St Marks July 4th & 5th

[fishforfun]

I went to the near public reefs late Friday and all day Saturday in about 20-25 feet of water. Seems like just about everything that could float was out on the water this weekend. The ideal weather made up for any inconveniences though. The water was clear, the waves were less than one foot Friday, near calm on Saturday. Caught a 32inch cobia on live grunt late Friday, but painfully released and I don't think it will survive. It was 'gut hooked', I tried to get the hook out a couple times between resuscitations in the water, finally gave up and released with the hook in. Also had several 60lb leader line cuts, presumably sharks.

Saturday I started out on the west flats waiting for the north wind to die down a bit. An abundance of ladyfish, small jacks and a few trout. Culled one 17 trout out. After about 9AM, I went out to the reefs. Beautiful, calm day. Lots of company everywhere as expected. I did not catch my cobia, but heard others succeeded before I arrived.

I caught a small King mackerel on a shrimp with a bobber. I tried this because I saw several cruising around, shy from anything thrown at them. Had to let it sit quietly. Also caught a large 5-6 foot shark on my heavy cobia live fish rig. Had to chase it down to get line back. Got him to the surface after 25 mins and had a good look in the clear water, but it eventually bit off the line 20 yards from the boat. Also caught a couple of Spanish mackerel. They also had a shy, fussy bite on shrimp near the surface. They bit through the flouroclear, but did not like the metal leader alternative.
All in all a great time on the water. FFF

[SS-342]

Sounds like you had fun on a nice day.


Thanks for the report.