4/7 - Rotary Reef/Ochlockonee Shoal/Marker 24

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StMarksAngler
Posts: 167
Joined: August 16th, 2017, 8:29 pm

4/7 - Rotary Reef/Ochlockonee Shoal/Marker 24

Post by StMarksAngler »

Launched from Mashes Sands yesterday morning around 7am. Seas and winds were higher than forecasted but not as bad as last week so we started out slow heading east through some 3-4 footers. This was our first time getting "offshore" so we set out a few lines and slow trolled over to Rotary Reef area while watching the bottom machine and learning the lay of the land. We marked lots of fish both on the bottom and in the middle of the water column along the way but no interest in our offerings.

Keep in mind this was our first time both trolling and being out away from shore so the plan was to just motor around and look for bottom structure while trolling. Any time the water was 15ft or less we would troll around 3-4kts with some sinking Yozuri Crystal minnows and a mackerel tree with a 2oz jig for weight. When the water would get closer to 20ft we would switch for Stretch 25's anywhere from 3-5kts. No luck around Rotary Reef so we headed towards Ochlocknee Shoal to see what that was like. Water was crystal clear when we were on top of it, 2-4ft deep with very sparse vegetation in spots. Didn't see a single fish bait or otherwise.

We moved off to the west side of the shoal and headed south then east towards Marker 24. Finally hit a 20" spanish on the Crystal Minnow in about 15ft of water. Trolled a few miles to Marker 24 and pitched an eel a couple of times but the rollers were 5-6ft so we moved on pretty quick. A bigger boat passed us on our way back west and stopped at the marker around 12pm, seemed like they were there at least 30 minutes as we moved off. Wonder if they had any luck. We picked up two more 20" spanish on the mackerel tree and Stretch 25 within a mile or two west of Marker 24.

We finally decided to run in as the waves calmed down a bit starting from about 9NM SE of the oyster bar at the river mouth. During that run I marked two pieces of structure, the only obvious thing I saw on the bottom machine all day. Will need to review the sonar logs to looks for more subtle clues I may have missed throughout the day, but my question is...

I covered about 30NM total and found two tiny pieces of bottom structure. Is this typical for the area I was in? Do I need to get farther south?
Steve Stinson
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Posts: 1816
Joined: December 26th, 2001, 8:00 pm
Location: Tallahassee

Re: 4/7 - Rotary Reef/Ochlockonee Shoal/Marker 24

Post by Steve Stinson »

Let me start this by saying I am in INSHORE fisherman. Based on what I have seen in my limited amount of time offshore -
1. Sometimes the structure out of St. Marks is not all that visible. You may pass over a spot and mark all sorts of fish then go back over it and see nothing. Some of the structure here is cracks in the limestone bottom and the fish will get down inside those.
2. When they select sites for artificial reefs, it is typically not around a lot of other natural structure.


I am sure some of the more experienced offshore guys can offer more advice .

- Steve Stinson
John21:6
Posts: 194
Joined: October 14th, 2017, 7:11 pm
Location: Tallahassee

Re: 4/7 - Rotary Reef/Ochlockonee Shoal/Marker 24

Post by John21:6 »

StMarksAngler,

I am new to fishing from a boat, and on calm days, I have been trying to go offshore for grouper in my 20 ft. bay boat. So far, I’ve only caught bonita, sea bass, and Spanish mackerel, and trash fish while trolling. Also, I don’t get too excited when I see “fish” on the sonar because I am thinking that many of those fish are seaweed or air bubbles. The gain on my sonar may be too high. I will make the sonar less sensitive the next time I go out.
So until I find my grouper hole, I intend to keep offshore fishing interesting between trolling runs with dropper rigs and frozen squid. I am finding that if I put some squid down on live bottom, I tend to catch something. And the people who act like they know something about grouper fishing tell me that when I start catching white grunt and seabass, I’m in the right area for grouper.

Good luck.
tailwaters
Posts: 220
Joined: January 30th, 2017, 4:50 pm

Re: 4/7 - Rotary Reef/Ochlockonee Shoal/Marker 24

Post by tailwaters »

It takes time to figure this stuff out so don't get discourage. My advise would be to start with the basics and then build on them. Learning how and where to catch bait is always at the top of the list. Second would be to understanding your bottom machine. Youtube is a great resorce for this. You want a spit screen with one side zoomed on the bottom 15-20'. The other side needs to have the bottom marked in the middle of your screen so you can see your secondary echo reading. This lets you know if you are over hard bottom or sand. A big wide line on the bottom = rocks vs a thin narrow line = sand. We have a lot of swiss cheese in our area with little relief that can hold a lot of fish. I would bet all the public number hold fish but less as the season goes on due to the amount of pressur they recieve. When running from spot to spot pay close attention to your maching. This is how I have found alot of new spots. Another suggestion is to pay attention to the wildlife. Loons, turtles and bait fish gravitate towards structure so if can be worth your time to check them out. One more peice of advise when fishing in 30' or less. Don't just fish below the boat. Spend some time casting your bait off to the side. At this depth they can get spooked easly. It is amazing how a 5' to 10' can effect the bite. Good luck!
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bbb
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Joined: May 16th, 2007, 3:31 pm
Location: Bainbridge/Tallahassee

Re: 4/7 - Rotary Reef/Ochlockonee Shoal/Marker 24

Post by bbb »

What size boat are you fishing out of? 5-6' seas are tough conditions.

I have trolled stretch 30's, zig zagging over a known swiss cheese bottom and caught nothing. Went back and dropped down live or cut bait and caught 20 grouper in an hour.

I have been told "Catch Rock Bass, haul arse". I think grouper hate rock bass.

There is not much relief on these swiss cheese bottoms. If I see decent showing on my sonar I'll stop and drop a line. Most of the time its just a 1-2' bump on the bottom.
StMarksAngler
Posts: 167
Joined: August 16th, 2017, 8:29 pm

Re: 4/7 - Rotary Reef/Ochlockonee Shoal/Marker 24

Post by StMarksAngler »

Thanks for all the great replies so far!

I'm fishing out of a 19' Mako. Thankfully the 5-6ft rollers were pretty rogue, amongst 2-3ft and came and went quickly. We were out by Marker 24 when they kicked up and we immediately headed west towards land before things settled down to 1-2ft after about 15 minutes.

After reviewing my complete sonar logs from the trip I realized that we actually stumbled across two large areas of flat but obvious hard bottom, plus a couple of other small spots. I must have either been manning rods when we passed over them or just not been paying much attention. I have a lot of experience with and am pretty adept at interpreting sonar, even with zero bottom relief, so I'm glad I had the logs to go back over and look at. I at least have an idea now of what to expect and plan to spend some time looking more closely at those areas in the next week or two. Still, am I right in thinking that in general the areas south of Marker 24 are more productive than north of it?

I'm not much of a live/dead bait fisherman, I'd much prefer to spend time trolling until I have an area developed and then spearfish. But I am keeping some sabikis onboard and a couple of grouper sized fishfinder rigs. Ideally I'd be out at K Tower or similar for some freedive spearing but in my boat I'm going to have to get lucky with the weather days...
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