The next day, it was blowin like a mf'r. As soon as I came out of my room, Capt Hoop says, no fishing today. It's crazy rough out there. His call to make, and nobody knows better than he does, so we had breakfast, and went to work getting the big boat ready for the offshore trip the next day.





All the time we were working, Capt Hoop kept checking the weather. He never let up, he wanted to fish! By noon, you could feel it was starting to lay down. We needed licenses for the next day anyway, so we loaded up and headed for the store. By the time we were done, Capt Hoop made the call we were going, so we hit the bait store, shot home, and loaded up.

We left so quick, he forgot to tell Jo Ann we were going! Good thing we caught fish, because we never told her what to take out for dinner either!

To say it laid down was an understatement. It was FAC calm out there! We got into rat reds fairly quick, but everything was short, so we moved. tried several locations, but didn't find anything bigger. Just as the day was winding down, we decided to fish the spot we were getting the shorts earlier, but to fish the opposite side of the rock pile. It worked, and gave up a few really decent fish. As the sun got lower, the bugs got thicker. It got to the point hwere they were killing us, so we headed for the barn!





Coming back into the Empire launch, we were treated to a magnificient sunset. You can see the swingin draw bridge letting us through