Normally post in the offshore section, though "midshore" would be a better term as never go far enough to lose sight of land. Went out of St. Marks with calm waters, but wind/waves picked up enough on way out that I stopped & fished in 15' to 18' waters. That's shallow enough for me that I'm throwing this one in the inshore reports section.
Usually I launch with the sunrise but due to a low falling tide had to leave a bit early. Did hang around the lighthouse area long enough to take a quick pic as the sky showed the first hint of light. Ecky's my first love, but when low tide conditions force a St. Marks launch I always enjoy the scenic views around the lighthouse area.
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First thing worth sharing is that the bait/feeding action seemed widely spread across the whole bay. Versus finding tightly grouped schools of feeding fish, buddy Sharkman and I saw mackerel feeding seemingly every 50' or so during our run out, with one/two/or three mackerels feeding/jumping. Did run into a few larger frenzies once we got to 15' depths, and we couldn't resist hitting them. One of Sharkman's first casts of the day resulted in this nice 6 pound football!
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With 7 summer trips in a row ending with cobes brought to the boat, I was a bit worried that staying closer in would end the streak. Needn't have worried, as the first rocky spot we checked out was holding a perfect tagging-size cobe. Sharkman definitely had the hot hand of the day, and he got the only cobia. Tagged the short and released it, bringing the count of tagged cobia for the year to 13.
Bigger story than the small cobia was a bite we didn't expect... flounder! Caught enough for both Sharkman and I to get a meal out of them.
We've caught stragglers before in the deeper waters as well as isolated fish in inshore shallows, but this was the first time we were able to truly target/catch them somewhat at will! Might just be because the trash fish seemed MIA during the day, letting our lures make it to the bottom/run across the bottom.
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Sure not a record fish day weight-wise aboard Marine's Dream, but with flounder my absolute FAVORITE fish, Sharkman and I both finished the day with smiles on our faces!
"The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank GOD for the United States Marine Corps." Eleanor Roosevelt, 1945
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