Lanark, 11/2/2003 Sunday

Post by **Dale Hollow** » November 3rd, 2003, 5:16 pm

Got into the water around 8am.

I wished it could have been earlier; however, I was helping a buddy break-in and debug a 1991 Boston Whaler 17' that he just purchased. It was very windy; however, no trout using Cajun thunders with live shrimp. We fished the bay. Took 2-3 Spanish Mack during the morning but couldn't find the trout. By the way, the boat seemed to have a very nice draft for flats fishing! Was able to leave motor down and seemed ok through only 18 inches of water...

The wind picked up and things continued to get worse. The boat wouldn't start. Bad Battery....

We were able to call a friend to come out and jump start us.

We went back in and purchased a new battery and headed back out! We couldn't let all that live bait go to waste

We did however catch a keeper Spanish while we were stranded!

Since we couldn't find the trout, my buddy said he wanted to run his boat out in the open water. So, it was our first exposure to 'off shore'.

About 8 miles out, we dropped in some of those Stretch 30's and began trolling. Within 10 minutes, a Gag Grouper 8#er latched on. What Fun!

This was my first, off shore experience.

So, it was getting kinda late, we motored back into the bay with about 4 dozen shrimp left. Water was Dead Calm.

We couldnâ€™t left that live bait go to waste. Back in the Bay, it was about 5pm and suddenly the Trout and Spanish exploded into a firey frenzy.

We caught probably 30+ shorts, all were 13-14 inches long, except for 1 keeper and the Spanish were all keepers. The largest was probably 5 lb's and 30 inches long!

We fished until completely after dark.

What a beautiful sunset!

Total for the Day:

1 8# Gag Grouper

9 Spanish Mack
1 Trout
1 Bad Battery
3 very tired but gratified young menâ€¦

Many Thanks for the advice from Sopchoppy Redneck on fishing those â€˜Groupaâ€™ last week!

Dale Hollow

Post by **Chalk** » November 3rd, 2003, 5:19 pm

Nice report......

Post by **Sir reel** » November 3rd, 2003, 5:35 pm

Good job DH.... way to hang withem!!

Post by **Dale Hollow** » November 3rd, 2003, 6:04 pm

I'll post a picture if someone can tell me how?

Post by **Dale Hollow** » November 3rd, 2003, 6:29 pm

Pictured here is 'Dale Hollow' and 'Skeeter'. This is Dale Hollow's first off-shore experience.

Post by **Ken K** » November 3rd, 2003, 6:48 pm

Nice Grouper! Not many folks are that persistant.

You know, you can eat them shrimp yourself if you don't get to fish em' up.

Post by **CSMarine** » November 4th, 2003, 9:01 am

Persistence pays don't it? Good job dale.

Post by **wevans** » November 4th, 2003, 9:16 am

Very nice

shure woulda thought that the seas would be much
worse than that, that looks about like the flats I fished on Sunday

Post by **Dale Hollow** » November 4th, 2003, 10:22 am

weavans,

Once again, many thanks for the tips on those Stretch 30's!

This grouper was caught at about 3:30 in the afternoon. It was pretty rough in the bay in the morning till about 2:30pm then the wind died down quite a bit and we decided to see how the boat would handle open water.

After this summer, I'm hooked on the Salt Water action. Fresh water fishing will never be the same.

Grilled Grouper is on the menu tonight!

Dale Hollow....

Post by **pcbayou** » November 8th, 2003, 10:06 am

It's good to hear from another transplant, Dale. I've been in Panama City (Callaway) a year and a half after 20 years in North Carolina by way of Birmingham. So what little I've learned about saltwater fishing is based on PC and the Outer Banks.
I've only been "around the bend" once, on a trip to Lanark/Dog Island the night of Saturday Oct 25. The wind and rain set in for two days, so it wasn't the best trip. But after reading your posts and others, I'm ready to go back.
Thanks to all for your posts and advice. Anytime you want to share hot spots and cool tips, I'm all eyes.