Pier Away From Here

Heres a few pics from the past.
Flight Out
http://i54.tinypic.com/2hq6ip1.jpg
http://i53.tinypic.com/2e1r70i.jpg
http://i52.tinypic.com/mh7i9h.jpg
Sunsets
http://i53.tinypic.com/2a6t46q.jpg
http://i52.tinypic.com/2ecqc6w.jpg
Divers
http://i53.tinypic.com/acg2g5.jpg
http://i51.tinypic.com/14t90et.jpg
My first Cobia
http://i54.tinypic.com/dwb613.jpg
My first Warsaw
http://i51.tinypic.com/e5ryu1.jpg
Nice weedline
http://i52.tinypic.com/21jzsk8.jpg
Plenty of Triggers
http://i53.tinypic.com/k4xgf8.jpg
Big Baits
http://i53.tinypic.com/20f9kzs.jpg
My first Cuda
http://i54.tinypic.com/33kaeev.jpg
And a Snapper or two every once in awhile.
http://i51.tinypic.com/x0r5fl.jpg

Hey! Quit outing my kayak spots :poke1: j/k

Wow! That's cool. Love the big baits.

Thanks Sam, glad you ain't out there alone, we would not be getting the great pics you with the fish.
Keep the reports and photos comin' :headbang:

Thanks for posting it again PNG. I can't wait to see what you catch next. Great pics! :bow: :bow:

now that would be the life. working and fishin'

Poor ole Coot needed help, water was too rough for us to give him a hand though.
http://i52.tinypic.com/2i92n2h.jpg
http://i54.tinypic.com/2mfis5z.jpg

Well I cant say I caught these guys but I saw my first YFT out here. I tried hardtails with no avail and tried chunking but it was too windy, couldnt keep a bait in the water. I enjoyed watching these fish all day though. Maybe better luck tomorrow!
http://i39.tinypic.com/ei6xih.jpg
http://i44.tinypic.com/1g3ejd.jpg
http://i41.tinypic.com/344w1h1.jpg

Silver cricket works real well for those fish with lock jaw.

Hey Pier Pest, I was told diamond jigs work good. Only thing Im wondering is if I hook one of these big ass Tunas, will I be able to handle it? Im using a Penn 6/0 with 80lb mono. I know itll run deep and I have plenty of line but you reckon itll go into the rig? I know the AJs seem to love to run deep then staraight into the rig. Any advice?

how far are you above the water ? pier height ? seems a lot higher. i wondered how all that extra line could make it tough to land a fish.

[quote author=thyno z. link=topic=115.msg1743#msg1743 date=1320033217]
how far are you above the water ? pier height ? seems a lot higher. i wondered how all that extra line could make it tough to land a fish.


[/quote]Thyno, PNG is on an oil rig of the coast of Louisiana. He claims he is working out there, but I don’t know :poke1:

From where the pic is taken it's about 85ft up. Our helipad is 105. I do most my fishing from the main (85ft)deck because it sticks out the farthest away from the main platform structure.

Now Fin, I guess I'll have to take some pics of me working today!! Haha

Hey PNG are you using a belt and harness with the 6/0? I would think about all you could do in that situation is put the smack down on them and put some serious pressure on them to keep 'em out of the rig. That's pretty incredible though, I wonder how many people have ever had the chance to try to catch a yellowfin from 85ft up, then your going to have to try and gaff it : ) I've never had the chance though other than reading about catching them. Might try tuna360 and see what you can find.

I have a belt but I seldom use it. Snapper and grouper and your small fish can pretty much be man handled and keep out of the platform. But you bigger fish such as AJs go straight into it. Most times it's a matter of 1-2 seconds of pressure on a big fish before you get cut-off by the platform. Even with my drag as tight as I can get it still doesn't help. Just the stretch of 250ft of line seems to be enough for them to get into the platform. A lot of people use hand lines, weedeater line, manilla rope, parachute cord whatever. They have better luck bringing something big in but it's still a gamble. I never do that good with the hand line fishing.

try some braid, that will help with the stretch, and thumb the spool if you have to, killer pics by the way

How high up are you with those pics? Those fish look huge. Any estimate on thier weight? Some super cool pics.

Hmmmm.... I don't know its pretty crazy hard to control fish that strong for that high up. Maybe try the braided with a short top shot for abrasion resistance? You could try a hardcore jigging reel that's higher speed, see if you can get them away from the rig faster. Those got to be some big fish from 85ft up.

Thanks for the tips guys. Ill try em out. Bubba, from where the YFT pics were taken, its about 80-85 ft up. Im guessing the average weight of the YFT were about 125-150. And then again Im not sure. Ive never caught one before so Im going off of pics I have seen. Theres Baracudas all around the rig and most of them are well over 4ft. The YFT were longer, just something to compare them to. Ive seen Dolphins out here and Id say the Tuna were close to the same in diameter. Maybe someone else on here has input as far as size/weight goes. Funny thing is those were the first time Ive seen YFT out here and the very next morning was the first time we havent had BLUE WATER, I found that pretty interesting.

Heres a few pictures of a Platform theyre pulling out of the water. Its about 2.5 miles from us. The top of the platform is well over 100', just to give you an idea how tall that crane is.
http://i44.tinypic.com/b4u8o0.jpg
http://i41.tinypic.com/24gophd.jpg
http://i44.tinypic.com/352re2t.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/2ikve9z.jpg

[size=12pt]Hey Sam, what's going on out there?[/size] 8)

Not much of anything out here. Been fishing hardtails for AJs, but my luck isn't the best right now. Either breaking hooks or hanging on the rig. The trigger bite is good but they're hard to keep hooked up to bringing them up from bottom.

Thanks for the pictures. Some serious opportunities there, but I would use a harness before moving up to 130 mono or 200 braid unless you've a good swimmer. :o

Well Ive been pretty busy lately and havet had as much fishing time as I prefer and it has been pretty slow when Ive tried. Ive been see a good bit of top water action going on this week. A few Mahi cruising on by, a few flyers, and acres of hardtails.

So today after I ate dinner I decided I would wet a line. My rod n reel are at home because Ive been on the move a lot out here. I had a few hooks laying around and a roll of nylon trout line string. We have an old 4/0 out here thats all jacked up that we use to catch bait. I caught a Hardtail pretty quick and while I was trying to reel it in with that junk reel, about 10 AJs came up and started busting on him. Didnt take long and I was hooked up and almost immeaditly cut off on the rig. I re-rigged and caught another hardtail and got this one in. I hooked him on my handline and dropped him down about 30-40 ft water depth. As i was making a few wraps around the handrail to tie it off, it got hit!!!!! Its sounded like a guitar playing that string was so tight! I grabbed it and started fighting him, with my gloves in my back pocket and nylon string burning up my hand I eventually got him to surface. We had to rig up a gaff n rope and all that but I managed to get him in. He weighed 45lbs and was 49 inches.

[img width=640 height=478]http://i44.tinypic.com/fky05d.jpg[/img]

[img width=478 height=640]http://i44.tinypic.com/sw776d.jpg[/img]

:o DANG!

Hand to hand combat with a bruiser AJ :headbang:

:yippee:

Now that is fishing! Great story and great fish!

Great pictures PnG!

It is amazing how small things appear in photos when compared to vast ocean water.

I sure would love to take my kids to see some of those sights up close and personal.

That is a great story and it must have been a great experience. Now who is going to be inspired to handline a cobia or king from the pier?

I have thought about it.

Wooo thats a nice AJ! Man I remember goin out a few years ago and fishin off a rig for those, long story short...couldnt hardly lift my arms the next day haha. They are a powerful fish :headbang:

Pier pest had talked about hand lining last year. I think a COBE would be easier to handle than a King. Those long runs could filet a finger quick.

[quote author=PurpleNGold link=topic=115.msg4779#msg4779 date=1327428912]
Pier pest had talked about hand lining last year. I think a COBE would be easier to handle than a King. Those long runs could filet a finger quick.
[/quote]

I've watched folks handline fish on tv...gotta wear gloves for the stronger fish

[quote author=PurpleNGold link=topic=115.msg4779#msg4779 date=1327428912]
Pier pest had talked about hand lining last year. I think a COBE would be easier to handle than a King. Those long runs could filet a finger quick.
[/quote]

No long runs allowed -- fish takes off, fish reaches end of heavy line, fish stops. We just let them run because we can use lighter line and gear. The king reverses direction toward the pilings, and you take up slack and hang on. :banana:

As for cobia, a live bait hanging straight down near bottom (circle hooked) is in perfect position for a deep one cruising near the pier structure to grab the business end of a handline.

I got to do some fishing this week. I caught this big Warsaw on a live Hardtail. Seen a few boats trolling and a few Wahoo caught. I saw 2 big Blues, about 10' or so. Still a bunch of AJs around also. [img width=476 height=638]http://i42.tinypic.com/2yyppwh.jpg[/img]

[size=12pt]Thanks Sam, long time since we had a Pier Away From Here :fishing: report.
Don't work too hard[/size] :poke1:

Can you keep those out there? In Fl they are so protected you get a fine just for looking at them.

Are you thinking of Goliath grouper? (aka jewfish)

Warsaw are open year round (one per vessel per day)
I guess P&G's "pier away from here" counts as a 'vessel' out there ;-)

Great fish! Thanks for the report and pic!

[quote author=Pier#r link=topic=115.msg8373#msg8373 date=1333723238]
Are you thinking of Goliath grouper? (aka jewfish)

Warsaw are open year round (one per vessel per day)
I guess P&G's "pier away from here" counts as a 'vessel' out there ;-)

Great fish! Thanks for the report and pic!
[/quote]

Yea. My bad.

Havent got to fish lately, been way too busy. Heres what it looks like when a Jackup sits on top of you.
[img width=480 height=640]http://i47.tinypic.com/2m61lb8.jpg[/img]
[img width=480 height=640]http://i48.tinypic.com/350kwag.jpg[/img]
[img width=480 height=640]http://i46.tinypic.com/2h651jc.jpg[/img]
[img width=480 height=640]http://i47.tinypic.com/10pvocn.jpg[/img]
[img width=478 height=640]http://i47.tinypic.com/x4okg8.jpg[/img]
[img width=478 height=640]http://i49.tinypic.com/2njgfi0.jpg[/img]

That is insane.

My mind boggles at the sheer size of that and the work that went into the construction.

[size=12pt]
Soooo, I’m guessing you are on the little yella fella. :o
Do ya have a rope ladder to get up on the big rig for dinner? :eat:
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