split trip rod bender!

Had a split charter group Saturday for a full day offshore. Met up at pineland  marina and off the docks around 645. Ride out was nice with a quarter following sea. We picked up some bait around 80-90ft before heading deeper to the wreck. 
The bite on the wreck was excellent. What wasn't so excellent was the amount of cutoffs and lost weights and hooks. Every drift would produce multiple hook ups, some just downright monsters that ran right towards the wreck, other drag screamers, some going airborne. Dennis was first one to get a hookup that made it to the boat. It was a solid amberjack that measured 39" to the fork.
 On to ice he went for the smoker.  The continued pattern of hook ups with cutoffs continued. Dave sr hooked into something big on the bottom and it took a ton of heat to bring  up the estimated 7+ foot nurse shark off the bottom. pics dont do it justice...
We had a few pull hooks on some long runs as well. Dave jr was next up on the screaming rod and boated a slob amberjack. Somewhere in the mayhem Philip caught a small barracuda , then had another shoot a good 30 ft on the air and across the side of the boat. It came unglued but so cool to see.  Philip stayed working his Japanese jigging rod with flutter jigs and was rewarded with a hook up that made him work for his catch. He boated the biggest AJ of the day after a solid 20-30 minute fight. 
Everyone mutual agreed to go target some snapper and grouper as everyone was worn out! We pushed out a bit and found a pretty decent grouper bight. Dave Jr bested a solid 28+ inch red grouper, 
followed by Philip besting a nice 23" for the over box. Dennis worked on some porgy and snapper, and Dave sr boated 2 keeper red grouper to fill his limit. 
With a pretty steep head sea, we pushed on back towards Captiva pass at a 23-27 mph cruise. Not many other boats that could have ran that speed in those conditions. 
Was a great day with a fantastic crew. Look forward to seeing y'all out there again!