Carrabelle, July 5th and 6th by Capt. Bob

[SoleSearcher]

Thursday was another day of scattered storms that kept me and my party of three moving around the Gulf. We ended up fishing a hole in 60 feet and found a few Grouper, Seabass, and lots of mixed bottom fish for 14 year old. Another storm forced me to move closer to shore so we stopped at 42 feet on hard bottom. Usually, you don't find much more than Bass and Grunts on these holes during the summer, but this day, we managed to pick up a few fine Grouper and a 15 LB King.

The bite all but shut down around noon when we got slammed by a big Bull Shark. My party loved it and had a blast fighting several more sharks that moved in on the action. After the sharks cleared out, we managed to pick up Grouper when another round of storms moved in so we called it a day. All in all, it was a decent day with 5 Grouper, a King, and a box load of mixed bottom fish.

On Friday, I had the pleasure of fishing with John Cleghorn and his son-in-law from GA. An early morning storm kept us at the dock for several hours until finally, clear skies broke and gave us a shot at some offshore action.

We left Carrabelle and headed deep to a spot in 80 feet. With low tide occurring around 4:45 PM, I was not expecting to catch much until around 5:00 PM. I was right. We Arrived at our stop around 1:00 PM and picked up 1 Grouper and played with AJ's and Bonita's. Nothing else would bite with a good outgoing current.

Around 4:00 PM, the current began to slack off and we started to get a few bites. Grouper were easing off with live baits so lightly that if you put even the slightest tension on the line, they would let go of the bait. Long leaders and circle hooks work well in this situation and produced a few good grouper.

Around 5:00 PM, the current was slack and the bite was on. We were getting slammed by big boys between 12 and 15 lbs right and left. John nailed a 20 pounder on a live bait while Mike got slammed by a big AJ. I had a hit that slammed my Penn Mariner right down to the gunnel and ran towards the bow. No doubt that it was a monster AJ that ended up crossing the anchor line and breaking off. It was fast action for a short while until a lane Snapper hit and signaled that the Grouper bite was nearly over. One more big boy made it into the boat and once again, the bite was shut down. With that, we headed north.

We stopped at a hole in 60 feet which usually produced fish in the late afternoon, early evening hours. 3 more Grouper made it into the box when a school of Triggerfish moved in, hitting anything we dropped down. Moving to another spot a few hundred feet away, we hooked into a monster Bull Shark that told me it was time to head in.

Ominous skies, distant thunder and a few cracks of lightning here and there threatened us all day, but we were lucky...we didn't even get the first drop of rain and ended up catching a mess of Grouper with 6 big boys, a big AJ, Triggerfish, and a lone Lane Snapper. Not a bad day for a late start. Incidentally, John was out on Wednesday and got caught in the big Storm. He drove through it from 12 miles out battling near 70 MPH winds, nasty 12 foot seas, hail, torrential rains and lightning. However, that didn't stop him from going out on Friday, even with threatening skies.

Word of advise, thunderstorms are a part of our daily summer life on the Gulf and can be extremely hazardous to mariners. In my neck of the woods (Apalachicola/Carrabelle), any storm that moves in from the West or NW is usually a bad one. If caught in a storm, stow all loose gear, close all hatches and windows, and put on your life vests. Seat all your passengers low in the center of the boat. Quarter the seas with your bow and make the best possible speed to maintain steerage while keeping spray down to a minimum. If you can't hold your boat into the seas or your taking too much water over the bow, you can rig a sea anchor off the bow. A sea anchor is a funnel shaped bag which will keep the bow pointed into the seas...and it will put enough drag on the boat to allow it to ride on the back of waves without dipping the bow. You can also deploy a sea anchor off the stern when running in following seas. This will keep the boat stable and prevent broaching (falling off the crest of a wave...turning the boat sideways). A sea anchor can be rigged with a bucket and a line tied to the handle if you don't have one available. I recommend you get one for emergencies, and they also come in handy for drift fishing when the drift is too fast.

Until next time, watch the weather and be safe!

Capt. Bob Soderholm
Sole Searcher Charters
Carrabelle, FL
(850) 899-0455
Member, National Association of Charterboat Operators