07/21/2026
Spent this past weekend fishing the Texas Oilmans Charity Invitational Fishing Tournament out of Matagorda with clients and colleagues.
Friday started with a bumpy ride offshore, but the fishing didn't disappoint. We put our endangered red snapper limits in the box with ease using SeaDepth, along with some quality beeliners. From there, we ran offshore to the FADs where the action stayed steady. We boated four nice mahi and hooked something big on the shotgun... but unfortunately, something with a lot of teeth had other plans and cut us off right at the swivel.
We wrapped up the day with a swordfish drop, but it just wasn't meant to be.
Saturday we pushed farther east and headed straight back to the FADs. They were loaded with life, and before noon we had already added five more nice mahi to the fish box.
At that point we had a decision to make—head back for the awards ceremony or keep fishing.
Thankfully, everyone onboard voted to stay.
I decided to make a swordfish drop in an area I had never fished before. After a quick drift test using SeaDrift we found we were moving just over a knot. We made one drop where I marked bait, but our drift speed and direction didn't give us much time in the zone.
Rather than settling, we spent a few minutes exploring until I found a ledge that would give us a longer, more productive drift.
Using SeaDepth, we found exactly what we were looking for.
We set the buoy rod and the tip rod, and about 30 minutes into the drift the buoy laid over and stayed down. We came tight.
The fish came within about 100 feet of the boat in only 45 minutes, and for a moment we thought we had her whipped.
She had other plans, and dove back down past 1,000’.
After three hours of back-and-forth, we finally put a nice sword in the boat. She was long and skinny, but still pulled the scale to 171 Ibs.
That's what I love about SeaDepth. Being able to pull into an area I've never fished before, quickly identify productive ledges, locate bait, run a drift test, and keep our bait in the strike zone gave us the confidence to stick with the plan—and it paid off.
A huge thank you to Ryan Doxey, Troy Day, Tom Hilton, and the Houston Big Game Club for putting these FADs out. Every one we fished was holding life, and they're an incredible asset to the Texas Coast. The mahi were chewing just about everything we pulled behind our dredge, and we took 1st and 2nd place Mahi for the TOCIFT.
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