Before I continue I have to thank Todd (BlueH2OFisherman) Anderson, his wonderful bride, and extended family especially Todd’s FIL, OD for the wonderful hospitality and ability to take so much time away. Todd and the family spent the week down as well; however, Todd was so sick the only day he got on the water was Thursday New years Eve and that was just for a few hours on the river. They did manage a few sheephead, black drum and a flounder for the box as well as a few trout.
As far as our fishing report since it was such a long trip I’ll start backwards from the 1st:
New years day was spent cleaning the boat up after a week of fishing, got the mobile home cleaned up and us packed and loaded for home, we returned to Valdosta since Saturday and Sundays winds and sea forecast was horrible and after a week away it was time to get home!
Most of the fishing occurred between 11:00 AM and just before Sunset since the low tides made launching even in the river difficult in the morning, plus we were on vacation and didn’t HAVE to get up at the crack of dawn to go fish!
Thursday the 31st was just nasty offshore so after dealing with too much of the occasional 5-6 footer we headed home with a few nice sea bass and a bonus flounder! We did troll in the 40-25 foot range for a good 45-60 minutes with nothing to show for our burnt fuel. Winds SE 15-25 knts all day! We never did go far from Dog Island! Boat preformed well!!
Wednesday 30th was just as bad with winds out of the East and then SE waves were true 2-4 and the sun had a hard time getting out so it turned out to be a short day and rather cold for us both because we hadn’t prepared with base layers for the cooler weather like we had the rest of the week. We headed in with sea bass and grunts in the box, but we were hungry and cold so it was earlier that the rest of the week to get lunch and warm (around 3:30) Sure miss Pirates on the river for that, but Two Al’s made great substitute!
We also have to thank QOutrage, for popping into Two Al’s to introduce himself, Quinn it was a pleasure meeting you after all this time and correspondences over the years on the forum! Quinn stopped when he saw the boat out front, recognizing her as the Celestial Crab and came in the restaurant to say hi and meet me and Celeste, well Celeste anyway
We also got the pleasure of taking ChugBug (Chris) offshore for an afternoon Tuesday 29th which turned out to be one of the best days on the water seas wise though we fished the top of the tide a short time and it was slow for a while, Chris sure was a capable and welcome guest who truly seemed to enjoy being on the water with us and us with him. Although the grouper bite wasn’t on we did put a few grunts and BIG sea bass in the box for Chris to take home and he caught his biggest and maybe his first ever red snapper. We headed home as the sun set and it truly was a beautiful day on the water with our new friend, Chris who turns out is our neighbor living only blocks away from us in Valdosta! Chug Bug with a big Sea bass! He always told me he was a bass fisherman
Monday the 28th was our Apalachicola shopping hanging out day and a good one since it was VERY windy and rather cool!
Sunday the 27th another old fishing buddy Reef joined me while Celeste spent the day in Tally with her mother. It turned out to be our best day grouper wise despite the lack of direction and late arrival from someone whose father lived in Panacea the last 20 years so I spent the morning cleaning fish from Saturday.
Reef and I used to fish the Keaton flats and Dog island reef many years together. Long before Celeste became first mate Reef was my main anchor wench and we have lots of hours logged together on the water so it was just like fishing with an old friend because it was! He has had a rough year and so I let him do most of the fish catching hauling two nice keeper grouper aboard along with some Monster ARS that sadly went home to the sea after measuring over 26 inches and 10 lbs. I did managed a fine gag grouper for the box while watching my buddy reel fish in so the box looked like this before we added the dozen or so sea bass and grunts!
Saturday the 26th we managed a nice box of Sea bass, grunts and did manage after much effort to coerce a legal Gag grouper to hit a red white stretch 30!! We weren’t too disappointed with the day since most of the sea bass were like thes one Celeste caught and there were plenty in the box at the end of the day!
All and all the weather was iffy most of the time and although I fished 5 days and Celeste 4 of those with me we only managed 4 keeper grouper, but still managed to have a blast together and with our GREAT friends including our new ones!
Sunset on the dock at Lanark
Thank you Celeste for another wonderful year together!
-Joe
