Christmas Eve, RED-nose Sitings

12.24.10
Water: Extremely Clear
Water Temp: 62 Deg
Air: 50's
Tide: Incoming

Beautiful, clear water greeted Hunter and I on Christmas Eve afternoon at Fort San Marcos at St. Marks.
We have been reading about the trout bite in the St Marks river and wanted to participate.

As we were backing the Nan into the the water, a nice boat was pulling out.

We inquired, "'Did you kill'em?".

They said the fished from the ramp to Newport, a total of 5 miles up the St. Marks River.

They were disgusted that they didn't get a bite.

Hunter and I looked at each other and said, well, I guess it's up the Wakulla River then.

I knew the marina docks harbored a few fish, but the tide was really low.

We positioned our boat so the would go into the wind and started fishing the docks.  On about the fifth dock, Hunter said, "Dang, I got broke off."  He said "there's a 3 lb. bass, AND a 4 lber."

We eased around the docks and I caught a small bass on topwater.  Nice surprise for Christmas Eve.

We then started fishing down to the big boat docks, and Hunter started casting to the middle of the river.

He soon was hooked up.

                                                                 This nice red came aboard.

We kept moving up and down the river, as the bite would die in one spot, we would move about 25 yards and they would start biting again.

On one of our last stops, I fought this 24" red to the boat.

By the end of our little 3 hour trip, we had landed 12 reds and were broke of a handful of times.

Another highlight of our trip is we saw tarpon rolling in the river.  They seemed to be around lady fish schools.  We casted to them numerous times, but, no luck.

It was a Christmas eve trip like no other and one we will remember  for a long time.

Kings Bay Reddin' and Bassin'

12.20.10
Air: 60+
Winds: Calm
Tide: Incoming
Water Temp: ?

Doug and I fished the back of Kings Bay on a quick trip.  Went down to swap presents and pick up my Mom.  Somehow she said it was cold.  Hmmm, I thought Ohio was cold?

Anyways, we put in and fished the back end of Kings Bay.  We shared the waters with about a million manatees.

Here is one that followed our boat as we eased around.  I'm glad he didn't finally decide we were a female manatee.

We fished a big bubbling spring near the back end of the bay and I caught this nice multi spotted redfish on a white shrimp gulp.

When Doug downloaded the picture he started laughing.  He asked me "do you think people will believe you are fishing in Florda?".  Looking at the background, I think most will know.

His part of Florida is very different than where we live.  As you can see, he  lives in the big $$$ area.

I caught another red off the same dock as we came back a couple of hours later.  I also broke one off on that dock.

We fished our way back to the boat ramp, and Doug was whimpering about not getting a bite.

He said "one more cast" as we eased up to the ramp.  With a "there he is", we finished the day with this nice bass.  Consequently, we had a good 15 minute ride back to his house.  No whining!

It was a beautiful afternoon, shared by manatees, manatee watchers, birds and tons of lady fish.  

Rainy Reds

12.17.10
Water: 50 deg.
High tide
weather: rain

I checked the radar and it looked like a window of opportunity was upon us to fish between the rain that was traveling through the area this afternoon.

Grabbed the rain gear, just in case.

Well, after about 10 minutes in the boat, the rains came.

We fished around the docks in Panacea Harbor and came up with nothing the first pass.

As the skies got darker we were ready to load up, when two oyster boats came in and went to loading their boats.  We decided to try one more dock again and low and behold we landed two small reds on our last casts as the sky opened up.

Finally got the boat on the trailer and headed to the house where the rain had stopped.

Figures.

Hello Cold Redfish

12.12.10

Water: 51 deg.
Clear, outgoing tide
Air: 50 deg and falling
Wind: howling out of the north

When we came back in to Panacea Harbor yesterday, our friend Fred was there.  He said he had a good story when we got the boat out.

Evidently we ran about 48 miles too far yesterday, the reds were in by the docks in the Harbor and he saw someone catch 15 in a row.

So after a mental check yesterday, I decided to head out in the howling wind as the extreme front came through.  Fortunately the harbor is protected from a north wind.

My first 5 casts yielded 3 pups and two misses.

I started just skipping and pitching a white gulp shrimp to the docks Lanier styles and caught 8 reds and one flounder in a couple of hours.

Two reds were 22" keepers as seen here:

The wind finally go too much and the tide too low so I decided to head in.
I then had to start my boat for the first time to get it on the trailer.
That was an economical fishing trip.

Zip, Zilch, Nada

12.11.10

Water: 56 deg. Air 50's
Light winds, 1 Ft waves
Very Clear
Tide: low to incoming

Nancy and I decided to try and go out before the big blow this weekend.
We wanted to put some more grouper in the freezer since the Feds have decided that we can't keep any from 1.1.11 to at least 6.30.11.

We headed out to our holes that we killed them on when Hunter was in town a couple of weeks ago.

Unfortunately all we got for our cool boat ride was a great porpoise show, a few grunts and a tasty ham and cheese sandwich topped of with ginger snaps.

We fished our best spots this fall, Big, Yank Wreck and Good.  Zeroed out.

Oh well, if we don't get out again, we sure didn't hurt the endangered grouper species today.

Flattie in Cool Water

12.3.10
Air: 60's
Water: 57deg
Wind: sw 10-15
Tide: outgoing and clear

We decided to try the afternoon bite after chores were done around the house.

The tide was heading out and so were we.  The phrase "man it's colder than I thought" and "I'm glad I brought a jacket" were common as we headed to the oyster bars in OR.

As I looked at the temp gauge I realized why.  The water temp had dropped at least ten degrees since we fished last week.  The wind was stronger than we thought too.

Nancy decided to throw the Fat Albert grub after reading Capt Vic's article in the recent Woods and Water.

Good choice.  On about her third cast I feel the boat shake and the incredulous cry of "oh I've got one!".  Her rod was arched good and I heard her drag sing.  Nancy then said "It's a big flounder" and I suddenly started thinking of a stuffed flounder dinner and dug out the net.

It was a beautiful 17" fish.

We putzed around some more and didn't get anymore bites at our first stop, so we headed out to the bar at the mouth of the river.

We caught a small trout and a small red and decided it was time to head back in.

The ducks have really arrived with some beautiful buffleheads in the river.

When I cleaned the flounder I found it was full of eggs.

May not get out for a while, the weather report calls for wind and then stronger wind.

Lanier Revisited

11.27.10
Air: mid fifties
water: 61 deg
windy, cool, blue bird skies

Got in a quick fishing trip with Nick and his Dad while taking Hunter back to ATL for his plane ride back to Memphis.

Hooked up with Nick late morning at Balus.

We ducked into Flat creek to stay out of the wind and absorb the sunshine as we BS'ed about everything from fishing, hunting, college, Nick's future in the FLW tour and of course the President.

In between we finally patterned the bass at about 35' to 40' deep along creek ledges.  The spaghetti lines on the graphs were showing their whereabouts and a jighead with a sand worm or a spoon would bring them up.

Biggest fish of the day was by Nick's dad on a ledge in the back of Flat.
He was probably a little over 3 lbs.

The rest were in the 2 lb. range as shown here:

Left them biting as we hauled out of Balus Ramp with another successful day of fishing at Lanier under our belts.

Smooth Seas=Big Grouper

Water: 71 deg. calm
Wind: light from the east
Weather: sunny, 70's
Tide: low to incoming
11.24.10

We decided to try and really get our lines stretched with a half day trip on Wednesday.

We travelled over to Mashes but the tide was so low, we couldn't get the Nan Z into the water without backing off the ramp.  Been there, done that.
So, we headed off to Panacea to put in there.  The new ramp at Rock Landing has made for the possibility of getting in even on a very low tide.

After getting in we headed out to our Yank Wreck hole.

Nancy and Hunter were the designated fisherman today, and I was the designated bait installer.

They caught many pink mouths and a few undersized grouper, but certainly not what we were looking for.

Headed over to our Good hole where Doug and I pounded the Red Grouper a few weeks ago.

A lot more grouper there and the designated fisherman put a few undersized groups in the boat and this one nice keeper Red in the box.

We decide to head about a mile away, a little further to the east, where I had a number.  Don't remember much about the spot, but we were soon to be surprised by the fish there.

About as soon as the baits got down, we knew we were on a good grouper hole.

Rods were hitting the gunnels with regularity.

I heard a grunt of "there he is" by Hunter and looked over to this sight:

 Hunter was soon to bring in the biggest grouper we have landed on the Nan Z, a whopping 16 lb., 32 incher.

Nancy was next in the act, with her biggest grouper she has ever caught.

She then went and got her fighting belt in case she had to do it again.  But, after some more action, we ran out of bait.

We tried trolling some stretch 30's over the hole, but to no avail, they must have wanted only the dead fish today.

We packed it up and headed to the hill.

A nice 4 and a half hour trip, with lots of meat in the frig, and another memorable trip at the Forgotten Coast.

Ditto That

11.22.10
Water: 66 deg., calm, high tide to outgoing
Air: 70's
Moon: Full

Hunter and I decided we would try to duplicate yesterday's success at the mouth of the OR.

Since everything was the same as yesterday except the tides just being an hour later, we decided to hit the docks in the OR with some shrimp while the tide was up.

We went almost to the bridge and decided to fish back towards the ramp.
We were pitching shrimp to the outside edges of the docks and used a baker's dozen of shrimp to no avail.  The only bites we got were from what we think were sheepshead, jerk, no bait.  No good redfish pulls.

So, off we went to the oyster bars.  This time we got to fish one of our favorites in the middle of the bars.
I was casting a gold johnson spoon, and Hunter was gulpin  a shrimp.

I caught this nice 20" trout on the spoon there.

Hunter caught a couple of small reds and I got broken off by a big red on a new penny gulp.
I remembered a workshop Nancy and I went to last winter.  The guide said that a large gulp jerkshad works well.
So, I put on the last one I had and the first cast produced this guy.

We caught a couple more reds there, and then decided to head off to where we left them yesterday evening.

Although they weren't as thick as they were the night before, we were enjoyed a magnificent sunset and another nice  19" trout.

Hunter nabbed this nice red using my rod, while he made me retie his line when he got broke off on a fish. (sneaky).

Finally at dusk on the "last cast", I was quickly reeling in my jerkshad when a big ol' red came up and missed it as I about to pull it out of the water, I quickly stopped my retrieve and he came back. After a big swirl, a tightening of the line and a solid hook set; SNAP went my line.

We packed it in with the thoughts of "I'm gonna have to buy me another bag of those baits!"

Hunter is back and the Reds are Biting

11.21.10
Water temp: 68 deg., very clear
Wind east 10mph
Tide: very high (full moon), to outgoing
Air: 70's

Well, Hunter is in from college and waiting to get on the water.  Every time he gets in the boat in the fall, you know the reds are coming aboard.

We had a great battle plan.  High tide was at 2:30 PM and we would hit the edges of the OR and fish the weedlines until the water started to move, and then hit the oyster bars.

Well the first part of the plan was really bad in execution. We fished the west side of the OR, for a couple of hours, skipped over and hit a couple of oyster bars in the middle of the OR and then fished the docks and a couple of oyster bars by Tradewinds for another hour or so and all we had to show for it was Nancy's 10" redfish.

The tide finally started to move out and we headed to the mouth or the OR to fish the clam bar.  We hooked, but didn't land a few small trout.

For the finale, we decided to hit the oyster bar between 11 and 13 markers.

We pulled up to the bar, and the mullet were jumping everywhere, which was the first activity we had seen.

As we eased up along the bar, I had to start fishing ol' reliable, white gulp shrimp on a jighead.  It didn't take long and the first 24"  6 lb. red came aboard.

About 10 minutes later this beautiful multi spotted red decided to take the bait.

He was so pretty he got a reprieve and got to swim off, maybe wiser to gulp.

The next few casts produced another 18" red, which also was released.
We lost a couple of nice trout also.

They were on fire and it was almost dark when we finally left the honey hole hoping they would be there tomorrow!

We placed this fishing trip in the category of keep your line wet and good things will happen.

Bassin' and Troutin' at Crystal River

11.18,19 2010
Water: Super Clear, Temp. Unknown
Little breezy out of the east

Went down to Crystal River to fish with my bro.  Still taking antibiotics and covering up real good, we headed out to bass fish Thursday afternoon and trout/red fish on Friday morn.

Doug said he had been killing them, so it was my turn to get some killin' done.

The water down there is very clear, the river is aptly named.

We started out at Doug's hotspot, a cove that has a pipe connecting to another canal.

It didn't take long for Doug to hook up on a spunky little chunk, but he got spit before we could admire the fish.

Then, I hooked a nice chunk and while lifting him in the boat the line broke, er, the line came untied.  I'm gonna fire my guide for tying a knot like that.

So, you can kind of see how this day went.

We managed to put two in the boat, and missed or let another 6-7 get off.

The bass down there are dark and very beautiful as you can see in the pix.

I threw the toad all day, while Doug alternated between his 10 rods, but I think he missed all of his on a white super fluke.

We headed out to try some trout/red fishing early Friday on the dead low tide.

It gave Doug a chance to look at the lay of the land at a new boat ramp he has never put in before.  He drove past his usual boat ramp telling me lies about how many fish he's caught over the past week.  So we ended up  at the very tip of one of the long points that are around Crystal River.

After some slow negotiating in low water, we got out to his honey holes, but the fish didn't cooperate except for one flounder Doug caught on the Gulp Shrimp

As we were heading out we passed over a weed patch that I had him mark on his GPS, so we could fish it on the way back in.

It's a good thing we did, because on our first drift over it, we caught 3 keeper trout and a few shorts.

Our second and third pass didn't reveal anymore fish, so we loaded it on the trailer and bid Crystal River adieu!

Meow, Meow, Meow.....

11.8 and 9,2010
Weather, nice and a little breezy Highs in the 70's
Water: Alligator Harbor: 62, OR: 65

Nancy and I tried it on Monday and Tuesday of this week.  We really got into the catfish.  Not what we were trying to do.

We haven't been able to put the boat in until the afternoons due to the extremely low tides.

We decided to try some different locales this week, with the Harbor being the one on Monday.  We met a man and his son as we were putting in at Surf and Sun.  They were coming in and said fishing was reel good on Turkey Pt. Shoals.  They said the water was crystal clear and loaded with reds and trout.

It was a little too late for us to head out there, and the evening chop had picked up.  We decided to anchor up and fish the Alligator Pt. tip hoping to catch a bull red on some cut mullet.

Unfortunately, we caught cat after cat.  Got our lines stretched though.

Tuesday, we put in at the Roho ramp up the river.  Some mullet fishermen were coming it and pointed out an area that was loaded with bull reds.

We made our way there, but came up with nothing.

We fished around the mouth of the river for a while and ended up anchoring in the river just past the ramp.  Our bug lady, Sherri said she had been catching some nice reds there fishing off a dock.

We caught another cat and some really big crabs.  Finally I hooked up on a big red, he was fighting hard in the current.  Suddenly, slack line greeted me.  If figured he broke my line, but as I reeled in, he just had gotten off somehow.

I got laid up with a bad case of diverticulitis yesterday, and probably won't get out on the water for a while.  I think the good fall fishing season is upon us though, and if possible, I'll get out there sooner than later.

Mama Don't Let Your Babies Get Blistered

11.4.10

Went up to my skin doc to get my cancer removed.

He said that if you get sunburned and blistered as a child you have a real good chance of developing skin cancer when you get to be an old fart.

Well, I remember going swimming by the Olentangy River north of Columbus, OH and getting burned and blistered every year for a while when I was just a young'un.

In Ohio, if you got a sunburn AND got blistered you were like a god.  Wow, you are cool!  After those outings it was neat just to sit back and break the blisters that were on you back and arms.

Well, last month after fishing offshore, I felt a raised patch on my skin.  I thought it  was just dry skin and was rubbing goop on it to try and make it go away.  My doc said this is how you make it go away.

Ten stitches later, no more dry scaly itchy spot.  

He said the face lift was done for free.

Oh well, wear that sunscreen!

Here is the description of what I have:

Squamous cell carcinoma in situ: An early stage of skin cancer. Also known as Bowen's disease.

This is a tumor that develops from the squamous cells which are flat, scalelike cells in the outer layer of the skin (the epithelium). The term "in situ" (borrowed from the Romans) means "in the natural or normal place" and, in the case of cancer, it says that the tumor cells are still confined to the site where they originated and they have neither invaded neighboring tissues nor metastasized afar.

The hallmark of squamous cell carcinoma in situ (Bowen's disease) is a persistent, progressive, slightly raised, red, scaly or crusted plaque. Bowen's disease may occur anywhere on the skin surface (or on mucosal surfaces such as the mouth).

Under the microscope, atypical squamous cells are seen to have proliferated through the whole thickness of the epidermis (the outer layer of the skin) but to have gone no farther.

The cause of Bowen's disease classically was prolonged exposure to arsenic. Today, Bowen's disease occurs most often in the sun-exposed areas of the skin in "older" white males.

Treatment options include freezing with liquid nitrogen, cauterization (burning), surgical removal, and chemosurgery.

Bowen's disease is named after the American dermatologist John Templeton Bowen (1857-1941).

Blustery Election Day Results Just In

11.02.10
Overcast/showers
Wind: NE 15-20
Water Temp: low 70's
Air: 70
Tide: Incoming and fast

We wanted to try and go out to 2 flat for some Bull Red fishing Monday, but got sidetracked by flying squirrels in the attic Sunday night.
So, on Election Day we decided to try in the river due to the strong winds.
After waiting for the tide to get high enough to launch, we finally got going around 10 AM.  We couldn't get out to the mouth of the river, so we decided to try in front of the Tradewinds dock.
After 6-7 tries at anchoring up, we finally hooked bottom with the anchor and that was where we were gonna fish.
We were fishing the bottom with cut mullet and managed a white trout and a couple of croakers.
Then the rain came.  Wonderful.
Only fished a couple of hours, went home wet.

"I still don't know why I fish or why other men fish, except that we like it and it makes us think and feel."
Roderick l. Haig-Brown
A River Never Sleeps (1946)

Saddling Up To The Oyster Bar

10.28.10
Water: 78 Deg
Air: 80's and humid
Wind: calm
Tide: last half of outgoing

We decided to go out and give it a quick try after the fog burnt off this morning.  The idea was to get out before the wind and rain rolled in (which we did) and get in before the low tide made it difficult to get the Nan back on the trailer (which we didn't).

Headed out to the oyster bars at the mouth of the OR.

Nancy hooked up right away with the ol' Cajun Thunder with a Trigger X shrimp.  It was a nice 21" trout, one of the nicer ones she has caught this year.

I decided to just fish my bonk a donks today.  The topwater, which I have had good success with and my new bonk a donk SS, which is an under water retrieve.

I caught a little red on it.  And after making another pass, hooked up on this nice trout.  The hooks are really sharp on this little lure, as there is still blood in the boat this morning (mine not his).

This little lure is dynamite.  I hooked up on a couple of others, but they pulled off.  

We went over to the 20 marker and Nancy caught another little trout and we decided to go back in and load the boat as the tide was getting pretty low.

That decision ended up with a trailer backed over the end of the ramp, me wading out to my chest, lifting the stuck trailer out of the water and getting help from some nice guys at the ramp winching the Nan onto the trailer without the trailer being in the water.

Glad it's a light metal boat.

It was a pretty productive 2 hour trip, although, in the end, quite wet.

RED (grouper) OCTOBER

10.21.10
Tide: very low to high tide (full moon)
Water: mid to hi 70's very clear
wind: N 15 mph to 5 mph late
2 footers leveling off to calm late

Me and my Broski Doug headed out to try and chase down some grouper and try and get our lines stretched.
The day started out very choppy with winds blowing form the north.  We had hopes that if we kind of wandered out slowly the winds would lay, so the weather report said.  (And they were right for once)!
We headed out to 2 flat with the idea to try a couple of drifts and get whatever would bite, and some pinfish.  I was hoping for some bull reds, but Doug hooked up on two nice spanish.

I managed a few pinfish.

We headed over to Rotary reef, but could only manage a few small rockies while trolling.

As the water tried to calm down, I figured we could start heading out to the big water. We decided to try and head out to the spot Nancy and I slayed them a couple of weeks ago.

As we approached the area of the 26 marker, I knew that we weren't gonna venture out to the really big water today, as the water was pretty rough for the Nan Z.

So, I headed east to a few places I had on the ol' GPS.
We started at my place I call "Coral" and caught a bunch of small rockies, one keeper.

Next was a slow troll towards "Yank Wreck".  Got a couple more rockies. We trolled over the wreck and I could see fish on the fish finder, but no takers.

We got up on the wreck and as soon as we let our baits down, it was on.
Red (grouper) October indeed.

We caught them as fast as we could get our bait down.  Grouper after grouper coming aboard for a look.  We caught some that had already eaten our baits. Adding insult to us, they would spit them up in the boat.

Doug with The Biggest Red of the Day

As the bite died there, we moved to our "good" hole about a 1 1/2 away and again. We were led there by a group of 4 dolphins that swam along with us. As soon as we got down, fish were coming up.

Again the red grouper were tearing it up.

We also caught a few gags and blacks during the day, but the reds led the way.

We had a beautiful ride back to the hill as the wind layed and seas turned calm.  We were watching all of the Monarch butterflies heading to Mexico.
On the ride home, we saw probably a hundred of them.

Doug got to go home with a cooler full of grouper and rock bass.  He did leave a few for me and Nancy.  He's a nice brother.

Afternoon Delight

10.17.10

Wind: S 10 mph

Air: high 70's

Water: 72

Tide: outgoing to low

Water: clear

Went out to try and catch a bull red at the mouth of the OR.  We had netted some small LY's a couple of weeks ago and now were gonna try them out.

Just caught a small Black Sea Bass at the mouth of the river so we decided to go down to the sand trout hole at the entry to Panacea Harbor.

Saw Captain Vic anchored up down there.  His boat started catching them kind of regular, and he yelled "Come on over here boys!".  So, we slid in behind his boat.  He said he wasn't catching them real well today either.

But, we did manage to pull out a few sand trout for dinner Monday.  Also a blue, some croakers and this pretty Black Tip Shark that Nancy caught on her last cast.

It was a Chamber of Commerce day!

Nan Z and the Overfished Red Snapper

Seas: 1 foot or less
Water temp: high 70's
Tide: outgoing the incoming.  Very high tides
Air: mid 80's



The seas have layed down for the week and we decided to take advantage of the extended red snapper season.  Florida has opened up the snapper season for 8 weekends because the oil spill kept the snapper from being "overharvested" due to the banning of the commercial fleet fishing in the Gulf.

We headed out to a snapper waypoint I had plugged in to the GPS from a tip from Fred.  It is about 6 miles SW of K tower.

The water was beautiful.

We reached our waypoint in and hour and 20 minutes.

The first drop I hooked into a fish that couldn't be budged off the bottom and he got off.

We then fished around the hole, and marked a lot of fish, but kept getting our bait stolen.  We decided to expand the area and trolled a mann's stretch 25.  We hooked up on a nice King Mac.  We didn't mark any nice spots to fish, so we headed back to our original waypoint.

Needing some luck, I fired up a cigar.  Works every time, and the first drop brought up an very nice "overfished" 5.5 lb. red snapper.

We had our bait stolen a few more times and decided to head back to the hill.  As we headed back I ran across some unusual activity on the fish finder in 60 feet of water.  We turned around and dropped some sardines into the water and soon it was on.  It was a feeding frenzy of red, black and gag grouper.  Also, another Red Snapper.

It was an was an Advil moment as we were doubled up with nice fish about every drop.  I caught the biggest black I have landed to date.  Also, caught a keeper red grouper and a keeper gag.
Nancy laid down her tackle as the exhaustion of catching fish and Dramamine took over.

We got back to the hill in an hour and 10 minutes as the seas were laid down.

Just a great day to be on the water.

Manatee Siting

10.8.11

Air: low 80's. clear
Wind: NW 5-10mph
Tide: rushing in


Went out fishing with our neighbor Ron.  He is trying to learn the area and wanted some help.  We took his boat and headed out to the clam bar.  The tide was rolling in, as we are experiencing spring tides.
As we drifted across the shallow sand, I could see something dark moving in the water about 50 yards away.  We then heard something surface and exhale near the boat.
We looked back and a manatee was playing with the shrimp bucket.

He stayed with the boat until we decide to leave and head to the sand trout hole in front of Panacea Harbor.

The fishing report is: sand trout are stacked in the sand trout hole.  We brought home 8.  We anchored among 4 boats and everyone had bent boat syndrome.

Cornucopia of Fish on Yom Kippur

9.18.10
Air: high 80's
Water: 85
Wind: 10 mph SE
Waves: 1-2 and some 3's early with chop
Tide incoming and start of outgoing

In celebration of my Jewish ways, we decided to go get our rods bent on Yom Kippur.

Nancy said she can't remember who many different fish she caught.  A rundown follows:

Pinfish
Pufferfish
Red Grouper
Black Grouper
Gag Grouper
Blue Runner
Sea Trout
Black Seabass
Tomtate: Brown Grunt
Pink Mouth Snapper: White Grunt
Ladyfish
Sand Perch
Remora (got off)
Lizardfish

I think I got them all.

We really left them biting. The tide was going out hard around 1 pm and the grouper had turned on.  We were fishing our GPS spot marked "Good".  And it was.

We broke off on our last two drops, ran out of bait and headed to the hill.
Caught this dark Gag free lining a grunt. I was surprised that a grouper would come up to a free lined bait.  We had gotten hung up and I was backing the boat up to free the snagged rod and suddenly the clicker started screaming on the free lined rod.  This fish put up a nice fight on the light weight bait caster.

We started getting the reds as the tide turned. This is one of many that made it boat side.

The water had laid a little by then.  It was a rock and rolling affair earlier in the day.

The water was very clear again.  As we were boating back to the hill, you could see bottom in 16 feet of water.

60 Year Old Catches Sand Trout!

9.11.10
Temp. HOT!
Water Temp: 86
Winds: calm
Tide: Outgoing and fast

60 year old Nancy caught a sand trout today!

She caught this beauty on a Gulp white shrimp in the sand trout hole in front of Panacea Harbor.  Nancy also caught her usually assortment of pooping ladyfish and some smaller trout.

We headed out this morning on a very fast outgoing tide.  We put in at Panacea Harbor due to the very low tide expected around noon when we planned on coming back in.

We were greeted with a hot humid morning but a very pretty sunrise.  This pelican was getting ready for the hot day by checking us out as we headed to the fishing grounds.

I had heard that the reds were in Elmore Bay, so we decided to try it first and see if any were there.
The bait was everywhere and the tide was running fast out of the creeks.

I made a cast at the second creek we came to and heard the unmistakable sound of red taking my bonkadonk on top.  It was a nice 21" red.

After fishing the next creek with no results we headed out to the barrel.  Soon the bonkadonk was history as a shark came up and ate it.  After a spirited battle he won and I lost a lure that had caught a lot of fish this year.

I tied on another topwater lure I had purchased made by Bomber.  It was promptly swallowed up by a big red but he kept getting unbuttoned after repeated attacks.  Thrilling, but no fish.

We then headed out to Shell Pt. reef and caught 3 or 4 trout there.  I caught a 16" on a senko after seeing how to use them on trout the night before on the "Flats Class" tv show.  Sweet.

We headed over towards Piney Island to see if any tarpon were hanging around.  We got to the area where the water suddenly goes from 8 feet deep to 3 feet deep and saw some schooling ladyfish.  We threw in the mix and quickly hooked up on a nice trout on a red head/white body Yozuri flash minnow.  As I was bringing the fish to the boat a sudden HUGE explosion of water occurred.  There was a monster fish trying to eat the trout about half way back to the Nan.   I kept pulling it away (scared) an the fish kept attacking the hooked trout all the way to the boat.  Water from his attack was splashing in the boat.  I was afraid this monster may jump in the boat and knowing a fish over  100 lbs. flopping in the boat would be a mess, I was kind of relieved after he took the struggling trout from me.

Tarpon or Shark?  I don't know, but I didn't see the tell tale fin of a shark, so I'm thinking a huge tarpon.

Headed over to the sand trout hole where Nancy is shown with her birthday trout and soon saw some tarpon rolling there.  Decided to try and troll one up.  No luck, so we went back to the barrel for one more try on the low tide as the sun was now driving sweat into your eyeballs.

I caught 3 trout there on a gulp shrimp.

We headed to the hill, knowing that there are some monster fish in the lake!

Headed to Tally for Nancy's hot dog birthday dinner.

High Class!

Had to try Scalloping

9.9.10

Had to try to find a bi-valve before the season ends on the 10th.  There have been no reports of any so I was expecting anything.

Good thing I didn't have high hopes.

Note to self:
Don't scallop on an strong incoming tide on a new moon.
Don't scallop in murky water.
Don't scallop when the sun is behind the clouds.
Don't scallop if you don't see boats scalloping.

Got some exercise and chased some spanish schools at the bouy line entering St. Marks refuge.

The Nan Z scallops good with the ladder in the back and the top to get out of the sun.

New Old Reels and New Grouper Hole

9.5.10
Wind: calm
Water temp: 83
Tide: Incoming

We wanted to go out and try our new old reels I purchased at a garage sale Saturday.  What a deal for a total of $27.

These are mint condition Garcia 5000C, Penn 67 and a Penn 309M.
We hooked up the 309M to use for grouper digging. I'm eBaying the other two reels.

This is a Garcia Kingfisher level wind, also in mint condition.  I'm gonna use it for grouper digging and kingfish trolling.  It is stainless steel with cool engravings in the side plates.







We went out to the flat south of 2 flat to pick up some pinnys and try and catch some trout.  Got around a dozen pinfish and Nancy had her line bit off a few times.  She caught some black sea bass, but no trout.

We headed off to the barge to try and troll up some kingfish, but upon arrival realized that there were too many weeds in the water to successfully troll our lures.

So we decided to take our pinfish and frozen LY's and get our lines stretched.  Our last few trips had a lot of casting involved with a few fish. When you go out for the groupers, you are guaranteed some line stretching fun.

While proceeding to a spot about 4 miles south of the 24 marker the depth finder went red with fish, we slowed an went back over the area, threw out the marker bouy and went to work.  On the first drop, I had the rod about taken out of my hands as a grouper liked the live bait presentation.

The next drop and a gag was on board.  The next drop this keeper gag came up to get an ice bath.

This fish is an "endangered species" and next year, it will be illegal to keep the gags.  You wouldn't know they are "endangered" the way they were eating our bait.

While Nancy was taking a break, I decided to drop her "new reel" down and immediately broke it in with this nice red groupa.

We then hit another spot about a mile away with the same results.  We decided to finish up at the "Yank Hot" hole.

We fished it for about an hour and caught red grouper after red grouper.  No keepers, but close, and a lot of fun.

We finally used up all of our bait and headed to the hill on smooth as glass seas.  That was nice for a change.

The trip odometer read 48 miles when we got back.

Sometimes, it is nice to go out and get your rod bowed up over and over.

Sweet.

Made In The Shade

9.3.10
Wind 5-10 mph
Tide outgoing
Water Temp 82

Got out at a leisurely 9 AM.  We wanted to fish the outgoing tide.  Headed all the way down to the jetties at the end of Alligator Pt.  We had good success there on a high tide a while back and wanted to try it again.
The bait was everywhere, from Bald Point, through Mud Cove and clear down at the end of Alligator Pt.
We made 4 passes and all we had to show for it was Nancy's lady fish and a bunch of "they should be here"s.
Wanted to stop at Mud Cove to look for Tarps again.  We made a pass and didn't see nary a one.  I think the tarpon drill is over.  Boo Hoo.
Visited with Doug and Linda Thursday and Doug gave us an Anchor Shade.

So, with the sun getting high we decided to figure this thing out.  It is actually a big ol' beach umbrella with ties at the end to anchor   it to the boat.
We got it up and, look at me, it works!  It's better than our beach umbrella we purchased for $6 at DG.  Now that was a poor mans t-top.  This is a kind of middle class man's t-top.

We decided to head back to the oyster bar at the mouth of the Ochlockonee to finish up.

This nice trout stopped my retrieve in mid jerk and put up a nice fight.  Nancy also caught one the same size on here Gulp Shrimp rig.

We folded up the Anchor Shade and headed to the house.

On a side note, the weather is finally breaking, but the yellow flies are still around.  A hell of a year for those SOB's.

No Tarps

8.27.10
Weather: Overcast
Water temp: 84
Low tide

Tried at mud cove to troll up some tarps this morn.  Got down there at low tide, nothing happening. Didn't even see one.

Headed out to the flat South of 2 flat and caught 3 trout.  Caught some pinnys and tried for cobia on the way in with no luck.  Tide was rolling pretty hard coming in.

Got in before a rain shower came in.  Oh well, next time!

One Tarpon Jumped

8.23.10
Weather: Scattered clouds, stormy out in the Gulf
Wind: 10 mph SE
Water: 85 deg.

The first few exciting seconds of a tarpon hook up is one of the most exciting moments that can happen to an angler. Unfortunately, it is one of the least captured moments on camera because of it's suddenness and the shock of what is happening.

We had one today. We were trolling through Mud Cove looking for tarps. The water temp is starting to decline and we know the silver king will soon be leaving the waters of the Forgotten Coast, so we wanted to give it another try.
Nancy was trolling a Bomber Long A in Chartreuse Flash and I was trolling a Yozuri jerk bait. The ol' Bomber was vintage 80's model that I used to night fish for stripers on Lanier when it was the mode of operation for hooking up on those freshwater giants.

We had just started a troll through the muddy water that the spawning LY's had made. I was looking down at my rod when I feel the boat jump and I look up to see Nancy trying to make it to her rod that is doubled over and drag screaming. I look back behind the boat and see a 150 lb. class silver king tailwalking towards the beach. Holy $%*#!!! She can't get the rod out of the rod holder because the monster on the end of her line has the rod pinned with pressure. Again, the tarpon tail walks out of the water! Holy double $%#@!!! I manage to turn the boat so Nancy can get here rod out of the holder, but as she finally regains control of the rod, the lure slips from the fishes mouth.

Wow!!

After a few more trolls that ended up with nothing we headed to the hill.

It was a successful trip. We started at the barrel on low tide and caught 4 14" to 15" trout. Hit the sticks at the OR mouth and caught another trout and Nancy caught a nice red and lost one at the boat. The Jacks started schooling and I caught this guy. They pull like a bluegill on 'roids.

We had a good scare this morn as we were heading over to the barrel. We were running down the sandbar early, and suddenly this huge wake appeared to the port side, I was just cruising half paying attention, and I thought it may have been a whirlpool or a gush of water coming from the bottom.  But it was only 3 feet deep.  I gunned the motor to get past the turbulence.  Slowed to and idle once I was past maybe a 100 feet and it went away.  It could have been a submarine surfacing if we had been in deeper water.  We waited for a few minutes to see what it was, but nothing came up or moved the water.

Started my day with a good heart pounder and ended it with the same.

Broke Lines, Chics Rule

8.21.10

Weather: hot/humid overcast with rain showers

Water temp:88-90

Clarity: super clear

Nancy and I wanted to run Nan Z out to 24 and troll for some kings and hit a grouper hole or two before it got super hot. Headed out at low tide early. Figure the incoming tide would be the ticket for the day.

Stopped out at 2 flat and picked up some pinnys and caught a few blues on a BPS jerkbait painted in the clown pattern with a yellow belly. They were fun, but threw blood all over the boat.

Wind wasn't letting up, but we decided to make the run to 24 since the clouds were parting. Got to the bouy and didn't see any birds or bait just seas that made the Nan Z bob like a cork on the water. Decided to head out to the barge. Found bait but the seas were so rough we could only make one troll and decide to head to Ochlockonee Shoals for calmer water and trout fishing.

Caught a bunch of trout, brought home a nice 16" sandwich (fried in butter and panko, YUM!). Also caught some blues on jerkbaits, one was the biggest I have caught here in the Gulf, maybe 3 lbs.

Fished our way back in. Stopped at Rotary Reef on the way in, got over a rock pile with the live pinfish and dropped down, Nancy immediately got broke off and I dropped down and ditto! Probly a big ol' grouper. Couldn't get hooked up again, so decided to do the cobia run back to the dock.

Stopped at the 2 marker and lobbed the cork and pinfish about 10 times with no results.

Headed to the tripod which has been hot for the summer. Nancy lobbed her pinfish in there and it slowly took off. She set the hook, but came up empty. I could see her bait moving around in the pilings and upon closer inspection could see it was still in a triple tail's mouth. He was trying to digest it. It was a nice one too! We haven't got one of those to the boat, so we were disappointed to see it keep swimming around the pilings trying to swallow our pinfish.

Rebaited and threw out again, Nancy started yelling cobia! Her cork was right by the boat and I looked down at a BIG cobia. It swirled around her pinfish but never hooked up. She casted again and we could see the pinfish swimming around and around trying to avoid being dinner. The cobia kept coming up and swirling on the pinny, but never ate.

Finally, the last cast, the pinfish barely got in the water and the cork took off. Nancy set the hook and it was on again! The power run, the maneuvering of the boat, and the screaming of the Penn's drag as the cobia headed back to the tripod. This time he won, as the Ugly Stick whipped back to it's normal position, unbent.

We headed back to the hill as a light rain began to fall. As I let Nancy off to back the boat in, another nice boat came in and the guy's wife was waiting at the ramp to back his trailer in and pick up him and his boat. We pulled out at the same time. As I got out of my boat, I told the older fellow how nice his boat looked.

He said "Captain I saw something I've never seen a few minutes ago". Assuming I was gonna hear something about fishing or the bad weather that was coming in, I listened intently. He said "I just saw two ladies back boat trailers in at the same time! Chics rule!" he said with a thumbs up and a big smile.

Now that's funny, I don't care who you are!

Not A Bad Little Mid August Trip

Finally got my sea legs back under me after my last trip to Crystal River. Jeez, recovery is getting harder.
As we pulled into Mashes Sands and were depositing the Nan into the river, I looked up and realized I couldn't see across the river to Bald Pt. We pulled out and let a passing rain cover us up at the ramp.
We got to see the hot August sun rise over the trees while we were waiting and then got to see a beautiful rainbow present itself over the river after the rain had passed.

I had heard that a fisherman had caught some tarpon above the bridge trolling. Since we haven't fished there to any degree, we decided that we would fish for some reds on the high tide in the grass at the mouth of Mini Chaires and Little Chaires Creek. Then go above the bridge and try this trolling thing. My Dad would be proud! He was the trolling king! Nancy bagged a nice puppy red and I caught a non keeper trout. Nancy has become a true believer of the New Penny Gulp. My trout ate the Chartreuse/White Gulp Jerk Shad. Sounds dirty don't it?

I started to rig up the trolling rods and Nancy suddenly yelled "I got one" with a grunt thrown in. She managed to get the trophy sail cat. Check out the whiskers on this brute!

After removing the slime from the line, we headed up above the bridge to troll. I had my rod slammed down once and Nancy had a quick hit on her Yozuri minnow, but nothing hooked up. I got to finally smoke a fine cigar my Mom got me for Doug's Bday party last week. It was a good one but didn't produce any catches. We did get to mingle with a family of dolphin that had found a nice pod of bait to munch on.

As the sun was getting higher and hotter we finished off the trip fishing the oyster bar in the mouth of the Ochlockonee River with good success.

I landed two nice reds on the new penny Gulp shrimp. One was this 20" keeper and the other one was trying to be a keeper.

Headed to the hill I noticed quite a few shrimp in the ramp cut. Only 4 rods to work on after this trip. The joys of saltwater fishing!