Breaking In New Gear

12.4.13

My new gear that Santa was bringing me didn't arrive in time to get brutalized in Beaufort, but I did get out for a couple of hours Wednesday and christened both reels.

One is a Shimano Caenan bait caster that I can use to keep the pressure off my poor old fishing elbow.

I was throwing a Rapala twitching shad and this nice 20" trout nailed it.

The reel throws sweet and supposedly will withstand the saltwater environment, but time will tell if that is true.

I must have been really good this year, because Santa also got me this Stradic cl4+ spinning reel.

Wow!  Carbon fiber and light.  Again, hoping that it will take the pressure off my elbow.

It got broken in by a keeper trout that ate a new penny Gulp shrimp.  You can see the Gulp jig head peaking out of his mouth.

Caught one other trout on the jighead and called it a day after the huge incoming tide was trashing the water.

All of the fish went back to be caught another day!  That was their Christmas present.

Black Friday Beaufort Redfish Bonanza

11.29.13

I've been fishing a long time, but this trip to visit Hunter over Thanksgiving is in the epic category.

We drove down to Beaufort, SC early on Black Friday from Charleston.  It was cold, frost was on all the cars and rooftops so thick it looked like it had snowed.

We were meeting Hunter's buddies, Jeff and Brian.  They fish out of a 22' Nitro and know the area extremely well.

Brian said we were gonna try a stretch of bank that holds reds after the first cold spell.  We were to find out his was correct on that memory!

It was a stretch of hill that had 4 creeks running out of a island in the Broad River.

We hit the tides right as the bottom was falling out.  A brisk 15 minute run had me thinking I was happy I had on long johns and a jumpsuit.

We started banging the hill and started picking up reds and few trout.  The last creek was coming up, and when we arrived, the bite was on.

We caught many, many over slot reds with a bunch of double hook ups, 3 triple hook ups and an unbelievable quad hook up.

We figured we caught well over 40 over slot reds.

The fish were hitting all soft plastics rigged on a jig head.  Gulp shrimp, Gulp jerk bait, DOA shad, ZOOM Fat alberts were all getting smashed.

One of us would hook up and the rest would follow up with a cast behind the hooked fish and then hang on.

These fish in extremely shallow water put on quite a show as all the could do is swim sideways and pull like a freight train.

When the sun got up and the tide got low enough, we could see the tidal wave of fish running down the creek mouth.  The water would bow up as 20, 30, 50 fish schools would be cruising the oyster laden bank.

Hunter and I banged this double.  Hunter's fish had an odd spot up front.  These fish are more of a silver instead of gold like here on our coast.

Brian, Jeff and Hunter with one of the triples that came boat side in the morning.

Jeff caught a multi-spotted red.

Thanksgiving always have you thinking about family and friends.  This trip was a memory that will last forever for me, as it was shared with my son, Hunter, and his two good buddies and the great outdoors.

Another reason to give thanks on Thanksgiving!

The next post shows the quad hook up courtesy of Brian's Go Pro Hero Cam he had mounted on the T Top of his boat.  Hope you enjoy it!

Black Friday Sale 50% Off All Redfish

Good Evening Trip

11.23.13

Headed to the river before the big blow came in on Saturday evening.

The fish were biting again.

We stopped at Tropical Trader and picked up a few crabs with the idea of going under the bridge and trying to catch a big black drum.

But, as we headed up the river, the heavy incoming tide and the northeasterly winds were creating a dangerous chop of the old tin boat.  We swung it around and headed to the lee shore to get out of the wind.  It's always good to be very adaptable in the salt.

We hit the bar in front of Tradewinds and the reds were biting good on the swift tide.  They were banging a jighead tipped with gulp or a zoom fat albert.

Four came aboard and a big one broke off (as usual).

After that bite cooled we headed upriver to the bar that has been holding trout.  Sure enough on the first cast they proved they haven't moved as a nice keeper came aboard.

Four fish came to the boat as the sun set over the river.

I tried to get some to eat a topwater but they were just half hearted about it.  Maybe after this blow, next week I can get one to come eat off the top.  That will be gone soon with winter approaching.

3 Mile Hole and BSB

11.18.13

Water temp: 64 degrees

Nancy and I went out for a quick trip Monday afternoon as the wind died a little bit.

After clearing the sticks leaving Ochlockonee River we realized we could wander over to the hole off Shell Pt. reef.

We were't disappointed as cast after cast black sea bass came to the boat.  It's a lot of fun with light equipment.

We were hoping to catch a flounder or redfish, but I don't think anything has a chance out there with the bass covering up the rocks and eating everything that comes by.

We kept a few for dinner and headed over to the sand trout hole hoping to latch onto a bull red.  There were some monsters out there last weekend as some guys from Ohio came down and caught four over 41 inches long.

We didn't get any takers and headed back in about dark.

A nice evening on the water for mid November.

Wind, Low Tide, Cold

11.13.13

Here is a view from Mashes Sands this morning.
First cold snap of the year.
Anyone want to go offshore today?

http://youtu.be/9nKThoGeasg

Magic Act!

11.11.13

68 degree water temp

We wanted to go to K Tower again in the "1" foot waves promised by NOAA.  Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

We did finally work our way out around the barge at the 24 marker.

We were able to catch these:

And turn them into these:

YUMMY!!

And They Are Still There

11.10.13

Water Temp: 68 degrees

We wanted to go back and see if the trout were still on the bar where we left them, so we took the tin boat out Sunday for a couple of hours.

The tide was outgoing and on the last couple of hours of low tide.

I didn't have as much hope, as the fish were biting on the incoming tide last week.

But, we caught them real well.

Not as big as last week, but 11 came boat side.  All were in the 14" to 16" category and all went back into the water as we have enough at home to keep us in fish tacos for a while.

They were biting where the water was the swiftest coming across the bar.

I was catching them on a jig head tipped with a Wave Worm Tiki Shaddick in Chartreuse.  I had these in my bass box and was trying them in the pond.  The bass ate them, so I decided to try them on trout and they ate them up.

After using them for a while, I switched to a 3" Gulp Guppy in new penny and that finished off the day.  You can see the oyster bar in the background of the picture below.  That is how clear the water has become.

Nancy was catching them on the good ol' white gulp shrimp.

The fish are absolutely beautiful currently.  The water has cleared up and the fish are all regaining their natural colors.

Not bad for a couple hours of fishing.

Day Of The Trout

10.29.13

After getting beat up yesterday, we decided to take the tin boat out in the river and give it a try and not have our teeth rattled from the east wind.

It took a while, but we got it going as the morning progressed.

We started fishing in front of Tradewinds.  I was trying to hook up on reds and I had Nancy throwing a carolina rig out the back into the channel with just a fish bite on her hook.  She repeatedly was bringing in nice sand trout and viewing a manatee that surfaced behind the boat.  The sand trout  look big again this year.

We tried the big white bar with zero results.

With the tide rising, we headed over to Chaires Creek to see if any fish had started their journey into the creek.  All we saw there was another big manatee.  The sea cows are definitely on the move.

After a snack break and a discussion that I may want to become a philatelist, I decided to try the docks in the river.

On our journey back across the river I saw birds diving on bait near an oyster bar I have rarely fished.

As the water has cleared up beautifully, I could see the top of the bar and was able to fish it correctly for the first time.

The first cast yielded a beautiful spec, and then next cast and the next.

The fish ranged in size from 14" up to this 20" fish that were caught mainly on a jig head and a new penny gulp

We probably caught 18 or so trout and a pup red off the bar in 45 minutes or so.  And we left them biting.

Nice to bang the trout again!

I Miss All My Family And Friends!!!

10.28.13

.....because, when they visited, that was the only time I've caught fish this year!

I've been lucky that when we've had guests that the fishing has been excellent.

But, when the aren't here, the fishing has been tough on me and Nancy this year.

We caught flounder, blue runners, grouper, lady fish, black sea bass and probably some other fish yesterday, but nothing of any size.

It was kind of the usual, a plan to go to K tower to fish, waves predicted to be 1 foot or less, waves actually 3 feet, turn back after 10 miles of beating wondering when we can touch the big water again.

The rest of the week calls for 1-3 footers, which means at least 5 foot waves.

But, if you want to catch ladyfish, the mouth of the Ocklockonee River is covered up with them pounding bait as far as you can see!

Fishing Is Picking Up

10.17.13

Water temp: 77 degrees

Got out today for a morning trip.  It actually was flat calm which we haven't seen in a while.

Macon and me caught a few trout out in Ullmore cove.  Two keepers and plenty of shorts on topwater and gulp.

I let Macon off at the dock and went into the harbor and caught a nice 21"red on topwater and missed two others.

 Gotta quick drinking coffee in the morning, I snatched it away from them before they could eat it.

Pretty Day Finally

10.10.13

I took Gordon out for a little inshore fishing.

Gordon said he hasn't been out on the salt for 12 years.  He quickly put a whiting in the boat and tied his record for most fish caught in 12 years.

We didn't get away to far from the hill.

The sand trout Nancy and I had caught were not to be found.

We finally hooked up on a nice trout in front of Piney Island that took a Z Man Swimmer Z.

We managed to donate 3 fish to the Panacea RV park fish fry.

As a side note, some nice red snapper catches came in to the marina later in the day.

Boats are finally able to get out.

Very Wide Variety

10.8.13

After the stormy weather got through, we decided to try our luck.

The fish I had caught out on Whetstone Point were either gone or ran out of water to swim in as we had an extremely low tide yesterday morning.  The dolphin put on a show attacking mullet in very skinny water.

We headed back into the harbor to get our lines stretched by some sand trout and they didn't disappoint us as we boated a dozen and kept a couple for dinner.

We came in on the lowest tide and decided to try the mouth of the river in the evening.  It was surprisingly calm and there were a few fish to be caught.

Jack Crevalle bowed us up a few times, as well as lady fish and blue fish.

They were pulling hard in the incoming tide that was howling up river.

The water was very off, probably due to the strong tide and the tropical system that had just passed.

Finally a Fishing Report

10.3.13

Well the wind has been howling from the east for many, many days.

I watched folks catching sand trout in Panacea harbor last weekend. Nancy and I tried it Monday. But only caught one trout and one whiting.

I braved the east wind Wednesday and finally got on some trout in Ullmore cove. First catch of the day was a sailcat. Next was a nice flounder that spit the bit at boat side. Then I figured out a stretch of the cove that produced 15+ trout before the high tide ebbed.

Had to go and fish the tourist rig with a new penny gulp for the best action and to keep out of the weeds.

We are hunkering down now for an approaching tropical storm. It looks like after this blow the weather will improve substantially and the fall bite will really crank up.

Just to give you an idea this is a picture of what the weather has been like.
It was photographed at St. George Island last week.

A lot of fishing, a little catching.

9.7.13 and 9.12.13

Nancy and I went out to the 35 ft. depths on Monday to see if any grouper had come in closer.

Nancy caught this non keeper and had one body slam her to the boat seat, but that one got away.

We also caught a few grunts, but not much to bring home.

I went out today trying to find a tarpon.  I saw some ladyfish jumping and decided to head across the channel and catch one for cut bait.

Much to my surprise, my first cast yielded a nice 15" trout on the Paul Brown Fat Boy.

On the next cast I caught the big lady fish I was wanting for bait.

And on the next cast a tarpon decided he wanted the lure more than I as he tore it away from me and broke my line.

Now that I had my bait I figured I could get bit on the big rods I brought for tarpon.

Nope, no bites.

At least I got my first tarpon hook up for the year.

Whale Stranded on Dog Island

8.28.13

My sister said she saw a whale jump behind our boat last summer.

I guess maybe she did see it.

Here is an article on one that didn't make it on Dog Island.


http://www.apalachtimes.com/news/outdoors/whale-stranded-on-dog-island-dies-1.190473

Weeds, Dark Water and a Few Fish

8.28.13

Made it out yesterday for an offshore run.

The forecast was for less than 1' waves.  Off course that wasn't correct, as we made the turn in front of Ochlockonee River, we quickly realized that we were going to plan 2.  Didn't really have a plan 2.

David and I ended up on the barge at the 24 marker for a while.  He got snapped off by something with big teeth.  We thought the waves may be laying, so we headed further out and finally ended up at the ledge.

David caught a keeper red grouper on his first drop and I was spooning up grunts and one trigger fish.

We figured it was time to get back to the hill and the 2-3' waves we had to head into coming out were now our following sea.  Jeez.

Then we hit a huge field of grass that was out in front of Alligator Point.  We idled through it and had to stop and clean the prop as the grass got entangled all over the motor and transducers.

I was happy to get back to the hill and get my sea legs back.

Got a good mess of grunts for fish tacos and a nice grouper filet out of the deal.

We're Still Here

8.20.13

Stormy, Coke colored water, Windy

Just saying, we are still here.

In the past few weeks we have tried scalloping (couldn't see due to dark water), and fishing (chased off by storms, wind, rain)

Tried yesterday again.  We wanted to attempt to see/catch a tarpon.

Results:  3 hours outrunning storms, back ache from extremely choppy seas, dirty scum line on the boat.

That has been the kind of summer it has been.

Day of Firsts

July 30, 2013

Water temp: 88 degrees

Flat Calm

There hasn't been much to report, except, rain, storms, more rain.  We have been out a couple of times, but without a whole lot of luck inshore.

We finally got a day that looked good in the upcoming weather reports and off we went to the ledge and red grouper hole that I went out with Patty and Willie when they were in town.

It was a day of firsts, mainly for Nancy, as I played net boy and gaff boy as the day progressed.

She had never been out so far when it was flat smooth as these trips are few and far between.

We hit the red grouper hole without much to celebrate.  After about 45 minutes, there we headed over to the ledge and started pulling grunts to the boat.  I was getting some nice ones spoon jigging again.

We did manage some pinfish for bait at the dock before we left Rock Landing.

I was baiting Nancy's rod with them and she waited patiently to get bit.  And she did, three broken lines worth.

But in between the tore up reels and rods she did put this nice cobia in the boat.

It was the first time she had caught one.  Unfortunately it was a 1/2" shy of being a keeper.

I had spooned up two spot tails which I was letting her use for bait.  The first one was hit so hard I heard the rod hit the gunnel before the line broke.

The next one got hit as she slowly reeled it to the surface.

After a prolonged battle around the boat, this beautiful 42" smoker king fish came to the boat.  It was the first one Nancy had ever caught.  It was also the biggest one we have caught so far.

Her co worker told her to catch a king and he would make his famous fish dip with it.  He was cleaning the smoker as we left the ramp yesterday.  Can't wait for that!

Finally, I had a first as I spooned up this triggerfish.  I had never caught one and was told how great they are to eat.   Lucky for the fish, as the season doesn't reopen until tomorrow.  

Being so calm and sunny we were done in by noon by the heat and headed back to Rock Landing.  The air conditioning provided by the 35 mph ride back in felt great!

Dock Trash Red

7.16.2013

We were gonna go out and do some evening river fishing, but as we were preparing to leave a storm blew up and that was that.

But, since Nancy had to work tomorrow, and she hasn't fished since last Monday, we proceeded down to the dock to do our dock trash fishing trip.

We were fishing and talking to some neighbors who were telling us about an alligator that had crossed the road by Patty and Willie's lot, when the rod about got yanked out of my hand.

I handed it to Nancy, who proceeded to land the biggest fish we had ever caught of our dock.

The water now has a deep tannic stain due to all of the rain that has occurred and this fish took on the dark colors of the waters.  A beautiful deep copper color and two spots on this side as a bonus.

Grunts? Yes! Grouper? Not So Much.

7.8-7.10.2013

Water: 82 degrees.

Patty and Willie made it down to examine their real estate holdings and we fished for three days.

Day one was a trip off to Ochlockonee Shoals trying to catch a trout or two and then possibly a cobia on the way back to the hill.

I managed a nice spanish mackerel.

The trout were a little indifferent, but one went in the box.  We hit a little black sea bass hole coming back and caught a keeper there.

We caught some pins and hit the poles coming back towards the river and Pat caught a small cobia and had a bigger one break her off on the tripod.

Tuesday and Wednesday held promise of smooth seas for the first time in a while so we planned our off shore jaunts to try and catch some grouper.

We fished in the area Willie calls the fingers.  The water depth was between 50 and 65 feet.

Day one featured a grunt as a whole cooler came home filled with tasty filets.

One keeper red grouper came with them which Pat mustered to the boat for her first keeper grouper ever.

Three more were hooked up but battled back down to the rocky bottom to break lines and hearts.

Wednesday dawned with very calm seas and new numbers.  We hustled out quickly after a storm delayed our trip for a little bit.

As we neared our destination the seas were smooth but storms were rumbling.

Pat struggled on a few fish to get up off the bottom.

They won the battle.

The grunts bit a little bit and Willie hammered this non keeper gag.

But got back with this nice red grouper caught after he pulled an octopus from the bottom.

As the storms were nearing we decided to high tail it back to the ramp, only to be stopped short of Rock Landing.  We ditched into the Mashes Sands Ramp and were rescued by Nancy as this storm approached.

Our visitors left today, convinced that their real estate portfolio was growing as planned.

As we loaded a whole 18 gallon trash bag with vacuum packed filets, I was hoping they could  get back soon.

Maybe Pat can catch an even bigger grouper next time.  Or scallop.  Or flounder gig.

Chasing the Over Harvested Red Snapper

6.25.13

The oh so kind NOAA allowed a 28 day season to chase the "over harvested" red snapper.  With three days left in the season I was able to arrange a trip out to try and get some for the table.

Larry and Phil were staying at St. Joe and came over the Carrabelle to try and get some too.

If Phil is here there is a no doubt a tropical disturbance in our future so I was wary to his arrival.

We headed out towards V tower through some rough seas through East Pass, but getting on plane as we cleared the sandy shoals entering the pass.

We dropped down near the Navy tower but only a couple of light taps greeted us at the 70' drop.

The decision was made to motor another 10 miles to the deeper 100' of water and the day turned into a catch fest as the fish were enjoying deeper depth.

Many small under sized snapper came aboard.

We kept banging away catching lane snapper, beeliners, red grouper, king mackerel, sea bass,sharks and of course the larger red snapper.

While no giants were brought to the box, I did catch a nice 24" red snapper.  I let Phil hold it for me when we got back near the hill.  He was feeling bad not setting up on any biguns.

Larry caught this nice smoker on squid on the bottom.  Go figure.

We filled the fish box with a lot of color.

As you can see from the pictures, we had to wait out a thunderstorm at the mouth of the Carrabelle River.

But, thankfully, we didn't get wet.

It was nice chasing the red snapper with a good group of guys that enjoy fishing at the Forgotten Coast.

Ochlockonee Shoals Drift

6.24.13

Water temp: 85

The idea was to go to the shoals, do some drifts in 10 feet of water, catch some trout for company coming in, go catch some pinfish, jump a tarpon on the pinfish and come back to the ramp.

Everything went fine except the tarpon part, but at least a shark gave us a cheap thrill.

We caught 2 eating size trout and one 21" trout on the drifts at the shoals.  Caught 4-5 under sized trout also.

Nancy was banging the bottom with gulp on a jig head and I was throwing a Fat Boy.

I have used it in the past but didn't have any trout to show for it.  While working at the store a guy came in and told me I had been working it way too fast.

He said to count it down to 10 or 15 and just do a twitch, kind of like fishing for spots at Lanier in February with jerk baits.

The Fat Boy falls back down at every pause and when the trout want it they really eat it.

This nice 21" really fought hard and after a good battle, came on board.

Gonna pick up a couple more of them today at Academy Sports as mine got chewed up pretty good yesterday.

Inshore run

6.10.13

Nanacy and I did a little inshore run. I heard of some gator trout being caught and wanted to look for some tarpon.

We did get some trout and had the biggest one break off. We had a shark eat my badonadonk and take it too.

This trout got a taste of Nick's Wicad swim bait.

Bluefish were schooling and fun to catch.  This one came aboard after a good fight.

We went down to Mud Cove to look for tarpon rolling.  We did a slow troll and saw plenty of bait, but no tarpon rolling.  

Maybe next week!

First Ling of 2013

6.2 and 6.3 2013

Water Temp: 82 deg.

The past week we were excited that the forecast called for calm seas all week.

Er, not so much.  The change in forecast to high seas at the beginning of the week forced us to give it a try Sunday.

We packed our stuff with offshore in mind, but had some inshore gear also ready if it was too rough for us.

We made it out past the two marker and said enough.

We put some pinfish on board and starting throwing them at our favorite markers.

I managed this non keeper but pretty cobia at the first stop.

We came inshore and had a few ladyfish poop in the boat.

Monday we decided to stay inshore and caught a nice 20" trout to replace the one that fell into the panko and butter the night before.

I was giving the bird to all of the other fish who refused to bite today.

All in all it has been a bit slow for us this year.  

Enough to keep us in fish so I guess that is good.

Summer seems to have arrived so it will be early morning fishing until the fall now.

Schmoakin!

5.23.13

David and I headed out to some grouper numbers he had that were good two weeks ago.

Of course the switch has been flipped and the temp this week has skyrocketed to the mid 90's.

Two weeks ago the water temperature was in the low seventies, as we hit the water yesterday morning it was 82 degrees.

We plugged the numbers in and after 3 hours of fishing we had nary a grouper in the box.  Only two sharks grabbed our baits.

So, David kept wanting to catch an kingfish.  So, I said let's go to 24 marker.

About two miles south of 24 we started seeing bait.  The first pod had two nice kings milling around.

David rigged a pinfish with a stinger hook rig and soon was saying, "I'm getting spooled!", and the boat was placed in gear to help him gather some line.

Soon a happy angler was lifting a 20 lb. king in the boat.

We found a few other pods of bait and fished them, but to no avail and decided to call it a day.

David texted me later in the evening and said his grill was fired up.

Clam Bar

5.16.13

Nancy waded through a bunch of lady fish and spanish mackerel to catch this nice trout this morning off the clam bar.

We caught a lot of lady fish and mackerel but the trout remained scarce.

It was good to get out after being bed ridden with a cold.

Bad Cold. Bad Fishing.

5.9.13

Water 72 degrees 1 foot waves.

We finally got a nice calm day to fish and headed back to Lanark to put a hurt on the grouper that we found two weeks earlier.

I was feeling really bad with a cold Hunter left behind, but our friends Phil and Dee were down from Gainesville and I wanted to put them on some fish.

The day started with a big black bear wondering in front of the truck on the way to the ramp.

He seemed to like the telephone pole and stood there while I got a picture out the window of the truck.

We found the Cagles and headed out to 46 feet and trolled while the Phil and Dee and family dropped down.

After many passes I started to think this may not be our day as nothing came to the boat.

We headed out to federal waters and Nancy caught this nice king fish on the Stretch 30.

 Other than that there was not anything else to report.

Ah, that is why they call it fishing and not catching.  

Piney Island Food Run

5.6.13

It was Hunter and Ben's last day and they wanted some meat for their table when they had back home to Augusta and Charleston.

We wanted to go offshore and try and catch some steaks, but the wind wouldn't let us.

So we stayed inshore to try and catch some standard fare.

We tried the bird rack between Shell Point Reef and Piney with no success.

We tried the outside of the reef, but only had lady fish poop on the boat on two drifts.

So we headed to the ol' never fail spot in front of Piney Island.

We picked up 3 eating trout and one eating flounder.  Hunter lost a whopper on a Z man swim bait and Ben made his sponsor, Burnside Bopper, happy by using their popping cork and pulling in this nice keeper trout.

The water still isn't where it should be, still murky, and 71 degrees.

Hopefully they will be back soon and the wind cooperates the next time.

Bull Red Rock

5.4.13

Wind blowing hard from the east as usual
Water temp: 68 degrees

Hunter and Ben came down to fish the Big Bend this weekend.  The weather was very iffy as the winds are still blowing and the rain is still falling.

I decided to take them to the Aucilla River due to the fact that I felt the east wind would be knocked down there and that the fish up our way have not been very cooperative.  This planned worked pretty well.

It would be an exploration trip since I had never been there.  I was cautioned on boating in the area due to the rocks, but the rock also help the area harbor a lot of fish.  We were soon to find out if this was true.

We made the hour jaunt to the Aucilla River ramp and we were one of three trucks there on a Saturday, much to our surprise.

With the help of a map downloaded from the internet, we proceeded to putt our way to the coast of the Gulf.  This is a place where you need all day to fish because you aren't going anywhere fast unless you want to lose your lower unit.

Upon our arrival to the fishing area we tried banging the coastline first, and all we had was one topwater explosion and no fish to the boat.

We then headed away from the hill a bit to try and do some drifts to drum up some trout.  We caught some small ones and the pinfish were pecking good, but nothing to keep us in the area very long.

We decided to head to the west towards an area that says Cobb Rocks on my GPS.

We made a few drifts and the trout kept getting a little larger.

This one grabbed a nose hooked Gulp Jerk Shad.

As we made another, drift Ben and Hunter noted a white pipe in the water about a quarter of a mile away and we decided to make a drift towards the rock.

As we approached the rock, I  casted the Jerk Shad up towards the rock and after a couple of pops of my rod I felt the tell tale thump of a fish and set the hook.

The battle was on!  After about fifteen minutes a beautiful bull red was brought into the boat.

This was the biggest red I had ever caught and the ten pound Suffix fluorocarbon leader was tested, but withstood this brutes long runs.  Little did I know that the leader and Hunter's knots would be tested again.

We made another pass by the rock and Hunter hooked up on this nice bluefish that ran him around the front deck a couple of times.

We made another pass and decided to try some shallower water, but nothing materialized.

So we headed back out to the newly named, Bull Red Rock for another go around.

As we neared the rock I again felt the thump of a red.  This time I was using Hunter's Loomis/Stradic combo and the fight was on.  Ben mentioned that this time he was going to time the length of the battle since we could see another bull red had ate the Jerk Shad again.

The fight was on as the fish roaming back and forth over the shallow rocks and all we kept talking about was knot strength and drag smoking.

Hunter thinking his Dad is a wiener for not dragging this fish to the boat

The battle went on and the fish dragged the boat further from the rock and off shore we were headed.

Ben was calling out the time every ten minutes or so.  After about 20 minutes he saw some activity and threw his chug bug out and caught this nice spanish to break his boredom.

Finally after a long, long battle Hunter was able to finally get the net up under this fish.

Here is a video of the landing.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!

I say the lord's name in vain, sorry in advance.

We hoisted the fish and figured it was in the 30-40 lb. range which made my previous biggest redfish pale in comparison.

After getting ourselves settled in after the excitement, be looked to the east and saw rainclouds gathering.

We decided to putt back to the ramp, but not after running aground on an oyster bar, and getting absolutely soaked after our timing didn't work out so well and the rains came.

What a rain!

What a fishing trip!

Rock The Dock

4.28.13

Here is what we know:

Didn't fish Saturday due to work.

Wind blew 25 knots Sunday.

Catfish like cut mullet and shrimp in Alligator Harbor.

It's calm this morning (Monday)

About Dang Time

4.24.13

water temp 71

Wind N 10 mph

Well it is the 24th day of gag grouper season in Wakulla Co. waters and we haven't been able to get out yet due to the wind.

The only nice day to go was the opening day and the old Seacraft wasn't ready for a sea trial.

We got up today and it was real foggy, which meant no wind, even though NOAA was saying 2-3 footers and rain.  Rain showers were approaching from the east, but wanting to get in some grouper action, Nancy and I headed off to Lanark ramp.  We donated our $10 ramp fee and headed off to a number right at the state waters line.

As we got through the pass on the north east end of Dog Island we could see the 2-3 rollers coming in from the south.  We continued and decided to go a little off course and hit some numbers Terry Carruthers gave me before he moved to ATL.

A guide boat was anchored up on one of the spots, but we could troll around him easily enough.

On our first pass I was watching the Lowrance structure scan and saw the bottom jump up and told Nancy to get ready.  The words were barely out of my mouth when she yelled "fish on".

I picked up the rod that was behind me and quickly discovered it was hung on the bottom as the drag was spinning.

We turned over the lure snag and tugged and tussled with the stuck plug, finally backing up the way we came hoping to remove it from the bottom.

It finally came loose and I immediately felt the pull of a fish.  My drag had been set too loose and the grouper had grabbed the Manns Stretch 30 and pulled it into it's den.

We got it aboard and it weighed 8.5 lbs.  What a good start!

We got set up again and began the troll over the 44 foot deep structure and as we approached the bottom came up again.  I said get ready and bang another one hits the plug.  This time the drag was set right and the twin came aboard.  Another 8.5 pound fish.

The grouper guide boat had seen enough and pulled anchor and left.

We trolled the area another hour with nothing to show, so we decided to anchor up and fish as the wind was getting pretty fresh out of the NE with rain showers around us.

Nancy quickly got pulled down with a just barely throw back red grouper that measured 19".

I dropped down with an L-Y and caught a nice red grouper.

We pulled anchor and headed back to Lanark to begin the work of cleaning fish and boat.

Happily we dined on panko coated pan fried grouper for dinner.

About Dang Time!