Completely Opposite Days of Fishing

Cooler and windier yesterday and it seemed to keep the Spanish Mackerel away so, I came back without catching a single fish for the whole afternoon I spent at the pier -- only saw one Spanish Mackerel caught in the late afternoon by a guy next to me.  I only had two strikes and thought they may have hit the steel leader that I decided to use in hopes of not losing so many of the "Got-cha" and "Zig Jig Pro" lures.  The guy who caught the one had been there yesterday during the frenzy of catching one after another and he had a steel leader on his line too so, can't blame the leader, I guess.

It didn't help that my new reel broke down after just two casts -- a small screw and roller fell off the bail of the reel and I didn't bring any backups so, I was sidelined for awhile.  Tried practicing with the bigger rig with the Cobia lure but, it really tired my hands and wrists after just a few casts and retrievals -- jigging it the way I had with the other lures to see if I might be able to use it for the Spanish Mackerel.  Decided not to try that.  I had brought a small piece of one Mackerel and decided to bottom fish by the pier using the large pole and reel with some large chunks of the Mackerel for bait but, nothing even seemed to bite at all on the chunks (during the whole afternoon).  Fed those pieces and some more to the Seagulls before working my way back to the exit from the pier.

Bottom one is a "Got-cha"

Wednesday, I think I heard there were over 38 King Mackerel caught at the end of the pier -- up to 28 pounds in size, as far as I know.  Yesterday, I only saw 6 or 8 King caught and taken off the pier.  There were 2 Redfish caught and released that I saw -- both were over the 27 inch maximum length.  One young guy caught a nice Pompano about halfway to the restrooms (where I was headed at the time) and as I passed him I could tell his drag was set too loose and he couldn't get the fish up to the pier -- I cranked his drag for him and he got it over the rail and immediately started taking pics to send to his buddies.  Luckily, I told him to keep his hand away from the lure and let the fish and line drop to the pier -- seconds after that, the fish spit the lure and the lure sprang straight up where his hand would have been.  He caught it on one of those "Got-chas" and am including a picture of them to show how they git-cha (like they did me and that other young guy).

I continued on after making a stop at the restroom and decided to check out the little tackle shop at the end of the pier to see what reels they might have for sale.  Luckily, they had a couple inexpensive reels for sale and I now have a backup for further outings -- maybe if it doesn't rain today or tomorrow.

Last night, I fired up the grille and cooked up 13 of those 1 inch thick Mackerel steaks that I had cut-up the night before.  They had been marinated almost 24 hours and I consumed 4 of those with the last of the three steaks cooked a couple nights ago -- surf and turf hit the spot.  I made them really spicy and Molly stuck her nose up at them but, Tiger, of course, just begged for more -- finally, he had his fill too (or the spices may have gotten to him as well).  For me, another beer made them taste even better and now I have some leftovers too.