St. Marks 9-1

[Srbenda]

We originally intended to try trolling for gag and kings today, but when the weather forecast looked as windy as it did, we decided to stick inshore and didn't take trolling rods.
As it turned out, the wind was quite manageable, and by mid day it had calmed down substantially.

We drifted over some hard bottom east of the lighthouse, first with live shrimp, which produced catfish.
Then, we switched to white jerk baits, and landed 2 nice bluefish in fairly quick succession.

We also had live pins flatlined behind the boat, and lost 2 hookups, presumably sharks.
One fish ( shark?) also hit it hard enough to pop 60# braid almost instantly.

We saw a 6' or 7' drift under our boat at one point.

The water remains heavily stained- with probably 2' visibility. I didn't venture out far, but I've heard it takes nearly 10 miles for the water to clear.

I'm going again Monday, and will try my luck trolling then. ( hopefully)

The bluefish was fileted, and sauteed this evening with olive oil and jamaican seasoning. With the bloodline cut out, it's great table fare.

[Juan]

Great report. Glad someone was able to fish with all this rain we've had lately. I've never kept and tried a blue fish ... sounds pretty good. I may have to try them some day if I can't catch anything else.

[leonreno]

Thanks for the report. I like bluefish too. Similar to Spanish mackerel but a little more flakey.

[DixieReb]

That could have been blues that cut you off, they are notorious for doing that. We like bluefish also, soaked fillets 2 days and then grilled.