Pole Dancer fishing report 7-20-21.

Ted McDaniel and Mark McCutchen started fishing PNP at 0530 at 120 foot depth heading toward Foul Weather Bluff. About half way through Skunk Bay the starboard rod popped, as I started to reel and flipped the switch on the downrigger we soon heard voices from a nearby boat. “Hey! I think you have our fish”. Sure enough, their gear and fish was tangled with one of our lines. As we were trying to figure out how to handle this situation the downrigger continued to grind its way to the surface. Very quickly the situation was solved, the entire mess of gear came up from the depths wrapped around the downrigger cable. As luck would have it, the downrigger stops had also slid down the downrigger cable eliminating any automatic stop feature. Consequently, the gear and the fish were now firmly jammed against the downrigger pulley. The fish was now hanging precariously from the tangle of line, flashers and hooks. The fish was now about a foot out of the water looking about as stunned as the four fisherman staring at it… After carefully working the net under the fish we were able unhook it. After a quick photo op with the fish and Ted, we returned the fish and the gear to the nearby boat. This fish was caught on a chrome with purple striped flasher and white hoochie.

Continuing on, we reached Foul Weather with no other action. Making the turn I changed tackle and started trolling back south in 120 feet of water. Just past the inside corner, the starboard pole released and went slack, reeling down triggered a fantastic battle as the fish ripped line during multiple runs. Thanks to the skillful netting by Ted we boated a 20.4 lb fish. The fish was caught in 120 ft. of water, downrigger ball on the bottom, Purple haze flasher, Ace Hi Fly, and Ultra violet hoochie…