Lanark, FL.
Talked to my buddy Todd (BlueH2OFisherman) after our spring break with the kids about when he would be down and if he planned to fish any. Well after some windy days later in the week, Saturday was beginning to look possible and Celeste and I were on our kid free weekend so we told Todd we’d like to fish if we could get out. Plans were to check the morning NOAA forecast and to call Todd at 8 AM to let him know what the day looked like. I called him alright; from Monticello, and told him weather looks good enough to go so I had already hit the road!
Because our previous weekend and vacation of a few days in St Joe included some boat issues I won’t bore you with, our boat was at Wefing marine in Eastpoint with most of our tackle in it due to the late drop off of the vessel on the way home Wednesday afternoon, so Celeste and I drove there first to pick up some rods and then back to Lanark to catch up with Todd and Michael at the Lanark hacienda. The boat was loaded and about ready to go, but the trailer jack wouldn’t budge so after some cutting and jacking with the truck jack we had it hooked up to Michael’s truck and hit the Lanark ramp after a brief gas and ice fill up in C-belle.
We finally hit the water @ Noon and headed offshore to a popular numbers in search of AJ and other fish to play with hoping to start the day warmed up on some reef donkeys then head back to other grouper spots. Well, all we found was some mixed up waves and some southeasterly winds. We did manage a few sea bass at a spot on the way out, but had no luck on the AJ number. Afterward we searched around a number of our good grouper spots with little results except some short red grouper that Celeste was able to get to bite LY and Squid mixture, Michael and I were happily jigging with the vertical jigs landing a few larger sea bass.
After battling a few more sea bass and grunts to the ice we finally decided to troll a productive area of ours and scored a hit in short order only to have the Gag grouper come up a half inch short, it hit a purple and chartreuse stretch 30. Another short Gag on the same lure a few minutes later resulted in a color change on the other rod from natural perch to a rather HOT color and finally picked up a nice 26 in keeper just as we were about to call it for that area. That result forced us to stay with the troll a little while longer with similar results minutes later this one being @ 25 inches. I wasn’t the one to measure it since I had to do treble hook removal after a exciting few minutes with Todd and Michael doing a death grip on the Gag while Celeste and I freed the rear treble hook from the lure that was also firmly entrenched in my pinky! I was just glad to get loose of him and him in the box and not on my finger!!
Once free of the fish we were able to use the popular hook removal method with some 80 lb leader and the hook came right out. A little blood on the boat followed by alcohol, peroxide and Band-Aid and then a beer for me (and Celeste) and we were back to fishing! Turned out to be our last grouper and with one more up and down spot on the way in for sea bass and grunts to help fill the freezer for Todd who was out of fish for the first time in years! We ran in as the sun was setting on calm seas and toasted to another great day fishing with my best friends and my soul mate. Thanks Celeste, Todd, and Michael! Always a fun time when we get together!!
! Nice also to get a couple gags anyway we could Chuck, but your right sure feels good to succeed at trolling again! -Joe