I am going offshore with the Scat Cat this Saturday night with my friend for my birthday. It is a tradition of mine to go fishing in Rockport for my birthday, but this week brought up some strain on my plans because of weather and scheduling conflicts with friends. Because of the problems my bay fishing has been pushed back a few weeks, but being my birthday I NEED to go fishing, and decided to go offshore with a friend. This year has not been kind to me going offshore with Dolphin Docks and Deepsea Headquarters, but all those trips were drift fishing. Looking at the this weekend the best time me and friend could schedule up was with the scat cat for a 12hour night trip. I use to go out on the scat cat with my grandfather when I was a lot younger, but I have been extremely hesitant to go out there as of late because of the electric reels they use, well because I believe that that is not fishing.

Anyone familar with the night fishing trips from party boats? What type of game will I be looking at getting into? All they told me was it would be bottom fishing, so I assumed it would be snapper/grouper/sharks.

This time I would like to use my own gear. I have a Shimano TLD 25 with 40lbs test line with a Bimini Bay Tsunami Trophy Series rod. I use it for Kingfishing and it works great, but haven't dropped it down and fished for any bottom fish. Do yall think I am a little undergeared for this trip?

Last question is anyone got any links or advise on what type of rigs/leaders to use, including hook/weight size? Also would yall recomend me bringing my own bait out, if so what kind?

Thank you for taking time to read this and Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. I'm just trying to get the best out of this trip on such short notice as possible.
Good Luck fishing and a nice week.

Never fished that boat, but I do party boats overnight all the time. Usually anchor over a reef for bottom fishing. Check on what bait they provide. I use whole sardines for snapper and squid for beeliners. If they don't have it, buy a 5# box per person. (the sardines are sorry this year; dump some non iodinezed salt in with them before you head out and it will thoughen them up a bit.) Double drop rig with circle hooks (Mustad 39950bl 7/0-9/0)for snapper, and triple drop with small circles (mustad 39950bl 3/0) for beeliners. Weight depends on current and your spot on the boat. If you catch some small beeliners, you can send them back down as bait on the other rig. Or cut bonita works too. I have some very detailed posts over on 2cool.com bluewater board, as do many others, you can look at for more detailed info on tips, rigs and techniques. Lumberjack 93 has a bunch of good posts for sure. Just do a searh on party boats and see what comes up.

Your outfit is fine for 95% of your fishing. Its limits are likely to be casting for kingfish if they are there and big fish on the bottom (but if you can stop them from getting into the reef or wreck, that gear will then reel them in fine). If you put a big bait on and go to the bottom, set your lever to full and start cranking immediately to get them up a bit off the bottom.

Good luck. Hope this helps some.

PM, Mustangdonkey...he posted up here ( Enter the complete URL for the link you wish to add. ) went on the 12hr overnight Scat Cat trip last weekend. Lots of beeliners and a nice blacktip. Pic looks to have some decent kingfish in it too...

Good luck...

Cameron

Thanks for help guys.

ELW,
I just got off that trip like CG said and I had a great time but there could of been a little better:) Bringing your own gear would be a hudge plus.. I have to say the electric reels at first seemed like it wouldnt be fishing. But haveing to re-bait the line every 20 seconds I was glad we had them. Also I took the night trip and we were catching Blacktips and Alot of Kings. The thing though, the deck hands were bringing in about 75% of the kings which i thought was bad.
If the scatt cat is taking out paying customers they should be the ones to reel them in. But anyways if i where you i would try dolphin docks:) They seemed much better. We were going to take DD but we didnt wake up in time:( but yeah if you have any ?'s at all just pm and I would be glad to help. Also the people at TFF are awesome, they are who helped me out im sure you can find anything you want to know here.

Why would they be reeling in the Kingfish? That makes no sense. Kinda makes me mad that someone actually pays to fish yet its the people you are paying to let you fish who are catching them. If some deckhand were to touch my personal gear without my permission there would be trouble.

ELW,

I've gone on the Scat Cat overnight trips (Saturday 10pm to Sunday 10am) with my own gear & enjoyed them alot. The boat is by far the most comfortable riding partyboat out of Port A, and nightfishing always seems to produce bigger & better fish (with more variety). They're also the most convenient 12hr trip to go on, as I can fly from DFW to Corpus on Saturday, go fishing, and fly back home on Sunday afternoon. Their boat tackle is broomhandles with electric winches, and they rig with 32 ounce sinkers. If you can get a spot in the stern, you can rig yourself with 8-20 ounces (depending on conditions) for your personal rig, and your line should drift back just enough to be out of tangle range of all the boat rods.

I normally take two rigs with me on these trips; a 'medium' 4/0 reel (Penn Senator 113 or Shimano TLD-30) with 50-60# line, and a 'heavy' 6/0 reel (Penn Senator 114 or Shimano TLD-50) with 80# line. The rods I use are 5-1/2 foot tuna sticks that match the line class for each reel - very handy on crowded partyboats. While some deckhands on these trips aren't the most experienced, if you bring your own tackle, they treat it as your private property. They also recognize that you know what you're doing & will help rig you up with things besides the standard bottom setup - wire leaders for kings in particular.

I'll use the medium rig with a two hook setup (3/0 - 6/0 circle hooks) for beeliners, blue runners & the like. Will also use it with a two-hook wire leader to drift back a ribbonfish for kings. When I get a blue runner (hardtail), I'll pin it on the heavy rig & let it drop slowly all the way down. The terminal rig I have on that setup is usually a single dropper loop with a big hook (16/0 circle hook or 12/0 Mustad Big Game hook); sometimes I'll use a sliding sinker rig with a 16oz slider (don't forget a bead between sinker & swivel), and an extra heavy leader (120-150#) about 3 feet long. Live bluerunner or beeliner tend to get more amberjack, while big cut bait seems more effective for snapper & grouper - just my own experience on this point mind you.

You'll most likely get the biggest fish of the trip this way ... amberjack or grouper. Just be ready for a serious tug-o-war to get out of bottom structure immediately on the hookup. You're welcome to PM me if you want more detail on any of this.

Good luck & let us know how you do!

Well, I just went on the Scat Cat and I have to apologize to anyone who's read my positive comments about them ... they've changed.

I'll have a new thread posted about this tonight