Story

Tasting Victory (for a moment) on the Dead Fish

January 24, 2012 by Edmond Alexander

I just had to write about a great fishing trip I had on the Dead Fish with Captain Larry, his son William and our friend Marshal. What a day!

I am especially excited to tell the story of this trip because for once in the many years I have fished with Larry, I finally set a record on his boat. I landed a 50 pound amberjack (by the scale) which turned out to be the largest amberjack ever landed on the Dead Fish. Larry's son William went on and on about the fish and I was so proud because it is quite a feat to catch the largest of any fish species on that fishing machine.

The day actually started off questionable with the weather man missing the forecast again. We hung out in the shallow water catching Trigger Fish and Vermilion Snapper as we were loading the bait well with large baits hoping the weather would calm down enough for us to blast off for some deep water and Amberjack fishing. After about two hours fishing for dinner, the seas calmed down enough for the trip to deep water.

Larry hooked the first big Amberjack of the day but was unable to turn the fish and he lost it to the wreck. The disappointment sent his fishing biorhythm to the tilt mode and for a while, all he caught was this very fat but somewhat short Red Snapper. (Nice picture Captain Larry)

I hooked up with the next big Amberjack which took me forever to get in. When we pulled it over the rail everyone busted out in joyous celebration because it was the largest Amberjack ever landed on Larry's Dead Fish. That was an accomplishment for me and I happily put my rod down as we were only allowed one fish each...I had mine.

Four or five smaller 35 pound fish Amberjacks came in with Captain Larry leading the pack in numbers. About twenty minutes after I had retired my rod, as usual, Larry is on with a really big fish. That fish was diggin' and diggin', just like Dukes of Hazard and Dale Jr.

After a very long fight with the big fish making numerous dives to the safety of the wreck, Larry and his larger son William muscled the fish over the rail. It was a monster for sure registering 75 pounds on the scale. Wow! My fame of recording a record on the Dead Fish had a life of about thirty minutes. For a moment my thoughts were of Marlon Brandon's famous lines from On the Waterfront, "I could have been a contender. I could have been somebody".

Larry has always been a great friend for me but deep down I knew that he was never going to allow a record on his boat to be held by someone who paints kidneys (http://www.alexanderandturner.com/) ...and other unspeakables for a living.The four of us each had our one fish limit and the total of the four fish was about 200 pounds. Probably a dozen or more in the 35 pound range were landed and released. As it turned out, Larry's first hooked fish of the day, that was lost to the wreck, was for sure the largest fish hooked all day. That Amberjack was really big but we can only wonder how big. That is what always keeps a fisherman fishing.