Deep drop OilFish out of Miami - March 1st,2014

Went out with Colby and my friend Eddie on a swordfish hunt but unlike the last one a week ago when we had flat calm seas this time the wind was blowing hard out of the north east 10 to 15 mph and the seas ran up to an occasinal 7 or 8 foot . Eddie quickly was out of the picture turning green and providing free chum all night long .After a few hours of watching the big waves threaten to swamp the transom without any bites I suggested we try the electric reel on a real deep drop to catch a shark but when I pulled out the LP it was all white with corrosion from sitting inside the boat a few months so I wire brushed off some off the white crud ,plugged it in and she worked perfectly.Fishing in 1200 feet of water in the nasty waves we managed this my first ever oilfish and a 5 foot silky shark both caught on the electric Lingren Pittman 12/0 loaded with wire.The LP saved the night because we had a very fast drift in the big seas and no swordfish bites until we decided to drop the wire line down 400 feet with a whole 8 lb Bonit,,good idea because it got the action started and saved the night for us .I was excited to see this deepwater big eyed fish come up thrashing on our line and I remembered my brother caught one years ago while deep dropping also out of Haulover Inlet.Colby cleaned the fish back at the ramp and I was delighted to see how white and creamy the meat is on these rare deep water creatures .Word to the wise -the scales on the oilfish are like tiny knives and this fish should not be handled without gloves.The oilfish is often used as a substitute for white tuna or (Escolar) at the finest sushi restaurants but only served in small portions because the white meat which is high in oil(wax esters) content can cause diahreah.Excellent tasting fish Ive had it in Ponzu sauce and so far so good.

last weeks swordfish with Jonathan

time to clean up the Senator 12/0 and repaint the electric LP

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the next day at Ray's baby shower hamming it up with some of the SFSC members Billy,Tony and Colby