Pensacola Fishing Forum / Offshore Fishing / Offshore Reports

"Nothin Matters" charter Sunday

Matt Mcleod — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:53:43 GMT

Had a trip Sunday with a family from Georgia, really nice people and they picked a beautiful day to go fishing. Great weather and lots of action. We had a nice box of black snappers, two nice groupers, a cobia, and a mess of nice mingos. Bite did not seem to be all that great this weekend, had to work hard and be patient.

Saturday 09/16 Another bottom trip on RECESS

recess — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 18:21:56 GMT

Well like everyone else we had plans to get in a little blue water fishing in today. Our plans changed from a trip to the spur, and beyond to another bottom trip. We left out of Sherman Cove late due to the weather. Our ride out was not bad with 2-3 seas left over from the cell that had past by in the AM. We started fishing in about 180 ft. on some rocks that we had just found that morning. I think most of the scamp came from that spot, but with Rob aboard we were off to catch a few AJs. Why in the world would anyone want to catch a fish that fights you all the way up to the boat? I dont know! Tim and Rob went down over and over catching AJs and almacos. The seas conditions had 4-5 foot rollers that was very comfortable to fish in. Here is a few pictures of our catch. Hopefully next week (weather permiting) we can get a blue water trip in. Gene,Tim and Rob.

8-16 State waters snapper

markw4321 — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 19:41:04 GMT

Went out after the rain this morning to test out some new electronics. Was by myself and wasn't really thinking about a full day fishing trip. Ended up trying some public numbers SE of pensacola in state waters. Got my limit of red snapper and headed home- relaxed day. wish I had a full crew with me -the snapper were biting. Smalllerfish was 20 inches. Bigger fish was 25 inches. Quality fish for public numbers in state waters this late in the year.

Mark W out

yellow gravel 8/15

sail7seas — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:45:50 GMT

my folks took out some friends from huntsville to catch a few fish. my dad hasnt done much offshore fishing the last few years and we can seldom go together having a family business so my fishing partner jason (pelagicone on here) went out with them to help out. they went straight out to the yellow gravel to an area we did pretty good on last sunday as previously posted. they started catching beeliners and white snappers pretty quickly and then chicken dolphin started showing up. they said schools of 50-100 would come through and were there the whole time they were anchored up. jason said he tried to find the bigger ones deeper but no takers. they caught about 15 and decided to let the rest grow up. they did land a nice gag that weighed in at 19 lbs. also had a big fish that they fought for 30-45 minutes before it broke the leader. the seas were real nice the whole day although no wind wore them down with the heat of the day. total for the day 1 nice gag, 1 scamp, 1 AJ, 5 beeliners, 7 white snapper, 15 chicken dolphin.

SNAPPA

Team Triple X — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:28:41 GMT

Late report from Sat. Sun. Fished RFRA and took first in grouper 34lbs, but also snagged a beast of a snapper, 28lbs on boga grips. Unfortunately, we had to release him. Outside of nine. Had several nice gags, all over 20, several large blackfin, and one wahoo.

RFRA Offshore Grand Slam Report

Matt Mcleod — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:25:28 GMT

I fished the Offshore slam tournament this weekend with Jake, Mark and Luke adams, and my uncle Tony Davis this weekend. The weather was fantastic and we had a great time. The tournament included 5 species: Snapper, Jacks, Kings, Grouper, and Triggerfish. Each species paid 3 places but to win the tournament you had to weigh 1 of all 5 species with your total weight of all 5 fish being the heaviest. We left early Saturday morning with a live well full of good baits and headed to our first spot where we hoped to put a grouper in the boat. We put 4 gags in the box on the first spot, including the biggest of the trip at 32.5 lbs. We hooked two other fish bigger than that one but they got us. We also caught a couple triggerfish at that spot, so we had 2 of the 5.

Next we went Mackerel fishing. Pulled up to the spot and about 6 minutes later had one 45.8 lbs on the deck! So far this trip is going pretty well, now 3 for 5.

We caught a few jacks up to 45 lbs that afternoon but it took us until the next morning to catch the 50 lb fish that we weighed. After that we trucked it on back to state waters, caught a legal snapper and headed to the scales. We won the slam with a total weight of 131.4 lbs, 1st place King, 2nd place grouper, and 3rd place jack. It was a great weekend with friends, can't wait for next year to give it a try again.

I got some pictures for the weekend from Tony who had his camera, but he just sent the ones with me in them, I'll get the others and post sometime.

Liberty Ship

Greenjeans — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 20:10:58 GMT

In spite of the rain this morning at 5 am and forecast for possible rougher seas I went out today with a buddy from work in my 20' Mako. Launched at Sherman and was able to find some small LY's and Pin Fish so we were set for live bait. Seas were great, overcast skies were not bad for the heat and it was much calmer than I thought it would be. Headed to a few public sites within state waters and caught a few schoolmasters (i guess AKA white snappers), 1 nice size lane snappper, a remora, and a fish that looked like a dragon (had big wings on each side of his head). I will try to post a pic of this one and maybe some of you guys can help me out on the ID. I have never seen one of them.

Ended our day at the Liberty Ship where we caught several legal red snappers before the saltwater catfish started biting. Smooth ride back in. You never know till you go.:usaflag:usaflag:usaflag

8-9-8 Yellow Gravel

Ocean Man — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 11:58:44 GMT

Headed out to the Yellow Gravel with a crew of 4-James, Nick, Duayne and myself. We loaded up on Pinfish at the ramp and were in the Gulf by 7:00am. We anchored on our first spot in 220ft of water. We were catching a couple Scamp and some Mingo's but not the football's we were looking for. James added a nice Trigger before the bite quit. We filleted and blackened a few Mingo's for lunch before we pulled up anchor and looked for a new spot. It only took 20-30 minutes of looking to find a new spot in 318-345ft. We anchored up and I dropped down a Gator Jig. First drop Bigeye, second drop another Bigeye.

On my third drop I caught a nice Scamp. Then the bite shut off for the jig and I went back to fishing with natural baits. The bite was pretty good at this new hole, we were putting some more Scamp and Mingo's in the box when a good sized Cow came swimming up to the boat. Duayne dropped a squid down to her and she ate right away. After an awesome Aerial display I sunk the gaff into her.

She weighed 17lb's back at the house, 1lb shy of Duayne's boat record of 18lb's caught late last year. About an hour or so later we had 2 more bigger ones swim up to the boat but couldn't get a hook in them before they swam off. We fished there a little while longer before we moved on to another spot in 230ft. On the way to the last spot we marked up another good looking spot in 300-320ft that we will try next time out. Nothing special at the last stop, a few more Mingo's and I missed a good Grouper bite. We ended the day with 27 Mingo's, 10 Scamp, 1 Mahi, 1 Trigger, 2 Bigeyes and a few White Snapper.

The Duke's Humongous Fish

The Duke — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 21:50:56 GMT

On Saturday, 45 miles out, hooked up and landed a 72# Warsaw, my largest griuper of my lifetime. Had fun and was a great catch for our team who were a part of catching this hugh fish. Capt. Rog' on Capt. Delynn's 24 foot Cape Horn-- Ms. Ida --helped put this fish in the boat after putting us on the spot! We were fishing the Capt. Paul Redman's RFRA Tournament. Weighted the fish but it was not a part of the tournament. Took first place in the Red Snapper Division and other species we placed in. It was a great tournament and we all enjoyed. Here are some pics:

Great Day on the EDGE!!

chaos1 — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:52:15 GMT

Like most post's, we headed out around 530am from sherman cove. Bait, beer and the boys were ready for a good day. Went right to the numbers and BAM! the fish were on! AJ's, Grouper and Mingo's abound. Lost a real nice man eater about nine, it was all him, he was kicking the tackles @#$!. BIG shark, don't know what kind, never got a good look at him. We were back at sherman cove by 1:oo and napping by 4:00. Great day on the Gulf!

edge/yellow gravel 8-10-08

sail7seas — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 21:08:10 GMT

left OB around 530 sunday morning. we stopped by the bait boat to get some live cigs. the bait boat was there as usual but nobody home. oh well. we had a mess of pinfish so figured that would have to do. got out to the edge and trolled for a little while. the port rigger got hit and my buddy fights the fish close to the boat. we got a glimpse of it and it was about a 15 lb dolphin. as soon as we saw it he spit the hook. i had a bunch of guys on the boat who rarely saltwater fish and figured they would get bored trolling all day so we went to bottom bumping. anchored up on the edge and immediately started catching monster beeliners. my father-in-law was pulling them up one after the other. we caught a mess of them and moved around the edge a couple times but couldnt get any other species to bite. headed southwest to the yellow gravel and anchored up in 220 ft of water. it was on pretty quick as my father-in-law pulled in this gag that weiged in at 11 lbs.

the scamp started biting and we landed some nice red groupers.

live bait didnt work to well today. most of the scamp and groupers were caught on filets and butterflied baits. didnt have much luck jigging. we got broken off by some big fish. they pulled like grouper but some may have been sharks. we were using 80 lb fluoro, may have to get a little bigger test just to have on hand. there was also a 6-7 foot hammerhead circling the boat that my buddy hooked up to have a little fun on. he fought the fish for about 10 minutes before the leader popped. everyone had a good time and caught some good fish. total for the day was 1 gag grouper, 3 red grouper, 5 scamp and 13 beeliners.

More Pics on the Warsaw Grouper caught last Saturday

The Duke — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:00:40 GMT

More Pics:

Friday Trip 7/25

boggs187 — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 10:15:25 GMT

Headed out of destin friday morning at about 7 to drop some lines on our coops and after catching bait in the pass we started running, and we were probably about a mile off of the beach and I spotted a big leatherback on the surface so I pulled them back to go look and see if we could get lucky and maybe find a cobia on it and as we a approached it we noticed that it was dead and all of its body parts were missing then all of the sudden a 10ft tigershark came up and just started taking huge bites out of the turtle shell and everything we watched for a minute and then hooked up a few 5lb cobias on light tackle bait rods then another tigershark came up and it was everybit of 20ft long no BS we have a 34ft Venture Center Console and it was over 3/4's of the length of the boat, anyways it also came up to continue eating this turtle, both of the sharks were practically out of the water just destroying the turtle. This was the biggest shark I have ever seen by far and I have seen a 1000lb mako of pensacola cobia fishing once before. Oh yea I forgot to throw in that I had snagged the 10ft shark in the tail with a small cobia rod n reel but a we couldnt stop it on full drag so we just decided to break it off. so we continued to our coop spots in search of some snappers and soon enough when we get there the bite is going off and we limit out in about an hour. It would have been faster but we had to fool some porpoise that were following us. This was a short halfday trip but it was very exciting and fullfilling. Here is a photo of a snapper I caught on my only drop all day, which was pretty sweet. 20lb Red Snapper. I will have more photos and a video of the shark madness later on when my buddy loads it on you tube. :hoppingmad:bowdown

Late post Destin 8/9/08

lobsterman — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 09:26:03 GMT

5 of us went out with the sole purpose of jigging. I wanted to try several different jigging rod/reel combos so I invited some jigging gurus from a jigging forum to see their stuff in action. We stayed bowed up all day and sometimes had 4 and 5 hookups at the same time. It was great. Here is a link to the post and pics at the end.

http://www.360tuna.com/forum/f4/fishing-spineyman-2990/index2.html#post30221

Big Grouper, big snapper and some scamp.

ericholstman — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 20:29:08 GMT

Did some deep bottom fishing today. Caught some live pinfish and menhaden and headed south. Got a few nice grouper(15-25#) and some decent scamp and huge mingos. Also caught a few big snapper which were properly released after I cleaned a few leaders and hooks out of their mouths. Pretty slow overall and worked for what we got. What a beautiful day out there!! Here's some photos.

a promise

pacsman — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 21:20:59 GMT

Made a promise to my son that I would let everyone know about his first wahoo. Trusted NOAA and went to the Edge Saturday. Lines in the water at 730. Snake King by 800. Had a king or a hoo sky on a bait around 830.
930 had a good run on the wayback. My boy Fought the fish for about 15 or 20 minutes on the spinning outfit before Conkle put the gaff in him. Needless to say we were pumped when we saw the stripes on the Hoo at the side of the boat and even more pumped when He hit the ice. He measured out at 46 inches. We didnt have a scale.....not real sure on the weight. We were guessing between 30 and 35. We trolled a little longer and decided to head north with the wind shifting out of the south. Stopped at a snapper spot inside 9 miles and got 3 between 18 and 20 inches. We also picked up 2 more kings. What a day! Stopped at the pump on the way home and only burned 20 gals. That was the icing on the cake.
Cant wait for the next chance to get out of the box.

Dave
hope that I didnt mess up the pictures. will try again tomorrow if I did.

Saturday 08/09 another bottom day on RECESS

recess — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 19:03:27 GMT

We left Sherman Cove around 6 oclock to head somewere to the SW. The seas were 1 to 2 from the north that made for a nice ride out, Hall and Rob jumped into the bean bags. But about 15 miles out the sea conditions went to 2 to 3 and still building so we decided the way the weather has been in the last couple of weeks we would stop short of the steps. On spot it seem that all we could catch was red snapper. The groupers did a job job hiding from us all day. But the scamp were more then willing to come home with us for dinner. A few mingos and a stop inshore for a few red snappers, One tile fish from 360 foot. Man the new lacanus jigs work great in deep water but you need to change the hook size. The water was the cleanest we've seen in a long time.Maybe next week we will be hopefully, doing what we like best .Blue water. Maybe its not to late to salvage the season. Gene Tim Rob and Hall. TEAM RECESS

8-7 State Water Snapper and Bay Grouper

dpewitt — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:55:05 GMT

Fished with Capt Matt McCleod last week and had a great time. We got some bay groupers (too small to keep) and broke off a few more then went offshore 4 to 5 miles and loaded up a 6 person limit of snapper. Probably caught about 20 snapper and 4 grouper plus a small king. Lost of a lot of good fish from breaking off. I'll be back down in October for a few days with him again and I would highly recommend Matt to anyone of this forum. Great guy and he really knows his stuff.

Trigger, snapper, Pics 8-9

Fifty-Fifty_2 — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 12:00:09 GMT

It was a beautiful day, and the fishing was good

This is our buddy SeaPro86, who went fishing with us.

Tuna fishing

Kevdog540 — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:16:18 GMT

I know nothing about tuna fishing and would like to learn. Where do i start? Can you guys help? What time of day, tackle, bait, anything will greatly appreciated. I will be fishing out of Orange Beach, AL.Thanks

A trip on John's boat to the edge

ShurKetch — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:33:11 GMT

Everyone showed up at the marina about 0500 and launched the boat at about 0530. Visited the "bait boat" for some cigs and headed to the edge. We had decided this was to be a Mingo trip and luckily it turned out to be a good one. The Fishing Machine (Jay) was on and we lost count of how many he caught. Didn't take long to limit out so we tried some live cigs for Grouper, but too many sharks. We kept losing hooks and line and decided we had all of the fish we needed...........It was only about 1100. With South winds and small seas we returned at 30+ mph.

Coast Guard to the Rescue

Grassflatsfisher — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 23:43:26 GMT

A buddy of mine sent this link to me. It's to a fishing forum on the West Coast.

The story is unbelievable. They have pics to prove it happened. That would be one long long day on the water. Good learning experience just in case you ever get caught in a similar situation.

http://www.bloodydecks.com/forums/offshore-reports-southern-california-usa/112995-senor-hefe.html

8-6-08fishing

nextstep — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 21:13:16 GMT

took my nephew and his dad fishing this morning. we had a great time. going out was smooth sailing. then at noon and tide change it got still and very HOT. that didnt last to long. on the way home it was pretty ruff. here are some pics. my nephew keanon with the fish. he is from montana. who lives in montana? just kidding keanon.

08/05/08 trip

gameaholic — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:49:50 GMT

Got a last minute invite to go on a 12hour trip with a buddy. We went on a 12 hour with Capt Harold Loefler on the Un Reel out of Destin. beautiful day, a little hot but a nice mess of fish. Have been out with Capt Harold a couple times now and he always puts us on some good fish.

Awesome Snapper trip aboard C.A.T.

Boardfeet — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 09:46:06 GMT

We left Zekes at about 4:45 am. Seas were probably 4-5 out of the w/sw and we were heading right into them. First drop was scheduled for somewhere around 10:30. There was nine fishermen aboard. Our goal was to find "Big Red" We didn't get him but we did pretty well. Made it back to the marina at about 8:00pm.Some of the pics are kinda fuzzy as my camera was inside the refrigerated / not air conditioned / boat.

Keith Cantwell with a couple of the bigger fish....est 15-17#

Chris and Shane at the cleaning station, Thats the electric knife I was using in the foreground. It had a tendency to give you a little shock every now and then.

On our next trip we plan to target Grouper. Deep Dropping for Yellow edge.

Thank You Tommy Holmes for the opportunity to go on this awesome trip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :bowdown:bowdown

8-3-2008 New Florida Girl 14hr trip

Sailor50 — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:02:05 GMT

My son is heading off to the navy in a few weeks, so we took a 14 hr trip on the New Florida Girl out of Destin this past Sunday. Only had 20 people signed up, so had plenty of room fishing. Left the dock around 4:00, way too early for me

Drove for a few hours, somewhere south west of Navarre. Seas started 2', but were up to 4-6' by midmorning but settled down later.

We limited out on red snapper, had to start throwing back fish. Got a good variety- scamp, almaco jacks, mingos and red snapper. One guy got a huge amberjack.

First time on the New Florida Girl, really good trip, crew helpful, got plenty of fish. Used their equipment but you can bring your own.

i like red fish

AQUA HUNTRESS — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 08:35:54 GMT

i went out fishing missing the afternoon squalls , but i got a nice one !

8/4 Destin Report

rauber — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 10:41:29 GMT

hi guys , i finally have to post another report i was lazy latly. yesterday i deckhanded on the gulf winds and we had 2 6 hours. first one we trolled for kings. i had to throw back over 20 short kings.... only got 2 legal ones and 1 cuda. second trip we tried for snapper but i was slowwwwww only got 1 legal 20-30 mingos, 2 legal jacks 1 rock salmon. we tried to troll around the structure and i got a nice 15-20 lbs wahoo on a kingduster... nice fish for these days. water looked nice and clean to the east with alot of flying fish and hardtails. we fished 21 miles southeast of destin pass

fergie

A couple of pictures from Sat.morning trip

fishinwhits — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 18:32:17 GMT

Good day fishin!

rodfather — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 17:27:26 GMT

Well I don't have much time so I am going to post the pics. Started the day off with lots cathing bait! :clap

Well here is the pics. If you want to know what we were cathing them on message me. We were over some public spots so I will be able to tell ya. Enjoy!!!!!

[img]http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/359/1000276ie6.th.jpg[/img]

DANG I must go now fellow fisherman, have more pics later no time now

Saturday 7/26 another bottom day on RECESS

recess — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 19:11:25 GMT

We headed out of the pass around 6am. The seas were around 1-2 from the NW. Our plans were to head to the yellow gravel area for a few box fish. Steven, my son in law, was with us for the trip (He is home for his mid tour leave from IRAQ). Rob,Tim and I are as ready as can be for a good day. We just really want a calm day from the bad weather. But again mother nature had her own plans. We kept a watchfull eye on the sky all day to the south, but nothing but clear skies. Never turn your back on a wave at the beach and your back to the weather heading home. Hear we go again 15-20 from the NW seas going to 3-4 maybe a 5 footer thrown in now and then. Well, we made it in again, and I hope every one else did too. Hear is a few pictures of our catch. There were 11 different types of fish. Gene,Tim, Rob and Steven

Newbie in Destin Scores

Chet88 — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:43:42 GMT

Guys thanks for all your help on this forum. Everyone has been very helpful. Caught these with 4 of my buddies last Friday on some public numbers out of Destin. Thought these were supposed to be near extinction.:moon I definitely have the fever now.:toast Caught them on live cigs about 4 ft off the bottom in 120' of water. Boated 4 nice Kings as well.

[IMG]http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk121/Bama96/securedownload-1.jpg[/IMG]

Thanks Again
Chester

Bottom Fishing from Destin

Capt. Delynn — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:27:28 GMT

Just like everyone else the bottom fishing has been pretty good for us lately as well. I don't usually post do the bashing that often goes with it, but my good friend Capt. Rog has made some good friends from his reports so here goes. I don't have pictures from the two trips last week so I will report those in a few days. The weekend of the 12th and 13th was good for two trips and lots of laughs. Friends Rick, Dennis, Tommy, and Jerry had a good trip that ended in some nice grouper, limit of AJs, and limit of snapper. Weather was great and the friends were even better. Rick got top prize with a

nice grouper and biggest of the day. These guys are great, I will fish with them anyday.

Next day was Jim and Bart Carey and the seas kicked our butt the first two hours. We could not get out of the storms. Kept beating it till we finally got out in a clear spot and licked our wounds. In less that an hour seas were flat calm and the boys finished the day with a limit of snapper and Aj's, mixed with a handful of grouper, scamps and Almaco jacks. Jim thought he had the fish of the day with his grouper till Bart pulled up are really nice Aj.

Jims grouper has the best story thou. I think this story is so good, it could not be made up. He hooked it on light tackle while snapper fishing. It cuts him off. 5 minutes later he hooks it again. It rocks him but does not cut off. We play with him for like 5 minutes and I become to impatient to fool with him anymore. Those that know me know that I am VERY impatient. I put the boat in gear to break the line and 5 seconds after the line should have already broke, he comes out. We wrestle him off the wreck and Jim is stoked. I keep telling him how big this one is going to be. He is going to pop to the top like a 50 gallon drum. You are going to catch your biggest Grouper to date. Way to go Jim. You deserve it Man. Jim fights him like a champ. Nice and easy with a good tight line all the way. 30 feet from the top the hook pulls. I Kid You NOT! @^%**^ and a few other really REALLY ugly words later, I walk back to the controls and say man it would be nice if he would pop up. I put the boat in reverse and look behind us just in time to see him bust the surface. We back up to him and gaff him. I'm telling you that is a honest to God, True story. Notice our leader from earlier still in his mouth. Also the rock scratches on his sides. LUCK LUCK LUCK. The good Lord is looking out for us fools. Good fishing and great friends but man I hate those storm. Lighting makes me wine like a baby. Fishing is really good right now. Just get out there. Be careful and watch those storms. If you hear someone crying during a storm, that is just me. I have never got along with electric very well. Especially that much juice. I am very fortunate to have some great friends that are excellent fisherman. You guys are the best. I am off this week but have a few trips next week. Tight lines and good luck.

7/20 yellow gravel, edge report 1 more1

pelagicone — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:49:16 GMT

here is one more picture from the yellow gravel an edge trip with sail7seas.

awesome trip thanks bud!

7/20 edge/yellow gravel good day of fishing

sail7seas — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:27:57 GMT

went fishing this morning with my father-in-law and two friends. got some cigs from the bait boat and left perdido pass around 630. headed out to the edge in great seas. the water was good and green but figured we could troll for a little while and see what happened. trolled the edge for about 45 minutes and the flatline with dolphin colored bonita goes off. hand the reel off to my father-in-law and he brings in a nice 30 lb wahoo. a nice start given the water conditions. fished the edge for a while and caught several scamp, a nice red snapper, couple of king and i got a nice gag to the boat. bite slowed down and we headed to the yellow gravel and found some lively bottom dropped down and the snapper bite was on. got our limit and also caught scamp, triggers and beeliners. my father-in-law pulled up a 25 lb amberjack that about whupped him. types of bait varied throughout the day. live cigs worked well for a while, then pinfish were getting lit up and butterflied baits for a while. caught a number of juvy aj's jigging as well. total for the day 30 lb wahoo, 8 red snapper, 2 king, 1 gag, 4 scamp, 25 lb aj, triggerfish and couple of beeliners.

Little Tunny(Bonito) at the Beach?

ReelFish — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 02:01:47 GMT

We trolled just off the beach today , maybe 300-400 yds out, and were catching Little Tunny like crazy, but only about 10 inchers. Does that make any sense? I had never really heard of them coming in like that. No big ones either :(. Does anyone know the regulations on Tuna or Little Tunny (bonito)? I didnt see 'em on fwc. Thanks for any help.

First Trip Offshore

GatorDoc — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 22:42:32 GMT

A few pics of my first offshore trip. Again thanks for the info on getting a bit farther offshore. I enjoyed the day!

A brief synopsis of the day...Left Sherman Cove around 9 (got a late start wanted to get out around 7) headed to the bait boat and picked up some live bait. Headed south out of the pass was going to go to the 131 hole, sea state was excellent going out. 12 mile from the 131 Hole, spotted a little surface action so decided to troll. First hit, my line started screaming couldn't get to the pole in time :banghead. trolled for a bit longer and we hooked up again, this time pulled in a King.

Trolled for about another 2 hours, then decided to head in closer. As we headed in saw some more bait fish on the surface so put lines out again, and got an almost instant strike. and we pulled in a Bonita.

I released the bonita after a couple pics. Weather started looking bad so we proceeded back in. The pass was a hell of a lot rougher going in that afternoon than getting out that morning. Got everything loaded just before the skies opened up.

Again thanks for all your info. I hope to learn more and get out more often.....Looking for Snapper tips and spots... Thanks!

GatorDoc

1 Man, 1 Jack

Coflafisherman — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 21:47:56 GMT

Decided to head out by myself this morning to try for some Kings. Left the dock at 6am and lines in by 7am. I trolled the bouys for a while with no luck. I had one spinning rod with 18 pound mono tied to a king duster with 2 feet wire leader, white/silver skirt and a frozen cig. The other rod was a trolling rod with 20 pound line, same set up but a green/gold skirt. Since I had no luck trolling the bouys I loaded up on some live bait and headed over to three barges. Just before I got there I noticed something tearing up the surface. The splashes were too big to be just bait fish so I put the lines back in and trolled a bit. No more than 5 minutes later the spinning rod went off. I haven't heard line scream like that in a long time. I managed to reel in the other line while holding onto the freight train I had on the spinning rod. I tightened down on the drag as much as I could. All I could do was pray that my knots held up, and the line for that matter. I did 3 laps around my 19 foot Cape Horn, even had the rod tip in the water when it went under the boat a few times and the line held. The gods were certainly on my side today. I also saw a 6 foot bull shark swim around my boat, again I was just praying it didn't hit the fish I was pulling in. After about a 20 minute fight I finally got it to the boat. The net I had was of no use due to the size of the fish. So I grabbed the Boga which maxs out at 30 pounds. I could barely get the boga around the bottom lip and once I heaved it into the boat, the Boga maxed out right away, so clearly heavier than 30 pounds. I am guessing around 40. I was jumping for joy once I got him revived and released to fight another day. I am still jumping for joy from that fight, I am sure I will go to sleep with a huge grin on my face tonight :)

RF Tuesday Destin

reelfinatical — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 08:15:14 GMT

Got caught in the rain at 7am while getting bait near the bridge. Nothing like being pelted in the face by rain drops. :) Found loads of threadfin, blue runners, sand perch, lizardfish, and sardines by the channel buoy. Went to a rocky bottom less than 20 miles out for some bottom dropping. Put down the homemade chum pot off the downrigger and the screen started to LIGHT UP. Floated out a live blue runner and got a 18LB King. On the bottom caught 1 14" Red Snapper, triggers, sharks, and lots of undersize AJs. Winds picked up and seas were capping. Back on the hill at 3.

Blue Water Report

straycat — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 08:38:39 GMT

Decided to go find blue water Sunday morning, we left out at 4:30AM, our plan was to run past the spur till we found blue water. We get about 8 miles north of the spur, past a line of descent water change, but decide to keep going to find the cobalt blue water only to get caught in the middle of a big horseshoe shaped thunderstorm right at the spur. So we ran back to the line we found earlier. The weather was bad there, but we still managed to land a 35 pound dolphin. We got tired of fighting the weather, went back north to the yellow gravel and hooked up on some nice amberjack, but unfortunatly we only landed one. You have to have these kind of days to balance the good ones.