Freshwater's for drinking and washing off salt Went offshore JAX yest. about 40miles...... originally had intentions of heading out further to Troll the Ledge for Wahoo & Dolphin (Ono & Mahi for our Hawai'ian friend) but the NWS marine forecast changed over night predicting stiff NEwinds by the pm, so we bottom fished....... and had a good day. Personally I caught my biggest: Red Snapper (that had to go back ) Sea Bass, Trigger, and Pink Porgy. Overall the 5 of us kept our limit of Vermillon Snapper (5 / per... threw back MMANY more) aprox: 15-20 sea bass, a dozen Trigers, 10(?). Porgies, 1 small mahi caught on spin tackleand threw back 3 FAT red Snapper a few small AJ's caught on jigs...... and my buddy caught a BIG lemon (?) shark on a liver vermillion snapper (prob 150 lbs?) should've taken a final tally photo, but we went right to the cleaning table it was a fun day....... water's warming up, hopefully next time it's will be a mahi / wahoo blood bath on the boat, and grouper season opens may 1 (Snapper on the other hand.....) Detailed Capt'n report (my buddy's post): http://forums.floridasportsman.com/...n-Easy-Money-appearance&p=1896398#post1896398 Cman, with that boat, you don't need to go on all these headboats to catch blues, striper and fluke,
Yanno Stinky, I've been told that from more than a few folks. I just always had the idea that my boat was a bit smallish. The prior owner used to take it on Lake Erie for Walleye so I guess I'm being overly cautious. Sure as hell would save a load of cash using my own boat. Might be worth a try this year towing her to Belmar just to see what she can do in the salt.
Depends what kind of boat........We used to run 15 miles out in my friend's 16ft Key Largo on flat days (with a MUCH smaller motor than you have) and have fished in Kingfish tournaments......Depends on your seamanship, fuel range & most importantly you just have to pick your days when mother nature lets you. Flat seas or small groundswell is a go, short period chop over 2-3ft or winds over 10-15kts leave it at home. Hell my buddy I fished with on sunday used to have a 19ft Mako and we've taken that thing 25 miles off the Keys trolling for Dolphin and tuna. I used to fish off the beach in my old 17ft Whaler
that gif is awesome! Anyway..... headed out yest. from Mayport with intentions of finding Dolphin & Wahoo again. Light winds and glassy surface conditions masked the 3+ft short period seas. Running 25-26kts the26' Mako got close to airborne a few times. After about 25 miles of that my buddy decided we're bottom fishing as we still had close to another 20+miles of running to get to the ledge (I wanted to head out but run slower.... but he was a little hungover) We kept our limit of beeliners (vermillion snapper), about 20 seabass, a few triggers...... lots of shorties. (the water has warmed up, so I think the big seabass went north) and we didn't run out far enough to find the triggers and bigger fish. Weather was beautiful, and we had fun, but not a day like last week. Hoping for a strong dolphin/mahi run in a few weeks (prob. the next time I can get offshore again)...... and some hungry grouper May 1st
Your pics look like my bucket list! Every fish in your pics I wanna catch!! (particularly that red snapper..) Nice Job on the fish!! Man, I'm gonna have to get down to Fl one of these days and knock that off my list. Its gonna turn colder up here again but hopefully, not enough to drop water temps. They're in the mid forties finally and we're closing in on the magic 50Deg mark. Kudos Stinky! Great start to the 2014 season!
haha.... thanks. Too bad that snapper had to go back. We caught two others close in size too If you're to come down here to offshore fish, springtime is definitely the hot time....... bluewater trolling is my favorite though. BIGGER fish on lighter tackle with the occasional chineese firedrill when multiple lines gets knocked down at once...... but we have to run pretty far.
Went for a spearing trip last weekend (well that and getting a little bit cooked, but we really wanted to have a dive) and the swell was absolutely massive! Didn't have the boat so couldn't go out past it and really didn't want to get crushed on some reef so we bailed out completely. We tried some really flat areas but there were sadly very few worthy fish, just stinky Buffalo Bream. Also the only time we've never brought rods and every man and his dog was absolutely killing it. And nothing for us, I know there were a tonne of squid swimming around just asking to be eaten. So I'll chuck in some pics of where we were as compensation: http://www.birdseyeviewphotography.com.au/watermarked/apr_09/YALLINGUP/19.CANAL ROCKS.jpg http://www.ourwalkabout.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/IMG_3220.jpg Don't want to crowd up the page too much with pictures with no fish. Saving at the moment to go to Mongolia/Russia/Europe later this year, but if I get the chance I'm going to head up to Ningaloo for some spearing where the weather will be nice and warm and the fish will be willing.
Due to Mother Nature's intervention, my first fishing trip of 2014 will be a freshwater trip to a Army Corps. Engr lake called Blue Marsh near Reading PA. I'm hoping the Crappie spawn is still on and I can rack up quite a score. I'm gonna use crankbaits this year for Crappie just to show something different. Looks like a Sunday morning run as well. Not much of a spring so far..
yeah...... especially when you live on a giant sandbar (florida) just ate some pan seared vermillion snapper, roasted potatoes and salad greens fom the garden
They've been crushing the cobia up here lately within 2 miles of the beach..... and I've been working :-( magazine deadlines tomorrow and monday....... they're here for a short window, and it's flat so every nearshore boat is chasing the manta rays & whackin them.
yewwwww........ took the kayak yesterday to some backwater creeks / shallows...... but didn't fish long. Cruised past some peeps to get to shallow oysterbars where motorboats cant go..... a few casts at some "go-to" spots that have produced before but wasnt feelin it (not to mention many snags on oysters) and moved on further back. Saw one turn that looked "fishy" and gave it a go...... and bam... hook up with a decent fish. A red, but he was 17" and went back. (Slot size here for redfish is 18-27") a few more casts in the same flat, and I hooked up to something bigger......he wasnt budging, so I put some heat on him but then lost him. The grub was almost pulled off the jig, with a bite through it, rt behind the hook....... Probably a NICE flounder. After a few cuss words...... and several more casts..... FISH ON! Solid hook set and I knew this was much bigger than the last one. Got him near the yak and "holy shit that's a nice fish". He saw the yak and TOOK OFF....... this area was 1-2 ft deep so he was splashin, running in the grass, around a log, and I was using 8# mono so I didn't want to put too much heat on him. He went on 5 nice runs each time I got him close, pulling drag..... I had to hold the rod with my knees and paddle to chase him down to get line back. 15+ minutes and 100yds away, I finally got him tired and in the net. A Thick 27" red, my personal best. and biggest you can legally keep. STOKED Offshore fishing's my fav. but to catch an 8llb ++ fish in shallow water on lt tackle like that was a blast. I just had a small soft "cooler" bag with me and he didn't fit in, and when I grabbed the top with him in it, the zipper broke, so I came back shortly after so he wouldn't bake in the sun...... I did miss another flounder on the way in that bit off the tail on my grub behind the hook again I'm off go and try and catch his brother
Here's some pics of my baby... Too bad the water is still cold in the lakes I've been too. So far only two lonely fish that looked grateful to be out of 54deg water.
Dude, you even have a kicker on that thing? the bass you need to be chasin are big and striped took my kayak off the beach for the 1st time this morning before working to hopefully get in on the cobia action that everyone has (flat as a swimming pool) Hoping to put a beast in the 12' plastic yacht, I paddled out a mile + or so....... found bait pods, but no Manta rays and no fish. You really need the sun to be higher in the sky to see them on the surface. got my exercise at least. guys surf fishing were getting whiting and pompano
