4/7 - Rotary Reef/Ochlockonee Shoal/Marker 24
Posted: April 9th, 2018, 3:45 pm
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?
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?