Shared Delusion

 

We decided to skip getting bait from the flats because we thought the bacteria counts might be to high. (I end up putting the net in my mouth to throw it) So we got some sardines and 5 doz shrimp. NOAA predicted 2 foot waves but the water was very smooth - definatly 2 feet or less. Outside of Egmont pass we came across about 50+ dead floating redfish - thy were fresh and still orange red in color. I cant tell what red tide water looks like - I ‘ve not seen any ‘red ‘ water just water that has a brownish almost brackish tint - not the normal green, tan or blue water I usually see.

All the way out - some 20+ miles - was the brownish tinted water. No signs of life any where - the bottom machine showed very little fish. In fact it was the first time I got to see the structure of the gunsmoke - normally it has 30-40 feet of fish sign above it. At about 30 miles in 110 feet deep water we came across a blue water area with sargassum weed and lots of surface activity. We stopped by a crashing bait school and caught a 25 inch Spanish mackeral on a spoon. We decided to continue - figuring that the water will only get better.

Once we got to 130 feet we were back in the dead zone. We did catch some small grouper but they were not the normal non stop action we experience in the same area last year and earlier this year. Even the Mexican pride wreck seemed to be off. Its is usually packed with so many fish that you can see them on the surface and the bottom machine lights up. This time their were some fish but not that many. We caught a small amberjack, a keeper mangrove snapper and that was it.

We left and headed back to the blue water to try to catch some Little tunny. in about 100 feet we came across some - tried to trool with bonito lures but no luck. Only a freelined shrimp tossed over a school of small baits got us a hit. It was my first Little Tunny.

A storm came up and we raced it in. Missing the rain and strong winds by about 5 minutes. We got a small touch of it about 2 miles out of egmont, the boat handled nice, but I ‘m glad we escaped.

Happy fishing, 
Eric