Fishing Reports.........The Search for Big Earle continues..........every month I try to pick a few days to give you an idea of what's going on offshore
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June 14thThis day of fishing deserves it's own story, please click on the link to go to it:
Beer and Loathing at the 13th Annual Liars R Us
Offshore Fishing Tournament
May 23
trolling: \'trol-ing\intransitive verb, DEF: hours of boredom punctuated by moments of pandemonium...
Today we had the chance to
enjoy a picture perfect day on the east coast off St. Augustine....slightly overcast and nothing more than wavelets all day.
In my experience, flat calm days are not always the most productive but they sure make up for some of the storm tossed
experiences from yesteryear. The morning started with the buzz of excited boys....few things are more rewarding to me than
taking well mannered kids fishing. Their relentless and wonderful why and how questions often force me re-evaluate how I look at things.
In any event, we hadn't been fishing long when this nice 24lb cow crashed the shotgun line and burst into advanced dolphin acrobatics.
Billy Jr. grabbed the rod and did a fine job of fighting the fish, Todd did a professional job of planting the gaff right behind the gills and the
makings of a memorable Memorial Day dinner hit the ice.
After that we went deep, we played all sorts of music but forgot disco...ARRRRRRGH, we cruised the ledge, we went inshore looking for
some more fish without success on a flat, featureless ocean. The red snapper sink, a free jumping sailfish and a refreshing rain-rinse on the
ride in were the most excitement for the rest of the day.
I'm betting Duke, Billy, Todd, Mikey, Brian and Billy Jr. have enough to eat Sunday evening....sorry I won't be there.
Y'all come back now, I want to put these boys on a bunch of fish!
April 25
As previously mentioned, I don't write about every fishing trip...but this one is worth a report. The crew started off with
a long time customer, the venerable custom rod builder from Dalton....an unstoppable fishing force that is Coach Paul Bagby. Coach brought with him another old friend and cinematographer,
Cefus to pay for everything and the ringleader, Clint....a mild mannered gentleman on land who wears a cape and flies when offshore.
When Clint called
to set everything up, I realized I needed a mate to keep an eye on the fishermen while I tried to find some fish to keep them occupied. Darren agreed to
go even though he has been out with the Coach and Cefus before and knew what to expect:)
I try to vary the first stop each trip based on experience and gut instinct. This day's first drop was in 58 feet.
I made sure to have a rod baited up prior to getting to the spot....Cefus and Coach relaxed on the way out and took several minutes rigging their rods once the spot was reached. My bait
was a large pinfish that was immediately inhaled by a 10lb gag. No one else got a bite on this stop.
We set up a trolling pattern out to 65 ft. A couple of gags made half-hearted attempts to pull some string and were quickly placed in the fish box.
Three more attempts to bottom fish were met with zero bites. I'm convinced my life has a soundtrack, but the fish were not interested in country, rock, jazz or rap. While screwing around with the Ipod,
a disco tune came on....and we got a double strike of nice fish. With every strike, Clint went into a frenzy barking orders at whoever was on the rod. More disco resulted in more fish, with several doubles and the largest lizardfish
ever seen on the Tuner. Clint and disco make for some high-energy fishing.
Sometime in the morning a cattle egret spotted the boat and landed on the bow. The previous day's strong easterly wind had blown the bird 40 miles offshore. He was plenty tired and proud to make some new friends.
For most of the day he rode on the bow. By 2pm, we had 16 nice fish and headed toward the hill. Our bird buddy took off and, not seeing any cows....came in for a 30 knot, full flaps landing on the transom
that would make a carrier pilot blush with envy. After a minute or so, he hopped into the cockpit totally ignoring Cefus but keeping a sharp eye on the Coach.
We were well up the river before he squawked at us and headed toward a shady spot on the bank. Tally for the day was 16 fish, 150lbs total, 15 caught on the troll while listening to
KC, Donna Summer, the BeeGees, Kool and the Gang....I'm downloading some more disco tonight!
April 18
Today I finally got to take Steve and his 16 year old son, Andrew out for a day of grouper digging. The weather was fine, but the moon was full
which is not always a receipe for success...the fish tend to feed all night and avoid a bite during the day. Such was the case for this day,
we had to work hard to catch our fish.
The day was brightened by Andrew, who at 16, is already accomplished at most everything and
required very little advice on his first grouper trip. Luckily for us, he shared some of his wisdom and we were all
better men for it:)
As perviously mentioned, the bite was slow all day. We tried a variety of dead and live baits toa
catch 7 grouper to 14 lbs. A cobia briefly chased a jig and live pinfish before disappearing into the blue. Toward the end of the day,
a suicide grouper hit a plug we were dragging in 50 ft to end the day at 8 fish....the only strike all day on the troll.
Some days at like that but it was sure fun to have these guys on the boat at last. I'm hoping the bite will be a little faster
on the next trip. I'm already looking forward to learning more about fishing from Andrew!
March 27
The crew this day were Caleb and his wife, Jessica, Woodrow and Kevin...four young people who were out for their first offshore adventure. As part of a larger group that chartered four boats from the Sea Hag Marina, there was
a bet for the largest fish on the day so the pressure was on from the getgo. It was a little bumpy in the morning so we began by trolling up some fine groupers.
At the first bottom spot, Jessica scored a fat red using a butterfly jig.
As usual, the weather improved throughout the morning. The catching was steady with quality fish coming over the gunwales. Jessica caught three more fish
over ten pounds using the jigging rod.
We were still looking for Big Earle when Caleb's rod folded over double. To his credit, Caleb accepted some coaching
earlier in the day and put the lessons to good use, easily handling a 17.5lb gag....our big fish for the day...would
it be enough to win the bet?
We headed for the hill a little before 4, making the dock at Sea Hag by 5:15. There were some nice fish caught on all the boats, Caleb's fish
barely took the bet and Miss Neelie was busy cleaning fish well into the evening.
After spending a few days at home with the flu, it was
great to be back on the water. The company was exceptional, I hope y'all come back soon!
February 8
I had the opportunity to take some employees from what I thought was one of the area's premier HVAC companies this week. There was a bet between
the group for the biggest grouper.
The four guys with me had never been offshore before so big fish would be a challenge.
First stop was at a spot small AJs hang out...to test how the guys would handle a fish with some grunt. There was some huffing and puffing
but they got the technique down quicky.
Trolling was very productive last week but we could not buy a bite today. After an hour and a half of nothing, we stopped and dropped.
The first spot produced some keepers and two beautiful legal scamps...the filet mignon of fishes. Next spot gave up more fish including two nice reds
at 13 and 17lbs....could it be enough to win the bet? Several more stops produced big Florida snapper and huge
black sea bass in full mating regalia. I've since learned
that he is a not one of my favorite folks. I would not waste water on him were he ablaze. No more trips for this company!
February 2
Anyone who has read my stories knows that Mirage builds one hell of a boat to be able to take some of the stuff I put
her through.
Today I had the pleasure of taking the family that owns the business sans Dad who was at the shop finishing
a beautiful little 21 footer they are introducing at the Miami Boat Show next week.
It was 30 degrees
with a stiff wind from the North when I got to the dock at Sea Hag...but the forecast was for the wind to fall off
in the afternoon. The ride out was the small roller coaster a following sea produces and still very cold when we reached the first stop.
Seas were running in square waves, four feet tall and four feet apart. It was a touch rough for bottom fishing so we put out a trolling spread
and hooked up immediately with a nice gag. A return trip over the spot got us another good sized fish so we
started looking for new spots while trolling.
We picked up several more fish as the morning went along....the seas started to flatten after 11am am
making
some bottom fishing possible...and bent rods are a Captain's favorite sight. Gorgeous day on the water with some very nice folks.
December 14-15th
The fog was thick Friday morning when I left the Sea Hag with Billy and Zack...at least it appeared to be thick in the pre dawn darkness. As sky started to lighten, we could see maybe 100 feet in front of the boat making it tough to dodge the stone crab markers on the way out. I'd spotted something unusual on the sonar last Saturday and needed to check it out.
I put two Stretch plugs in the water at 7:40 about 1000 feet from the destination and at 7:43 both rods folded over.....
The bigger of the two fish weighed 23lbs...not Big Earle but getting closer...The bottom bite was very slow without live bait, the warm fall is having an effect on baitfish migration patterns and there are still plenty out there. We trolled until 11am, finishing with 8 fish, total weight 107lbs.
I was back at the house at 2pm, with just enough time to wash the boat and rods and pack a small bag before a buddy picked me up on his way to Sailfish Marina in Palm Beach.
December 8th
I've spent a lot more time fishing than writing about it for the past few months but since the hot grouper action is upon us,
it's time to let folks know what' happening. We left the dock early Saturday morning using the radar and spotlight
to ease out the channel at Steinhatchee. Mr. Gore's inconvenient truth made only a long sleeve shirt necessary to
be comfortable. Beau, Doug, Shane and Todd settled in for the ride to grouper grounds. The persistent Easterly wind that
had pushed hugh rafts of turtle grass offshore for much of the fall has subsided and trolling conditions were excellent.
At the first spot, the bottom machine showed grouper stacked up over a small ledge. Both plugs got nailed with one fish
hitting 18lbs. The fish were unusually active and showed up well on the sonar at each location we tried. Bottom fishing was little
slow but the trolling was hot. Since the GOFC allyoucaneat Stone Crab banquet was later that evening, we finshed
off an early day and were back at the Sea Hag with 15 fish by 2:45. I only took a couple of photos but here they are:
June 9
After spending a day last week with the editors from Sport Fishing magazine...and some none too memorable catching,
I decided to do some scouting in deeper waters on Saturday. We stopped in 60feet just to make sure the bite had not
picked up and caught one fish for our efforts. We headed south to 80 feet and failed to locate anything promising. A
dependable spot produced some nice AJs at the next stop. A little north did the trick....the first spot produced a limit of
red snapper and red grouper in less than 10 minutes. Every little piece of bottom was loaded with fish, but we could not buy another gag.
Thanks to Billy, Alan and Crisp for being such an able crew....someone needs to remember the camera:-)
May 5
This Saturday's crew was Darren, Kevin and Ralph from AT&T...and they wanted a shot at striking fish. We agreed to meet at the Vilano ramp in St. Augustine
at 5:30am on Saturday morning, destination: the famous "ledge" 60 miles offshore. The ride out took a little time as we slowed
to 20 knots to be comfortable in the rolling sea conditions. The farther offshore, the flatter the ocean got. We threw the baits
over at 58 miles in startlingly beautiful trolling conditions. The plan was to find a good area and work it. The first fish was a gaffer dolphin in
350 feet. Second fish was another gaffer who brought a friend with her....Darren hooked the friend on a spinning outfit and
fought it briefly before it spit the hook. We worked the area out and in, North and South for the rest of the day.
This
was Kevin's first trip, he made it memorable by catching a 20+ bull dolphin. We hooked a big bull around 1pm that spent more
time above the water than in it. The fish was close to 40....and spit the hook during a jump at the boat...with Darren on the rod...again.
Highlight of the day was watching a giant manta ray
doing feeding swoops as we trolled by 15 feet away. The ride in was smooth, another great day on the water.
April 29
I've gotten pretty fed up with watching the wind blow for the last month. Saturday looked to be a good
day on the East Coast. The fishing reports have been great with bunches of mahi, wahoos of size and a scattering of billfish.
I towed the Tuner to Daytona Friday afternoon and spent the evening aboard at Adventure Yacht Harbor. Old fishing buddies John and Phil
showed up late the next morning, we cleared the inlet around 7am and found a stiff 15 knot breeze at our backs
for the ride out.
Forty-two miles later, we tossed the 'hoos out in some cool blue water just short of the roll down and didn't have wait long for
a nice bull dolphin in the 20-25lb range. We continued offshore across a color change in 240ft, the water temp
went up two degrees and we caught an identical bull in an upwelling around one of the steeples. John and Phil took turns demonstrating
why gaffing is a skill they need practice with. The water changed back to a deep blue at the edge of the Gulf Stream, the temp shot up another two degrees.
There were plenty of surface features, temp breaks, etc. and we worked out to 450 feet without another strike.
The wind diminished over the course of the morning making for excellent trolling conditions. As we zigged among the
Steeples, I put out a large diving plug hoping Mr. Wahoo was around...and he didn't disappoint. I never cease to be amazed
at the first sizzling run of these powerful fish as well as their uncanny ability to charge the boat in an effort
to free themselves of the hook. This time John struck the fish nicely and brought it on board with a grunt.
We fished for a while
longer without another strike, kinda hard to complain with over 100lbs on just three fish. We took advantage of the
flat seas to make for the hill at 36mph, at 50+ the wahoo took the bet at the dock and I made it home in time for a late
supper with the bride. Hope to see you on the water soon.
March 24
Two charters got blown out on the eagerly awaited re-opening of grouper season in Federal waters last weekend.
I spent a nervious week watching the weather but the forecast for Saturday was very nice. On this weeks trip, I was accompanied
by the crew from Boatmaster trailers: Kevin, Joe, Josh and Derrick along with Chris from the Crom Corp. We left the dock
a little before 7am and eased off toward the grouper grounds. The slight easterly breeze gave us a following sea on the way
out....the sunrise offshore Steinhatchee is still a favorite sight.
After a forty-five day layoff, I expected the
groupers to be very willing and was surprised trolling over a couple of dependable spots produced nothing. The fish were a
little more willing to hit baits dropped to the bottom...Josh started the day by catching a six and twelve pound grouper
on a new rod Coach designed for just such use. We spent the day alternating between bottom fishing and trolling with mixed
results, the highlight being a couple of double headers trolling....Josh also caught a legal mutton snapper, a rare
species for our waters. We finished with nine grouper to 12 pounds. Back at the dock, most folks came in empty handed
so the fishing was unusually slow. This was a bad day to forget the camera, hopefully the boys will email some
of their shots so I can post them...
February 9-10
The last weekend before the grouper closure...Coach, Brian and Darren booked a return trip to hunt for big fish. Friday morning
was cold but clear and bright. A leisurely swell from the SW was the only feature on the Gulf. I know there are decent fish
in shallower water but can't keep myself from heading toward the horizon, visions of severely bent rods and over-
taxed reels shimmying across my mind. Coach is plum out of grouper, Darren aka Puddy Tat has been chastized by his bride
about being tired of frozen fish and Brian has four children...so fishing puts meat on the table. The pressure to produce is enormous.
After trying to bottom fish several spots with little to show for our efforts, I set up a trolling pattern using some
modified Mann's Stretch 30 plugs. Some days are like that, cut and live bait won't work but the fish will hit plugs because they
aggravate them. I'll need to make some additional mods, the split rings supplied with these plugs are woefully
inadequate for any fish over 15lbs. We had big fish straighten the split rings prior to escaping in the morning. The afternoon was relatively warm and calm. With commitments for Friday evening, we made the most of
a short day finishing with 12 grouper to 15lbs.
Saturday was a little different kind of day. Dr. Rick, Capt Tommy and first mate Doris accompanied Coach in his qwest for
big grouper. The picture of ambition, we left the dock at the crack of 8am. NOAA called for 10-15 knot winds from the North and 2-3
foot seas, subsiding in the afternoon. In reality, the wind was a solid 15 knots of bone chilling Canada air with higher gusts. The sea conditions were
a short, stiff 3 foot chop with some 4 and 5 footers coming in too regularly to feel good about it. The conditions
combined with some whining from the crew kept us inshore of my prime fishing areas. We found a couple of old numbers with
fish at home and put 3 chunky fish in the box in about 45 minutes. Someone mentioned the fried shrimp at Roy's would
be a nice alternative to contemplating if their toes would freeze before they hurled....being the customer oriented
Captain I am, we made it back to the dock in a little over an hour. The big fish weighed 14+ pounds and the shrimp were indeed, delicious.
January 14th
After the holiday celebrations and a week or so of strong wind, I got to go fishing with some friends from Georgia
....these folks like to have a good time in the evening so we left the dock at the crack of 10am:) The weather was cool
with a gentle morning swell out in the Gulf. We combined trolling and bottom fishing with great success finishing the day with
15+ groupers and a mess of Florida snappers. We only saw one boat on a flat and windless afternoon, it actually got hot
enough to take off the shirts and get some winter sun. The most unusual sight was a
fully grown alligator...maybe 12-14 feet in lenght...floating belly up around 35 miles out. It had been in the water for a while and been chewed on so
the cause of death was not readily apparent. The wonderful weather conditions coupled with the willing fish are what makes winter fishing
such a treat!
December 18th
Today I had the pleasure of fishing with rod builder Coach Paul Bagby for the second time in as many weeks.
During the last trip, Coach hooked a fish he was unable to turn. He was determined not to allow that to happen again and
came equipped with a combination fishing rod/pry bar. Darren and Brian completed the crew.
The forecast of one foot or less did not do justice to the conditions, there was a light breeze and nearly flat conditions
on a bright, cloudless day. As with Sunday's trip, the bite on the bottom was slow in the morning. We started in 62 feet and switched to trolling
after an hour of trying different baits and different spots on the bottom. The action was slow but steady...
only a couple of shorts and one double that produced two fish over ten pounds.
By late in the day, we were in 74 feet looking
for an old number and happened across two small rocks in the middle of a salty, sandy desert.....three legal scamp
and two gags later, we left to try one last spot. After a few minutes, Coach started grunting and huffing and puffing. There was barely a bend
in the pry bar. The veins were standing out in his neck as he strained against the unseen fish....
The trip in was made shorter by the previously mentioned flat water, Coach's grouper weighed twenty two pounds
on the fish cleaning lady's scales....not quite Big Earle but an outstanding fish nonetheless. It was dark
when we arrived at the Sea Hag that morning and dark by the time the fish were cleaned
and the boat was loaded for the trip home.
.
There's a lot of work involved back at the house...the rods have to be washed and rinsed, the motor flushed,
all the salt and grime washed off the boat, fishbox cleaned...etc but there's not much better than a late supper of fresh
caught grouper, pan seared in olive oil and rosemary, accompanied by a fresh salad and homemade wasabi dressing. Big Earle is still out there and I'll be back looking for him before long.
