We had a crew of 5 for Friday and the plan was to do some bottom fishing in early hours and troll in the afternoon, thinking it would be better to be moving around in the heat rather than anchored up. Left the dock @ 5:30 and spent an hour loading up with bait. Lots of pinfish and assorted grunts and then tried to find some hardtails, only managing 4. Headed for some spots that had produced some good grouper in the past, near K-Tower. After marking some good fish, began catching some gag grouper action with a couple nice ones. This is Alan Whitfield with a fine Gag.

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After hitting some other spots with moderate action, it was already getting HOT so we decided to troll some Stretch 30's and some dusters for kings. No Luck there so after an hour or so we decided to try our AJ luck and headed to Bryson Reef. The AJ's were plentiful and willing, especially on the hardtails, the Best AJ bait. We caught 8, keeping the largest 4 to about 20lbs. Cory Deschner also hooked another respectable Gag on the edge.

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Here is Jason Granger and Alan Whitfield with a couple of the Reef Donkeys


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We headed back to Alligator Point to fuel up and get more ice which was being subjected to the hottest temps we have seen in 10 yrs!
We had initially planned to swap out some crew and had back out and spend the night but the heat changed our minds and we opted for a fresh water shower, dinner at Angelo's and a some good sleep in the AC at the beach house. Got up a 4am and left the dock about 5am and did not have to stop for bait as we still had plenty in the livewell. Ran out to 95 ft looking for bigger fish and we were rewarded with some damn fine Red Snapper action and a few Red grouper as well. The largest being a 17lb ARS and a 15lb Red Grouper. The camera succumed to the heat and refused to work, so I didn't get any "live" shots. We checked V-Tower for AJ's but no luck. spent the rest of the day looking for the Big Money fish.

Stopped back at Bryson on the way in to check for another shot at the AJ's, only managed to hook one short.
We were tired and ready to get back, thinking that we did not have anything that would make the board, we made the decision to head to home port, AP and fuel up and clean up. After the fact, we realized that we were close in the Red Snapper category. Had to settle for some cell phone pics at the dock of the catch.

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Cuda"B" ran great and only tore up a couple of reels so it was a couple of great days of fishing.
On a final note, Alan Whitfield, who fished both days with us, ended up being the winner of the Century boat package

What a way to end the tourney!!
Light winds and smooth seas,
Capt. Jay