Shared Delusion

 

Now that we feel confident in fishing out so far, it was time to convert my brother, Gregg, into a offshore addict. He likes catching but hates fishing So when we fished inshore, he did not come along very often. The tought of nonstop 12-15″ trout does not really inspire.

Bait was hard to come by, so frozen sardines where the formula. We caught some 4 foot sharks - which were lots of fun.We caught LOTS of grouper at the infamous Grouper Country. Including my best fish of all time - a 34″ HUGE pig of a Red Grouper. It was a monster to fight. I did learn a few things:

1. Some snags are Huge fish




2. If you freak out on the fish and give it all your strength - you can pull it up - other wise it becomes a snag.
3. Drink a starbucks frappacino every 10 fish caught
4. Eat on the boat - otherwise your energy level plumets during the fight.
5. during a massive fight have the washdown ready to cool yourself down




6. Have a frappacino ready to chug during the fight if the opportunity exists
7. have a good celebration display planned once the fish is landed (otherwise you revert to a repeating snippets from sporting events like ‘who let the dogs out’ or wornout phrases like ‘whos your daddy’) Its also important to consider this when choosing a new boat - it must have the space needed for proper celebration displays.

Happy fishing, 
Eric

Terry and Robert went fishing around Anna Maria and caught some ladyfish and blue runners. it was also non stop action - so much that they called me at work to come out.

Happy fishing, 
Eric

It was a very windy day - could not get the baits to the bottom - when they did hit it was an instant hookup but it was hard to stand in the boat. We had started at 100 feet deep but no action - the bottom was not right. On the way back we stopped at the sheridan - no fish only little tunny. Which we still cant seem to catch.

Happy fishing, 
Eric

 

Frozen sardines seem to work the best on grouper, although I think they would hit a flip flop on a hook if we had one

We got some bait at the 13th egmont marker, just to cover the bases. we stopped by a freighter but no bait in its shadow.

At 50 and 60 feet - no fish. at 70-75 we saw lots of roaming little tunny school crashing baits at the surface but they keep sounding when we approached.

We went to the area that shall now be known as grouper country! All day action - 2 good keepers - terry got a 26in Red grouper!

(by the way, we only keep those 1″ or more over the limit - just to be on the safe side)

Happy fishing, 
Eric

 

We got a very early start. Bait was hard to come by nothing at skyway or at a large tampa bay marker. The #13 Egmont marker came thru. We tried a drift in about 80 feet. We’ve never seen such TOTAL NON STOP FISHING ACTION!! It was amazing!! We must have caught 50 red grouper - many were keepers - We only keep a few of the big ones because we thought the size was 24″ not 22″. The smalls swam right back (to shallow to need venting) the water was amazing and there was plenty of sargassum in the water. We decided to try a wreck - the Sheridan - We caught some samll gags, hooked into what must be 100lb+ size Goliath Groupers - the poles bend over like our ultra lights rods when a stingray hit them. We had no chance but it was cool to know such a large fish was there. Next morning I was not so enthusiatic.

Note to self - Advil is required before and after all wreck fishing

Robert caught his first Barracuda - nice fish - It had a screaming start!

Happy fishing, 
Eric

 

Bait was light at the Pass-a-Grille Marker so we ran to the egmont channel. We got about 20 got baits on sabiki. Some people cast netted up about 20-30 small baits but our net is to light. We then when to the south county reef. Tons of bait over the reef! Lots of barracuda. We caught a keeper Cobia off the edge of a bait school. We saw a few sea turtles - they were beautiful and huge. We saw people catch Spanish mackeral and a little tunny.

 

Happy fishing, 
Eric

We continued our “sea trials” with a run to 40 feet deep. Many school of bait at egmont markers. Caught some small snappers and grunts plus the everpresent small red groupers. Water was very warm. I thought I saw a large mahi in the turn behind the boat but It might have been a barracuda.

Happy fishing, 
Eric

Although we got the boat a few weeks ago - Its taken a while for the electronics to be installed. We Have a 24″ Sea Pro Walk Around style boat with a 200 HP Yamaha engine. It has fresh and saltwater washdowns and a cabin to escape the heat. We installed a sweet stereo system. It has radar and an all in one display for the charts, radar, and sonar.

Today was our “sea trials” day. We tried for bait at the desoto bridge - no luck. The boats a bit hard to handle but we got used to it and it has many advantages over our previous boat (17′ flats boat) The handling under power is beautiful!

We caught some sharks and saw many people targeting tarpon in egmont channel.

Happy fishing, 
Eric