Hey guys. First report. Been reading yours for a few months now. Not very timely, but back from vacation this week has been tough. Took the extended family down to a beachhouse at Alligator point, almost to the marina. Had a week there with the boat at the back door and beach out the front door for the family to be entertained with while the guys were fishing. We fished every day Saturday through Thursday, with the only exception being a Sunday over in Carrabelle for the festival they had going on. Mostly fished with my dad and brother in law. Keep the boat at Spring Creek, and usually fish from there, so this was new territory. We started Saturday by fishing the only oyster bars I could find on the bay side - go with what you know, right - and in the few hours before the noon high we got into the redfish. All were 17+, a couple were big enough to keep by a nose. Also caught several nice flounder. We used live shrimp, dead shrimp, and white gulps. Flounder on gulps. Needless to say, we went back there all week, and though steady, the bite slowed more and more each day. I threw every plug, spoon, spinner I had at them all week, with only hits/catches coming on gulps with a lead head, while my dad used dead publix shrimp from his freezer on the bottom, and proceded to outfish me on the reds all week. His largest was a 22" red.
Fished off the dock and off the beach all week with dead cut bait and had fun with whiting. Kids like catching those. Picked up a few Spanish also.
Weather was low 80s and no wind all week, so we took the 22' skiff DLV offshore and attempted grouper trolling for the first time. Flatpicker's dad, my neighbor, set me up with that. We ran from the end of the point and out past Dog island heading towards the K tower. Didn't have any numbers, so we started at 25' and trolled through to 50' with stretch 25's, different colors, some with a sinker on the line for greater depth. For first timers, we were thrilled with 2 in the boat, both right at 22". One was too close to keep. Where we marked fish, we tried the bottom, and caught a few blue runners (was not familiar with those), a few black bass, several sharks, and some perch (also not very familiar with those). Definitely something I'd like to try again. We used blue, purple, green and white/red, trolled at 2-6, in 25-50'. Both fish were caught on the red headed stretch at 5+mph in 40+ feet. But the bite was done by lunch.
I'll attempt some pictures.
. Can't beat those family trips. Welcome, and thanks for the report. 
