The fellas put several nice grouper, both gag and red in the box well catching several shorts when the big boys came out to play. All three of these tough guys were "schooled" by some heavyweight grouper, each one losing a nice fish. 
Well, the bite slowed after that and it started to get hot early and one of the guys started turning green so we called it an early day and were back at the dock by 11:30.The water temp is up there around 86-87 and the slime seems to have gone away, with the water pretty clear. The seas were nice and we were back before any storms had a chance to build.
We stuck with the live pinfish on both stops for bait. The tally for the short day was 10 or 11 grouper(I can't remember), with the biggest going about 12 lbs. Had a great time watching some first timers have the time of there lives. They had their workout for the day. 
On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of taking a couple out on the gulf who were on their honeymoon. My friend Ron treated his sister, Brenda and her husband, Mike to a day of grouper fishing. His good friends, Irwin and Connie rounded out the crew. After calling the trip off on Tuesday morning due to the stormy weather offshore, we set out on Wednesday morning at 6:00. Once again, the bait was plentiful on the Reef and the crew had the livewell full in short order. We set out for 65 ft where I had marked some good fish on Sunday.
The hole that produced on Sunday was still holding fish but they wouldn't bite. I stayed on that hole longer than I normally do waiting for a bite, but it never materialized. 
On the next stop though the red grouper bite was red hot. The crew caught and released about 20 short red grouper while putting 7 keepers in the box. They didn't catch the first gag grouper on that hole. Makes me wonder if the red grouper fishery is in as bad of shape as they say. 
We moved around out to 80ft as the wind picked up out of the West making it bumpy but it did keep us cool. Sensing that the incresing west wind was not going to lay, I decided to start working my way back in, hitting four more holes, each producing moderate gag grouper bites 
Back at the dock by 4:30 with a tired but happy crew. In addition to the live bait we used some frozen sardines and squid too. The final tally was 14 keepers and a couple of triggerfish. Ya gotta love it!!Capt. Jay
Based on this its hard to believe the Reds are that bad off.
