George and I got down to Carrabelle early to fish the last day of red snapper season. Bay looked a little choppy on the way down, and I was sweating it a little as we approached the Pass once gassed, iced, baited and on our way. NOAA said 5 knots out of the East, 1-2'. Well, it was 4-5' swells, 2-3' chop on top of that, wind East 10+ knots. Like a giant washing machine. Lowered the tabs and chugged the 18 miles to the spot anyway, with a nasty storm west of us all the way.
Real quick boated a nice ARS, but then the little 15" ARS models became the common catch. Caught a bunch of them, two more good sized ARS(but smaller than the first one), some beeliners, a lane snapper, lots of BSB, and always our buddies the sharks. Did a boat record that I don't want to brag about, actually caught two ginormous nurse sharks at the same time. The female huge one had my bait, and a slightly smaller mail suitor was latched on to a fin. Those things are like submarines.
Wind dropped around noon, but the swells and the chop remained, although somewhat smaller.
The box:
3 ARS, three beeliners, one lane snapper, a bunch of BSB.
Glad we got to go, and it turned out to be a nice day, although a bit rougher than I like. Only eleven months until the next snapper season.
Luck,
EJ
Last Chance Snapper Trip 7-16-12
Moderators: bman, Chalk, Tom Keels
Re: Last Chance Snapper Trip 7-16-12
Beats a day at work!
Went last Friday out of Carrabelle, same conditions. Weather man calling for 1-2 ft seas, was 3-5 early then 4-6 racing the storms back to the hill.
Landed about the same catch, could have been a lot more if the storms hadn't run us back in.
Went last Friday out of Carrabelle, same conditions. Weather man calling for 1-2 ft seas, was 3-5 early then 4-6 racing the storms back to the hill.
Landed about the same catch, could have been a lot more if the storms hadn't run us back in.