Carrabelle 5/19 - Nearshore grouper and snapper

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zload
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Carrabelle 5/19 - Nearshore grouper and snapper

Post by zload »

Got invited over to fish with a friend of mine on his new to him boat. I've fished some off of Mexico beach in my bay boat but not been to Carrabelle.

Stayed at The Moorings and we ate at Boss Oyster Friday night, pretty darn good hunk of blackened redfish. He had some issues with brand new reels earlier Friday, drags would not hold tension, turned out to be the braid was slipping on the spool so we pulled it all off, added some mono and then re-loaded all 4 reels. Got to bed around 1:20 am, sure not the way we planned it.

Up at 5am, quick breakfast in the Moorings "café", drop off keys and pickup ice and out on the river. He had caught bait the evening before but we bought some more pinfish off a bait boat on the river and passed the FWC unloading at the ramp. It was a little breezy Saturday morning on the way out, he is still working on getting used to the boat and electronics so we headed to a public # and started fishing. He didn't want to anchor so he kept us over the spot and our wives and I dropped some pinfish down. I hauled up a 22" gag pretty quick and hated seeing that grouper sandwich go back over the side. Hauled up two keeper mangrove snapper and some more short gags while watching somebody next to us hauling in mangrove left and right.

Moved to a different spot and started pulling in red grouper all around the boat, then my buddy got slammed and then so did I, both with 3' - 4' sharks. Got them cut off and dropped again, 2 more sharks. We eventually moved as they just stayed with us, fun the first couple of times but preferred the reds.

Seas calmed significantly as the morning progressed. we ran out to the O tower as we had no grouper on board, my wife put one of those endangered red snapper over the side and then shed a few tears as it went back over too.

Ran back inside state water and started fishing again, reds there too but all short. Looking at his sonar looked like we got over some live bottom and we kept picking up some reds all just short of keepers. My wife suddenly started yelling and just looking at her rod I knew she had a bigger fish, she was struggling but got a 26" gag over the rail... yes! She said she was going to get some arm weight training done before ARS season.

His wife suddenly had a similar bent rod and he goes over to help, apparently she had hooked up a small attack sub as it was heading west and there was no stopping or turning it, meanwhile she got tangled up in another rod so my buddy lost about 2/3 of a spool of his brand new Power Pro before he could get it cut. A few seconds of Keystone Cops during that one. We assume it was a large shark.

Things slowed down and I suddenly caught the bottom of the ocean except I could move it some, played with it up and down for a bit before I apparently really upset it and it decided it wasn't going to stop and broke/cut me off, I assume that was a goliath but we never saw it.

Passed 2 FWC boats coming in on the river but no stops.

Loaded up and stopped at Angelo's for supper. Didn't stop at Crum's but looks like they have renovated and moved the gas pumps. Stopped at a brand new Marathon station/superstore back towards St Mark and they had non-ethanol gas at a lot of pumps from what I could see.

Young lady at The Moorings was very helpful, room was basic but clean, bed was comfortable. I'd skip the free breakfast and eat a honey bun/protein bar or bring a microwave biscuit next time just to get out quicker but would definitely stay there again.

After watching several boats pull up and deploy their iPilots to use the Spot Lock Anchor feature I think my buddy is sold on that concept.

First keeper or near keeper near shore grouper for my wife and I, we had fun and a couple of bags of fish and really full belly's so a good day all around.
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Re: Carrabelle 5/19 - Nearshore grouper and snapper

Post by silverking »

Nice trip and great report. Glad y'all had a good time and found some. The last time I stayed at the Moorings was right before the big coastal real estate boom when they were going to convert over to condos and make millions. :wink:

I put teflon pipe thread tape around the barrel of my reels before spooling braid. Holds well and gives the braid something to bite into so it doesn't slip. Cheap solution and peels right off without residue the next time you spool up.
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EddieJoe
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Re: Carrabelle 5/19 - Nearshore grouper and snapper

Post by EddieJoe »

zload wrote:Got invited over to fish with a friend of mine on his new to him boat. I've fished some off of Mexico beach in my bay boat but not been to Carrabelle.

Stayed at The Moorings and we ate at Boss Oyster Friday night, pretty darn good hunk of blackened redfish. He had some issues with brand new reels earlier Friday, drags would not hold tension, turned out to be the braid was slipping on the spool so we pulled it all off, added some mono and then re-loaded all 4 reels. Got to bed around 1:20 am, sure not the way we planned it.

Up at 5am, quick breakfast in the Moorings "café", drop off keys and pickup ice and out on the river. He had caught bait the evening before but we bought some more pinfish off a bait boat on the river and passed the FWC unloading at the ramp. It was a little breezy Saturday morning on the way out, he is still working on getting used to the boat and electronics so we headed to a public # and started fishing. He didn't want to anchor so he kept us over the spot and our wives and I dropped some pinfish down. I hauled up a 22" gag pretty quick and hated seeing that grouper sandwich go back over the side. Hauled up two keeper mangrove snapper and some more short gags while watching somebody next to us hauling in mangrove left and right.

Moved to a different spot and started pulling in red grouper all around the boat, then my buddy got slammed and then so did I, both with 3' - 4' sharks. Got them cut off and dropped again, 2 more sharks. We eventually moved as they just stayed with us, fun the first couple of times but preferred the reds.

Seas calmed significantly as the morning progressed. we ran out to the O tower as we had no grouper on board, my wife put one of those endangered red snapper over the side and then shed a few tears as it went back over too.

Ran back inside state water and started fishing again, reds there too but all short. Looking at his sonar looked like we got over some live bottom and we kept picking up some reds all just short of keepers. My wife suddenly started yelling and just looking at her rod I knew she had a bigger fish, she was struggling but got a 26" gag over the rail... yes! She said she was going to get some arm weight training done before ARS season.

His wife suddenly had a similar bent rod and he goes over to help, apparently she had hooked up a small attack sub as it was heading west and there was no stopping or turning it, meanwhile she got tangled up in another rod so my buddy lost about 2/3 of a spool of his brand new Power Pro before he could get it cut. A few seconds of Keystone Cops during that one. We assume it was a large shark.

Things slowed down and I suddenly caught the bottom of the ocean except I could move it some, played with it up and down for a bit before I apparently really upset it and it decided it wasn't going to stop and broke/cut me off, I assume that was a goliath but we never saw it.

Passed 2 FWC boats coming in on the river but no stops.

Loaded up and stopped at Angelo's for supper. Didn't stop at Crum's but looks like they have renovated and moved the gas pumps. Stopped at a brand new Marathon station/superstore back towards St Mark and they had non-ethanol gas at a lot of pumps from what I could see.

Young lady at The Moorings was very helpful, room was basic but clean, bed was comfortable. I'd skip the free breakfast and eat a honey bun/protein bar or bring a microwave biscuit next time just to get out quicker but would definitely stay there again.

After watching several boats pull up and deploy their iPilots to use the Spot Lock Anchor feature I think my buddy is sold on that concept.

First keeper or near keeper near shore grouper for my wife and I, we had fun and a couple of bags of fish and really full belly's so a good day all around.
Thanks for the report. I thought hard about the spot lock but it works best on a bay Boat kept on trailer. My center console has too high a bow to fit well and keeping those hungry batteries fed in dry storage wouldn’t work for me. But it looks like a great idea.

Got a 10’ blade power pole instead. But it won’t reach the bottom offshore.

EJ


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zload
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Re: Carrabelle 5/19 - Nearshore grouper and snapper

Post by zload »

EJ A few years ago I was in my bay boat about 20 miles off of Mexico Beach in a 100’ of water with the iPilot locked over a reef and my buddy boat was struggling to stay over the reef with the breeze. He motored back up to me and asked how the heck I was sitting in one place without an anchor... I looked back at the transom and said “man you need one of these Talons, they are awesome for staying over the reef” :-D

Took him a bit to realize the iPilot was doing the work.
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Rhodes
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Re: Carrabelle 5/19 - Nearshore grouper and snapper

Post by Rhodes »

We had the same issue with Goliath's and sharks a couple of weeks ago out of Lanark in state waters. Had (2) gags bit in half on way up and also hooked a couple of those freight trains (Goliaths). They seem to be getting pretty abundant. I heard there might be a lottery or something to start taking a few....is that true?
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Re: Carrabelle 5/19 - Nearshore grouper and snapper

Post by Salty Gator »

zload wrote:EJ A few years ago I was in my bay boat about 20 miles off of Mexico Beach in a 100’ of water with the iPilot locked over a reef and my buddy boat was struggling to stay over the reef with the breeze. He motored back up to me and asked how the heck I was sitting in one place without an anchor... I looked back at the transom and said “man you need one of these Talons, they are awesome for staying over the reef” :-D

Took him a bit to realize the iPilot was doing the work.
That’s really a good un, hilarious :lol:
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Re: Carrabelle 5/19 - Nearshore grouper and snapper

Post by silverking »

Rhodes wrote:We had the same issue with Goliath's and sharks a couple of weeks ago out of Lanark in state waters. Had (2) gags bit in half on way up and also hooked a couple of those freight trains (Goliaths). They seem to be getting pretty abundant. I heard there might be a lottery or something to start taking a few....is that true?

No, the FWC decided to keep the current goliath grouper regs as is for now--no harvest, mandatory release.

And that was a great story about the Talon. Would have been funny to see your buddy's face.
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EddieJoe
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Re: Carrabelle 5/19 - Nearshore grouper and snapper

Post by EddieJoe »

Do they make a spot lock type system for those dual trollers that fit on the trim tabs? Tarpon boys were big on those a few years back.

Anyone know?


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Re: Carrabelle 5/19 - Nearshore grouper and snapper

Post by EddieJoe »

EddieJoe wrote:Do they make a spot lock type system for those dual trollers that fit on the trim tabs? Tarpon boys were big on those a few years back.

Anyone know?

BTW, the 10’ Blade power pole works very well, but offshore not so much.


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Re: Carrabelle 5/19 - Nearshore grouper and snapper

Post by Salty Gator »

I don’t think so EJ, they are fixed to the trim tabs. The unit has to be able to move 360 degrees to keep you on the spot.
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Re: Carrabelle 5/19 - Nearshore grouper and snapper

Post by EddieJoe »

Thanks, Salty.

EJ


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