds looking East to West. The bait was scanty at best and we only fished about 10 minutes before deciding to look for a better "fishy" location. Another 2 miles and I spotted a very nice "rip". Several birds were feeding off the random weeds in the rip. You could almost smell the fish, like a bream bed. I just knew we would find something. With a full spread and David and Johnny having to clean numersous lines, my 30 minutes of patience was fast running out and "WHAM" the starboard outrigger and shotgun went off. They hit so hard you could feel the boat jolt, and nobody screams any better than those two when they get excited. David had the bull and Johnny the cow. The bull was jumping as though he was fouled hooked and after 10 jumps spit the hook. Towing the cow seem to limit her jumps and after about 15 minutes we had a nice 23# cow in the box.

Time to find more fish. The next two miles were full of tuna breaking the water as far as you could see. Another two miles and another rip with the same scenario as the last. Time to fish again. Rather quickly we had on a bottom hunter. It hit a rigged bait and headed for the bottom. You guessed it, 18# tuna. The rip was long and we fish on till we hooked up with the 30 pound Bull Dolphin in the picture.

We had our 3/4 day of fishing in and plenty to eat. Don't know where the "schoolies" are and as long as we keep catching the big-un's, who cares! Ahhhhh fishing in the keys; it just does not get any better...