Deep Sea Headquarters 24hr Offshore

[CooldadE]

I moved to Texas 2 yrs ago and hadn't fished the Gulf offshore. I had a 24hr trip set up for last year but it was cancelled for weather. Rescheduled this year for 9-26 (24hr) trip out of Port Aransas / Deep Sea Headquarters on the New Pelican.
 We departed Sat at 6PM to return Sun 6PM. Weather was warm, humid and the Seas were great.
It was a full boat of 18 anglers 2 deckhands and 2 Caps... we motored for ? Hours (I lost track) Deck hands made Chicken rigs with circle hooks and heavy sinkers and rigged rods for those who wanted it. Bait was cut Squid rings and when dropped on the reef drew quick hookups of a nice grade of Vermillion Snappers. The boat reset twice till we caught limits. Then time to move to Red Snapper town. We used frozen Sardines and quickly were into a good grade of fish. I hooked and was battling the mother of all Red Snapper's and was close to color when the line went limp... I kept reeling and reeled in a huge Snapper head. I figure a good sized Shark was latched on to my fish till the end.
After Snapper Town we moved again to Kingfish Town. On the way deckhand rigged us up with short wire leaders, J hooks and a small egg sinker. Once to the spot we basically flylined dead Sardines. Quite a few were caught along with some Barracuda and Raindow Runners... alas no Kingfish for me bur did land a Rainbow runner (a lot of Spunk for a small fish).
While we were fishing for Kings the Cap and crew dropped some large baits on heavy gear for Amberjack. Cap tapped me on the shoulder and told me to "get on it" as an Amberjack was hooked. Tough critters and definitely a loud thud when they hit the deck... overall a great trip though by the end I was running out of juice. I just turned 70 and I'm feeling it, though I don't think it's my age compared to my mileage...

Cool

[Keta]

NICE!!!

[oc1]

When I was a kid we had family outings on half-day head boats out of Port Aransas for kingfish (King Mackerel).  They would have flats of frozen ribbonfish / cutlassfish (Trichiurus lepturus) for bait.  The ribbonfish were by-catch from the shrimp boats.  The head-boat outfits were rigged with an egg sinker and three single hooks spaced on wire leader; so there's a front middle and rear hook in the ribbonfish.  Everybody would catch at least a couple kingfish over 3 to 4 hours fishing.  There were a lot of kingfish and ribbonfish in those days.

[CooldadE]

A couple fo guys had ribbon fish for bait. I think they bought them at the bait shop on the docks... They did well, better than the Sardine slingers...

Cool

[Gfish]

I feel ya, almost 70, whatever I do though it seems to be more mileage than years.
Rainbow Runners are around here but no get yet. Prized for their fighting ability.