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.
