We found fishy areas on the sonar in depths exceeding 200’, but the bite was S L O W. A few fish starting coming over the gunnels. One of the first was a lionfish that hit a slow pitch jig. Its poisonous barbs stuck out in all directions as the fish reached the surface. Yikes!
If you ask, “How do you unhook a lionfish?” I will tell you, “Very carefully. Duh!” Fortunately, I have an extra long dehooking device that kept my hands just out of reach from the fish’s barbs.
Other throwbacks included a bunch of small red grouper, amberjacks, and a baby scamp. Keepers included a scamp grouper, two red snapper, an almaco jack, a triggerfish, and a jolthead porgy. We’ll cut the Bonita into strips for a future trip.
As we circled around the deeps, we didn’t immediately notice the wind picking up. Soon, the 1-2’ waves we expected turned into 4-5’ seas. It was time to head back to the boat ramp. Instead of heading to Apalachicola, the wind and the waves forced us to head toward Cape San Blas. My Cobia 240CC competently handled the conditions as we hit the waves at 45 degrees and turned near the top to run down the backside—over and over. About 20 miles south of St. Vincent Is., the seas became friendlier, and we were able to run at speed to the east and back to the ramp.
It did not take as long to clean our catch as we had hoped. We will get ‘em next time.
To see pictures and underwater videos from my fishing trips, visit my Instagram page here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DQnZTIADKdT ... JwdHFnbA==
