Today my fishing buddies were Jeff, Josh, and Virgil Bennett and Josh's best friend Aaron Tubbs from Arkansas. According to Jeff who booked the trip he and his family have been coming down for the last few years and had a deep sea fishing trip on his "bucket list" and finally followed through this year. Today was the first time any of them had ever ventured offshore on a boat into the ocean and I was privileged to be the one to introduce them to the the fun fishing offshore can be and the tasty treats catching a few can bring.
    First order of business was a stop for fuel at the marina with an opportunity for the teenagers to pick up a pair of sunglasses for the trip. We then were fortunate enough to run in to a school of pogies just outside the port south of the jetty and one toss of the net had the guys doin the "pogie pickup". With bait on board it was off to my favorite spot at 8A and upon or arrival we were hooked up within minutes with a double. We had pretty consistent action for the entire day and the highlight of the day was another double hookup with both boys doing a square dance on the bow trying to two kingfish from getting tangled up together. They turned out to be really good dancers doing the over and under "dosie do" for about twenty minutes and both fish were landed in the end with Aaron's fish about 12 pounds and Josh's fish a trophy at 34 pounds.
    We also saw a number of Cobia and ended up netting and releasing a total of five fish, two of which were less than two inches short. We hooked up with one more cobe that was probably a keeper but he was able to spit the hook.
    It was really a pleasure to introduce these guys to offshore fishing and I am in debt to Poseidon for helping me make it all come together today. The weather today was absolutely spectacular with calm seas and light winds. The only bad thing was it was incredibly hot today and it's a good thing we took plenty of water and soft drinks with us today to stay refreshed.

Final tally for the day:
14 Kingfish with 10 kept for the table and one 34# trophy for Josh
5 Cobia released to grow a few inches.
3 Sharks released.
3 Bonito released.
1 Remora released.