# 50 miles offshore of Boca Grande



## Madsnooker (Jul 5, 2012)

Went 50 miles offshore last Sunday with a friend of mine and we caught Gag and Red grouper up to 15ibs, Dolphin, reef donkeys (AJ's), African pompano, and some real nice Red Snapper.

It was perfect conditions all day.


----------



## trubluau (Jul 5, 2012)

That is a fine day.
What size boat were you in. Looks small


----------



## Madsnooker (Jul 5, 2012)

trubluau said:


> That is a fine day.
> What size boat were you in. Looks small



24' Sheaffer with 225 4 stroke Yamaha. Finest 24' I have ever been in. My friends buddy followed along and he was also in a 24' Sheaffer with a 250 4 stroke. We burnt 53 gallons total and went roughly 108 miles round trip.  

These are custom built boats. awesome livewells, fish box and storage. 

There is not a 24' made any drier than this one.


----------



## dwhee87 (Jul 5, 2012)

Nice gag! The water looks like glass...sounds like it was a great trip.


----------



## Rob (Jul 6, 2012)

Awesome pics and story - thanks for sharing!


----------



## Mechanicaldawg (Jul 6, 2012)

Good looking box of fishes!

I wish our water would have cooperated like that!

BTW, do you salt your fish box?


----------



## blood on the ground (Jul 6, 2012)

ssshhhhwwweeet!!!


----------



## GASeminole (Jul 6, 2012)

Did the mahi come to your chum slick, or did you do some trolling too?

I am headed down to Sarasota next weekend and will be heading offshore weather permitting, very excited.


----------



## Madsnooker (Jul 6, 2012)

GASeminole said:


> Did the mahi come to your chum slick, or did you do some trolling too?
> 
> I am headed down to Sarasota next weekend and will be heading offshore weather permitting, very excited.



Actually, we found the dolphin on the way in. Spotted a floating bouy and decided to check it out. Sure enough, had 60' of line attached with barnicles all over it and the dolphin were stacked on it. We caught them until we had just plain had enough. It looked like we butchered 5 deer on the boat.


----------



## Madsnooker (Jul 6, 2012)

Mechanicaldawg said:


> Good looking box of fishes!
> 
> I wish our water would have cooperated like that!
> 
> BTW, do you salt your fish box?



We have never done that. Does it help the ice?


----------



## Mechanicaldawg (Jul 6, 2012)

I've never done it but have heard that really does help.

It just looked like you may have had a "slurry" going on in your box.


----------



## captbrian (Jul 6, 2012)

I always slushed the box on my boat, but i usually don't on the outboards just for the fact there is generally more bouncing around.  If those fish get to sloshing, you won't have any scales or skin left.   That slush does make them look prettier for pictures, no white heat spots


----------



## Madsnooker (Jul 6, 2012)

Mechanicaldawg said:


> I've never done it but have heard that really does help.
> 
> It just looked like you may have had a "slurry" going on in your box.



That is a 7' insulated fish box. we put the ice in at 5:30am and I took that pic at 6:30pm on the way in. The ice melted just a little so at about 3:30 we added fresh water to the ice from the fresh water supply to make the slurry so all the fish would be submersed. It just seems to keep the fish better than when they are stacked up on top of the ice.


----------



## Bryannecker (Jul 6, 2012)

Madsnooker said:


> That is a 7' insulated fish box. we put the ice in at 5:30am and I took that pic at 6:30pm on the way in. The ice melted just a little so at about 3:30 we added fresh water to the ice from the fresh water supply to make the slurry so all the fish would be submersed. It just seems to keep the fish better than when they are stacked up on top of the ice.



Adding rock salt to the brine helps as well.


----------



## Madsnooker (Jul 9, 2012)

Bryannecker said:


> Adding rock salt to the brine helps as well.



I just thinking, instead of adding fresh water to the ice, I wonder if we should just take a bucket and add saltwater to the ice instead? 

Bottom line is the water was so cold my hand went numb taking the fish out so I guess that was good enough.


----------



## letliloneswalk (Jul 19, 2012)

yes we always do the salt water  makes a good  cold very cold cooler   by the way  Nice catch  great job


----------



## FishingAddict (Jul 22, 2012)

Please tell me you have a EPIRB on board, so I don't have nightmares. 

Great post, thanks for sharing!


----------

