The water temperature in state water was about 62 degrees and about 65 degrees in federal water. The tide was a slow day-long incoming tide. The water seemed crystal clear.
As we traveled on a southerly course, we saw many large schools of bait on the surface and many towering schools of bait on the bottom. We didn’t plan on using live bait, but we stopped and fished for them in about 70 ft. as we waited out the fog. Soon the baitwell had about a dozen pigfish and sandperch. When we could see a little farther, we continued south for a few more miles. We were heading to a spot that was loaded with red grouper in July. (See my post on that trip here: viewtopic.php?t=45668 )
In our deepest spots, the sonar showed lots of fish. We caught one keeper-size red grouper along with a few undersized red grouper, some red snapper, a few lane snapper, and a pair of vermillion snapper. We were catching fish, but not like we wanted. I even tossed macaroni soaked in menhaden milk along with pieces of LYs into the water to bring mangrove snapper to the surface. No luck.
I reviewed my underwater videos at home to see if the fish were where I had expected or hoped for them to be or if they were just not biting. The videos showed that the water at the surface was crystal clear in deep water.
However, water at the bottom was full of greenish sediment. Maybe it was plankton. The thickness of the sediment made it nearly impossible to see fish or anything on the bottom.
With time running out, we made a long run back in the direction of Carrabelle to see if the hungry red grouper were in shallower water. We caught gag grouper. We were shocked. Gag grouper, according to the data used by the regulators, are practically extinct. The odds of catching them is about 1 in a million. With my newfound luck, maybe I should get a lottery ticket.
Eventually, we caught two more red grouper for the cooler along with a few grunts.
Here’s what the bottom looked like where we caught our last two red grouper. The red grouper pointing upwards at the far right of the photo below just took a bait and is being reeled up. This is the same red grouper in the photo just above.
Here’s what made it to the fillet table:
Back at Martin Marine, we washed the boat down and moved it into its spot in the warehouse. Martin has a few more spots available for just about any boat you can trailer or RV. If you can pull it, I suspect he can store it.
Martin is beginning to stock a boating and fishing supply shop at the front of his warehouse that he will open in the near future. If you need a hand-made kayak, he has them, too.
