Sea Bass Run

9.25.11

Air. Hot, heat index 102 deg.
wind very calm
water 86-88 deg.
Tide: low to high

We wanted to get out and try the open gag grouper season.  So we loaded up the Nan Z and headed out on a very hot calm morning.

We went to the last spot we caught some nice red grouper on when Patty and Willie were down.  Nothing.

Kept banging from spot to spot out toward 24 with nothing to show for it but a 18" red grouper and a few grunts.

But, the black sea bass are sure out there, and they are nice ones.  My graph kept lighting up when traveling from spot to spot.  We would drop down and get eaten up with the bass.

We kept enough to get 14 filets, but you could have loaded the boat if you wanted too.

So, while we were disappointed with the grouper catch, at least we got some groceries.

Check out the slick calm.  It was hot, hot, hot!!!

Ocholockonee River Combo

9.16.11

Air temp: low 80's
Water temp: 80
Tide: last few hours of outgoing

Well, you could tell they opened Gag Grouper season today.  We got the last parking spot at the ramp as the gas stations, bait shops and hotels were reaping the rewards of an open fishing season finally.

I had Nan Z down with a radio install, so we took out the tin Nan for some inshore fishing.

While it wasn't wide open, we did manage to get our rods bent a few times.
Nancy connected on a nice 16" flounder, a nice blue and I had a keeper red inhale my new spoon.

It was enjoyable to have a fresh wind and cooler temps as the fall season begins.

Pre Lee

9.5.11

air high 80's
water mid 80's
wind from the se and blowing

We decided to try and get out before TS Lee came in.  They are predicting some really rough water through Tuesday.

Water was choppy down at Lanark.  We made a run to the west and came up with nothing.  We looked for reds, found lots of bait, but no fishes.

Headed out to Lanark reef and made a few drifts with the wind sock out.

One lady fish and one sea bass and the wind was making it uncomfortable out there.  We headed in with a pre Lee meeting behind us.

The weather has broken and the water temps are down.  Lots of butterflies and hummingbirds around.

Looks like I will be tarpon less again this year.

Fiddlin' For Scallops at St. Marks

8.24.11

Wanting some scallops to go with our sea bass we caught yesterday we headed down to St. Marks to try our hand at a little inshore fishing and then scallop treasure hunting.

We were greeted with strong easterly winds.   We managed to put in a few drifts at the St. Marks reef, but all we caught that was gamey was one little trout and one little sea bass.   But the sharks left sore mouthed.  Again, Nancy is number one when shark are in the area.

We decided to head in as the tide was falling to try and get some scallops.

It started off slow.

 I was getting in to some quality float time.

Finally Patty picked up her fiddle and things got good real quick.  We found them on the spongey grass in about 4 feet of water.

I guess the fiddle playing brought them up nicely.

The Final Result!

Whale of a Time on Wakulla Reef

8.23.11

Temp. Air=low 90's, Water=89-90

Tide: Almost high to outgoing

I got a tip from our neighbor that the Friday before some daulphin had been caught out at the Wakulla Reef.  The bait had moved in and the water has been so hot that they had migrated in pretty close to shore.

So, Willie and Patty came in town to visit and I asked if they wanted to give it a try.  I think Willie's reply was in the range of "Hell Yea!".

So we headed out on calm seas and a beautiful morning for the end of August.

I have three gps coordinates for Wakulla Reef and our strategy was to hit each one and then fish a patch of live bottom I had found a couple years ago on the way back in.  We would call it a day after that and look forward to a cold cereveza.

At our first drop we found the sea bass and grunts to be relatively cooperative.  Soon I was pulling a small grunt in and a 20 lb. kingfish came tearing out from under the boat and grabbed it.  Willie quickly dropped his bait down and the king grabbed it and promptly bit him off.

Patty soon started grunting and brought up this nice endangered gag grouper.

The action slowed and we moved about a mile east and started the process again with the same results.  This time Willie caught the nice gag.

Notice the serious fisher people in the back of the boat trying to duplicate Willie's technique.

The action slowed here also and we picked up to fish our last marked spot on the reef.  As we proceeded we suddenly saw the birds in action and slid over to the commotion.  Patty had her video camera on this time and recorded the action.  We were excited since we came for the daulphin and this looks like them.

THIS VIDEO HAS A LOT OF BAD CURSE WORDS IN IT, SO DO NO LISTEN IF YOU ARE OFFENDED BY SUCH CRUDE MANNERS.  THE CAPTAIN IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE LANGUAGE OF HIS CLIENTS!!!!!!

All we could manage was sharks out of this pod of crazy fish.  Daulphin, big cobia and sharks were all present.  We really messed up this opportunity but we did get some sharks.

Here are some videos to prove it.

The last one about tore Nancy's arms off.

We then headed to the hill.  I wanted to stop at a patch of coral I found when fishing with Doug and Linda a few years ago.  We caught some nice sea bass and a big shark then.  I wanted to add to the black sea bass in the cooler.

We started catching the sea bass and then Nancy really heated up catching two nice red grouper that hitched a ride home with us for dinner.

On the way back in Patty saw a whale jump out of the water near the 26 bouy.  When we got home we realized it jumped at the time of a 5.9 earthquake hitting the east coast.

Coincidence or earthquake result?

It was indeed a whale of a time today with the Bentley crew!

Still Kind of Slow

8.19.11

Tide Outgoing

Water temp: 88-89

Nancy and I went out to try to find some fish for incoming fishing/scalloping family.

Unfortunately, unless they want to catch monster ladyfish and catfish we don't have a lot to show them.

We headed out of Panacea Harbor this morn.

 It was a nice morning with a slight breeze cutting through the humidity.

Headed out to Ochlockonee Shoals and fished in 15 to 20 feet of water.  Nancy did score a keeper trout on a shrimp which magically turned into a fish taco last night.
I had a small cobia break off and caught some whopper ladyfish.
Other than that it was a nice boat ride.

Crystal River Mini Slam

8.13.11

Tide: outgoing

Doug and I went out in the back of King's Bay this morning.

I came down to wish him happy birthday and we were looking for a reason to smoke the cigars I gave him for his bday, so we decided to go fishing and use them as insect repellant.

He said the jacks had been back there, and he was right as he immediately sacrificed a chrome chug bug to a big jack that thought it was a fleeing mullet.

We eased around his favorite corner and I had a bass hit my toxic mullet badonkadonk and promptly pulled loose.

As we headed towards some culvert pipes I threw a nice cast down the edge of the seawall and had this good jack try to take my (Doug's) rod away.  It didn't work.  We got him in the boat for the first half of the saltwater mini slam.

We continued easing our way around the multiple cuts and coves in the back of the bay.  As the sun got higher and the tide got lower the topwater bite was diminishing  

Doug managed to land this nice bass for the other end of the freshwater mini slam.  

I can't remember what he was using, but it must have been something he can soak for a while, cause  he get pretty quick on the trigger on anything he can see bite.

We called it a day as the flotilla of boats headed out for a day of fun.