Got up at 03:00 Fri morning, Dad went and checked the bait trap in the Mex Bch canal....NOTHING IN IT!
04:00 Meet Dad's neighbor, Dennis, he's going with us. Nice guy...works in Chattahooche at the "Nut House", (Florida State Hospital for those that dont know ). We load up and stop at a secret bait spot on the way...catch way more LY's than we can keep alive. They were everywhere! Fresh dead one's work too, so we had plenty of bait.
Head out just before sunrise....ran about 16 mi and anchor on a spot known for holding Red Snapper. Well, it also held trigger fish...LOADS OF THEM. You could not get your bait down to the bottom before your bait was gone. Didn't have any weights with me over 6 oz...needed some 10's or 12's. Saw some Kings working some bait hard about 400yds from us....I put out a livie on a free line, but Dad said it would get in the way and not to worry with that. I wanted a smoker King dammit!
My dad and Dennis caught about 4 Red Snapper, one NICE Mangrove Snapper, several big trigger fish, and threw back god knows how many red grouper. Caught a octopus....those things start going everywhere in the boat! A few quick swipes with a sharp filet knife and he no longer controls those legs. Great bait that octopus leg! It will still stick to you real good also.
I thought I saw some "Mr. Brown Suits" cruising real close by and I was tired of trigger fish so I once again rigged up a live LY and free lined it out. I hooked into something nice for about 2 minutes..then it spit the bait or it pulled off the hook. I'm thinking Cobia. Free lined another one and never felt a bite, but bait was gone.
Headed in about high noon and saw some Spanish working bait about a mile out of Indian Pass......stopped and trolled a mack tree and caught about 5. Most were small schoolies....only one was about 20 in.
We cleaned the boat up, the fish got cleaned, I went and FELL OUT on the couch for two hours. I returned to Tallahassee and did not want to leave.
Not a limited out day, no real bigguns....but we had fun and had nice weather.
