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akholmes

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Aug 10, 2012
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Location
Poquoson, VA
The family and I trailered our 2120 down to Marathon FL for a little change of pace thanksgiving fishing vacation.. It was a great! Rented a house on a canal in Key Colony Beach... boat 10yrds out the back door.

On Monday the 21st we were invited to fish as a guest of Peter Miller of NBCSport's Bass2Billfish TV show.. We left out of Key Biscane on the 45' Hatteras charter boat Cutting Edge. It was a TOP NOTCH boat, captain, and crew. Peter showed us the ropes of kite fishing for sails... but the wind didn't want to cooperate so we deployed the outriggers put some baits out flat and drifted/slow trolled the ledge. 1 King and 1 mutton snapper (down rod) later the right long snapped... SAILFISH! It was a bruiser too... 40-45min fight. We got the leader touch about 5min in but let it do it's thing. The captain and Peter estimated the fish at around 60-65lb. Said they usually don't get those larger breeders this time of year. We hooked this fish in 80ft of water and it took us out to 350ft before it was all over! An incredible experience.




 

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The Following day back in Marathon we loaded up into the 2120 and set off to put to use what we learned with the pros! Caught our live ballyhoo right in Vaca Cut and ran offshore.. It was rough but looking at the forecast this was the only offshore fishable day so we rode it out. Within about an hour and a half we were hooked up to our sailfish. I was in the tower- got the hook set and handed the rod off to brother-in-law, Jack, for the fight. We chased this fish down for about 6-10min. We got this one in the boat for about one min for photos and then revived for 2-3min until it was ready for release. We estimated this sail at around 45-50lbs. Caught in 35ft of 80 degree water within 6miles of our vacation house! Catching your target species on your OWN BOAT after trailering down, all that prep, and learning the ropes from the pros was very awesome. As soon as we got back to the dock I jumped in the truck and ran to get the release flag! Never thought I'd see a sailfish release flag flying from my 2120!




 

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Some more pics



Key Colony beach canal


2120 in the back yard


Underwater GoPro shots of sailfish on the 2120



Showing how the kites work
 

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By the way, what brand/model are those blue underwater lights? I'm going to install some over the winter but I'm not wanting to spend $5 or $600. Right now I'm looking at the Lumitec Seablaze Mini that are only about $200 for a pair. Yours look nice.
Thanks.
 
shawnee83":2bw8sq1e said:
By the way, what brand/model are those blue underwater lights? I'm going to install some over the winter but I'm not wanting to spend $5 or $600. Right now I'm looking at the Lumitec Seablaze Mini that are only about $200 for a pair. Yours look nice.
Thanks.

They're Coastal Night Lights. They come HIGHLY recommended on THT. Guy on there (ScarabChris) makes them and sells for a great value. I originally did white but unless you live in FL's pretty blue water white lights just show how dirty the water you're in is... ha. When I switched to blue Chris gave me a decent discount (10% I think?) and I sold the white lights online. A quick search on THT will return endless results singing their praises.

FYI on the lights install... I wasn't 100% on exact placement for the lights when I first installed the white lights. I didn't want to drill holes in the wrong spot so I stuck them on the transom with 3 big blobs of 3M 4200 on each light. Kept them on for a year and when I went to take them off it was all I could do to get them off that transom! They were ON THERE. So... when I reinstalled the blue they went on with 3 big blobs of 4200. I'm 2 years in on the second install. I check them often and they're STUCK. No extra holes in transom 8)

coastalnightlights.com
 
shawnee83":4gpzs9fx said:
Thanks for the info and link. Looks like you used the 10.5" wide ones and not the 6" wide? Is that correct?

Correct- the DL model. I had the DS model in white...Didn't spread as well.
 
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