Carrabelle offshore report by Capt. Bob

[SoleSearcher]

Wednesday morning came early for me and Capt. Jimmy as we prepared for a 12 hr offshore trip with the Anderson Party from Albany, GA. I was looking forward to this trip as this would be the first time I would be fishing with Capt. Jimmy on an extended offshore run.

We started out the day by picking up our bait traps at the crack of dawn, only to find that someone already beat us to 2 of the 4 traps we set out the night before. The remaining traps held about 3 dozen Pinfish so at least we had enough live baits to hit the morning bite.

After picking up our party of 6 at the Moorings Marina, Jimmy headed the 28' Sportcraft out to 95 feet of water for our first stop. Two to 3 foot choppy seas and NW winds at around 10 knots quickly gave way to near calm conditions by mid morning. The current was running hard and we only managed to pick 1 Snapper and a few short Grouper. Our tide chart indicated that the bite would pick up around 1 PM so we decided to head to an area which holds Amberjack and return to the Grouper holes later.

Upon arriving at the next stop, the bottom machine was lighting up with a classic Snapper "V" shape signature. I rigged everyone up with 4/0 hooks and small Pinfish. Sure enough, the Snapper were here, but the Barracuda wouldn't let us get one to the boat.

By 11:30, everyone was getting a little frustrated as we only had a few fish for our efforts. But Capt. Jimmy assured our party that the fish will turn it on around 1:00 PM. In the mean time, I rigged the kids up with small rigs to catch Grunts and baitfish. They had a blast while Tony Anderson had a fleeting moment with a big AJ that broke off in the wreck.

Around 12:15, Capt. Jimmy was ready to head back to the first hole and told everyone that this time, we will catch Grouper. I got everything situated and off we went. Upon arriving at our stop, the current was still running and the fish still had total lock jaw. I rigged up a few lines with extra long leaders and circle hooks which hooked up on a few shorts and our first keeper Grouper of 23 inches.

Around 1:00 PM, the current began to slack off and the bottom machine showed fish. Just as Jimmy promised, the bite began...in a big way! Everybody was hooking up on monster Grouper up to 25 lbs on both live and cut baits. Nine year old Jacob Anderson hooked the biggest Grouper, a 25 LB Red that nearly cost us a rod. Lucky for Jacob, Capt. Jimmy was working that side of the boat and quickly helped the youngster haul in the big one. The kids began to call Jimmy "Pop-Pop" and he loved every minute of it.

We landed 10 big Grouper on this hole before the sharks finally moved in and forced us to head to the next hole in 75 feet of water. On this stop, Jimmy rigged up with a 3 way swivel. On one end he put an 8 oz lead on about 10 inches of leader, on the other end he put a 30 inch leader and an 8/0 "J" hook. The rig worked like a charm and picked up several more Grouper for the box.

We hit 3 more holes on the way in and picked up Grouper on every stop while the kids were busy picking up mixed bottom fish. Everyone caught fish and had a blast. Our party was impressed with our catch and stated that they usually vacation in Destin. However, they are coming back to Carrabelle from now on because we seem to have more fish. Tony told me that their best trip out of Destin yielded 3 Snapper and a few Grunts. On this day, they brought home over 300 lbs of fish.

I'm taking off today for a much needed rest but I'll be back on the water Friday night and Saturday for a few inshore trips. Capt. Jimmy has an offshore trip on Saturday.