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!

Shallow Nuclear Groupa

8.10.10

Headed down to go shallow water grouper fishing out of Crystal River.
Kind of knew it wasn't gonna be my day.  On the way down, stopped at Chompers for a chicken sandwich and shake and proceeded to chomp a piece of my mouth out the size of alaska.  That felt good and knowing that Doug was having steak for his bday dinner and Linda would be pouring wine, I would have to take it easy.
Hunter and Doug went golfing and I got the stuff rigged.
Headed out with Grouper Greg, Buckeye Bob, and Landscaping Shawn.  I guess we were out about 13 miles from the nuke plant before we laid down.

We had loaded up on pinfish from a well placed trap, but the livewell killed them all the way it looked.  I guess that makes that makes it a deadwell.
A brisk wind was blowing, we didn't know we would be fishing in a tropical depression until we got back.
We hit about 6 rock pile/rock holes during the day.  Grouper Greg had a hard time getting the boat right, the wind and tides playing havoc to his captain skills.  But, if you cast right where the rock was you were guaranteed a grouper, grunt, shark, ray or a cobia.
It didn't take long until you were hooked up and then they wised up.

Doug caught 3 keeper grouper.  Hunter caught one keeper and the rest of the boat added 3 more I think.

As for me, I made the first cast of the day with just a hook to see if I could cast my rod.  I caught a nice spanish on a bare hook.  I know it's bad luck to catch a fish on the first cast, so when I caught one without bait on the first cast, I knew I was in trouble. I caught some grunts and two stingrays. Oh yea, and a catfish, lucky me.  After eating half a sandwich, I started feeling not so good.  On the way back the seas were very choppy, and got my back stoved in pretty good.  Hunter said to me "I can't wait to touch the grass" and I couldn't agree with him more.
Got back to the dock and had to lay down in the back of Doug's truck and consequently at Doug's house and the Cube on the way home.  Also, got to see the CVS's restrooms from Crystal River to Perry since I got a bad case of diaper rea too!  Fun!
I think it would be a fun trip on a calmer day.  I imagine you could look down and see the rocks.
Grouper fishing in 12' of water, who would have thunk?!

Dodging the Rain Showers, Cobia Style

8.6.10
We were greeted by showers wandering our beautiful and, thankfully, oil free water.

We knew we would need to keep our eyes and ears open as a storm was a few miles off to the east.  It was an awesome sight as our goal was to hit 2 flat for trout and bait, hit 3 cobia poles and finally try and duplicate yesterday's tarpon catch.






As we layed the boat down on 2 flat we could see the water was clean and clear.  The trout were biting, as well as bluefish, lady fish, shark and pinfish.

Charlotte and Nancy were bringing trout to the boat side as quickly as they could get there lines in the water.  I also caught a nice 18" fish on a bomber red and white jerk bait.  Hunter was loading the live well with pinfish.  I think the term, "Chinese fire drill" is apt for this hour of fishing.




We began our cobia run starting a 2 marker with no results.  The pole has come up empty the last few times we tried to lure a cobe to the boat.

The tripod has been a cobia hotspot the last few trips.

Hunter started lobbing his pinfish towards the tripod.  The second lob and it was on!

Soon the 15 lb. cobia was being hoisted by Hunter.

He rebaited and lobbed the pinfish towards the tripod again, and handed the rod to Charlotte.  She misfired the first three times, but the cobia was persistent and wanted permission to come aboard.  The 4 lber. was a good beginner cobia for her.

We ran back to the ramp as clouds were closing in.  After waiting for the line of showers to clear, we headed down to Mud Cove to look for the big tarps.  Unfortunately, they did not let Charlotte could not replicate her performance yesterday, so we left them rolling in the LY spawn!

Charlotte: TARPONATOR

Hunter got back to the house after spending a couple of months in Beaufort, SC interning with an accounting firm.  After balancing the books of some of the most prestigious firms in Beaufort, he and his GF Charlotte came back to the big city of Panacea.
Hunter was hot to get after the tarpon wanting to duplicate his past tarpon experience here off the Alligator Point.
After previous scouting reports we have determined that the tarps seem to be in on a high tide.  So, we headed to the barrel to wait out the high tide and to try and catch some trout and some pinfish morsels.
We fished the area and didn't put anything in the boat, although Nancy and Charlotte kept saying "I had a little one."
I did manage to put some grunts and pinnys in the livewell.
We headed to the flat between the sticks at the mouth of the Ochlochnee River, Charlotte and Nancy put a couple of small trout in the boat.

I rigged up the rods for tarpon and spanish, since we had seen some large pods of Spanish earlier in the week.
Our ride down to Mud Cove was a choppy one,  but the wind was appreciated, poor man's air conditioning is underrated.

As we slid across Lighthouse Pt. we could see a few birds diving but not like our previous trips.  As we made it to the shoreline we could smell the bait and see the tarpon rolling, not as thick as earlier in the week, put they were there.

Hunter was throwing his popping rig with the mirrorlure and I had rigged up a rod to drag behind the boat with the previously caught pinfish and grunts.

The first bait in the water was a pinfish.  Nancy had honors and it wasn't long until we heard the clicker just screaming.  She made a sweeping hook set and it was on.  Unfortunately the fish didn't jump on the hook set, so the thought was SHARK, and a really big one.

After an half hour in the heat of the morning she finally got the shark to the boat (with a little help from the Captain and mates) and  Hunter got to the leader for the cut.

We figure this little guy weighed around 100 lbs.  A nice bull shark, 100 yards off Alligator Pt. beach.  Mama, don't let your kids swim there!

Next up on the live bait drag was Charlotte and her fishing experience garnered from her days on the water in Beaufort, SC.

After the obligatory instructions on how to use the baitcaster, the bait runner was screaming and soon so was I, "It's a TARPON" as the fish felt the sting of the hook a cleared the water in a single bound.  A nice 80 lber. was on, a Charlotte with her 10 minutes of tarpon fishing experience was on the first tarpon of the season!

As the fish emptied her spool, we cranked the old Merc and started chasing it for a bit.  We stopped and suddenly the line began to rise and Hunter was yelling "Here it comes" and he was right.

After a 1/2 hour fight the tarpon was getting tired and Charlotte had sweated out all of her bottled water, she got the tarpon boat side.  I got the fish gripper ready, looked at them and figured these better be tough! I locked down on the fish, and the silver sided monster didn't like it.  The fish gripper busted and the fish got off and was fighting again.

You can see the grips at top and the bottom of the fish as the grips gave at the boat.

  After another 10 minutes, Charlotte got the beast boat side again.  This time with gloves on, I got to the lip and began to pull him up and suddenly the frayed 48 lb. leader broke.

What a day!  But it wasn't over since a BIG grunt was left to go into the water with the hope of tracking down a tarpon for Nancy.

Soon, the bait caster was singing and Nancy had hooked up again.  Again, it didn't jump, so we know the shark really love grunts.  It was hot and we were out of water and we decided to chase this one down, get to the leader, cut the line and head to the hill.  Only problem was this was an even bigger shark.  We followed this fish for 15 minutes got as close as we could and cut the line.  This shark was double the size of the previous shark.

Hunter helping with the shark fest.

It was a successful day of really, really, big fish and first tarpon of the year.

The film crew had an off day as the tarpon got to the boat, so they apologize.  Probably nerves.

Anyways, a broken depth finder, broken Penn reel, one lost mirror lure and three cut off circle hooks later, priceless!!!

August Hot Run

August 2nd and I guess it's supposed to be hot with a heat index of 103 when you hit the water!?  The high tide occurred at sunrise and Nancy and Capt. Billy Bob decided to try for reds at the flooded entrance of Little Chaires Creek mouths.

The idea was to wait for the sun to get up and head down the coast to Mud Cove and try our hand (again) at the tarpon.  Sooner or later the LY's should start spawning and it should be tarpon soup.
Nancy lost two reds on the ol' Cajun Thunder and gulp new penny shrimp.





We headed out to the mouth or the Ochlockonee River and headed west.  Soon we saw a lot of schooling action off Bald Pt. beach.  They were Spanish tearing it up.

Using Dana's custom tied flies I managed to land three spanish like this one.  They were ravenous and mixed in was a 6 foot shark, which was chasing Nancy's DOA shrimp.  She reeled it in really fast as the shark closed in for the kill with a cry of "I don't want to catch no shark!"





As we crossed Lighthouse point shoals I could see the Pelicans and Gulls diving at the tarpon hot spots.  That could mean only one thing, the LY spawn was on and it soon would be tarpon soup time.

We threw the kitchen sink at them, bombers, DOA shrimp, mirrorlures, redfins, but to no avail, although Nancy caught about 100 sailcats.

All of the swirls seen in the videos are big ol' tarpon!


So, we didn't sore mouth them and Hunter's supposed to be in today, he is the tarpon tamer: they are there to be tamed.  Stay tuned.