Capt. Will Hubbard
What does a charter captain do on his day off……..take his kids fishing! I knew the Sunday following Thanksgiving was going to be a busy day off. We live on Little Gasparilla Island, which is a bridgeless barrier island. With that said, we live very close to the marina, so we headed over and grabbed some shrimp and off my son and I went to fish for some tripletail. We were out on the water for the beautiful sunrise headed about 2 miles off Little Gasparilla Island into the gulf. The day was perfect for tripletail fishing. The water temperature had cooled from the hot summer, the water was calm, crystal clear, and the crab pot lines were in place. With the tripletail season running from mid-November through the winter months, the combination of the cooler waters and the pot lines all set created the perfect scenario. Tripletail like to use the buoy as a structure and while they lay sideways like a flounder, with their nose pinned to the rope right under the buoy, they think they are hiding from their predators, but little do they know we can actually see them plain as day.
We knew we had to make the most of our time as we had to be back in time for my wife’s afternoon plans. As soon as we got out the Gasparilla Pass we stopped to rig up our lines. All you need for tripletail fishing is a light to medium weight rod rigged with 10-15 lb. braid main line. So, we got our rods and tied on our 20lb leader line and tied it to the 15lb braid. Then we tied a 1/0 Gamakatsu hook on and we were on the hunt! We went from one buoy to the next searching in the crystal-clear water for some tripletail. Since fishing tripletail is a type of sight-fishing, my son and I were side by side in my tower. It wasn’t long after we got out to the row of pot lines that my son yelled “tripletail!” He was so excited. We hooked up our live shrimp and threw our lines out on the water right next to the buoy. At first it seemed a little shy, but then suddenly I got a big hit. The reel was screaming as it pulled drag! Hoping that it didn’t wrap me around the rope connected to the buoy, I reeled and reeled. As I get it close to the boat my son is waiting with the net. He goes in for a scoop and misses and then it runs down under the boat. It was running and had no sign of stopping. As it pulls more and more drag I get worried the line is going to snap. He goes around the entire boat until I finally wear him out. This time when I bring him up to the boat, he doesn’t run and my son scoops him up in the net. Once we get it in the boat and de-hooked we got some nice pictures and measured him. The legal-size limit is 18 inches and this one was a 21-inch keeper!
After that we begin the search again. Hyped with a good start we search buoy after buoy… again. We spotted one, but we could tell he wasn’t a keeper so we moved on. After passing several buoys we spot another one. My son got the rod, hooked up a live shrimp, and hit the tripletail right in the forehead! He lets the shrimp sit there for a second and then he gets impatient and reels it in. As he reels it in, the tripletail decides to take a bite. FISH ON! My son reels and as this one wasn’t as big, it was pretty easy for him to reel it in. He gets it up to the boat and I scoop it with the net. We de-hook it, got some pictures, and measure him. He was only 13 inches so we released him for next season. After that one we started heading back and then we saw one more keeper, but spooked him off the pot line as we drifted too close for his comfort. We saw plenty more but didn’t bother trying to catch them because they weren’t keepers either. We were going to be late for our next adventure of the day, so we had to run on back to the island and call it a day. A good time was had by all!
Captain Will Hubbard
Family Traditions Charter Co.
Little Gasparilla Island, Florida