Alligator Point 11-09-02

[fish finder]

Bad news - Good News!
First the bad, NOAA was forecasting 2-3ft building to 4ft before the real winds got here Sun. and Mon. WRONG! It was 4ft quickly building to 5-6ft and getting worse when we gave up fighting it at around 1:30- 2:00. We were just 5 miles off Dog Island Reef in 40ft. That was our first and only stop.
Now the good, the water temp has dropped down to about 65 already and the grouper seem to be doing what they do when it gets cooler, move in closer. Although it was very rough, we marked some fish in the 35 to 40 ft range. After getting an anchor on our marker, we started catching some decent grouper with live bait. We ended up with 6 fish over 24" and about that many shorts. The biggest being 30" around 15lbs. We also caught cooler full of key west grunts and one triggerfish on squid.
Not too bad for two guys battling mother nature for half a day. D. I. Reef is still holding pinfish so get them while you can.
Untill next time, lets all hope for some calm days in between these winter cold fronts. Capt. Jay

[Blue Dolphin]

FF.........glad you got on some fish sounds like a rough day to be out their fishing how far out were you to get into 30-40 feet of water??????

[fish finder]

Blue Dolphin,
We were approx. 5 miles south of Dog Island Reef or about 8-9 miles from my home base which is the Alligator Point tripod channel marker. There is some nice natural bottom in that area that runs parallel with Dog Island and the Reef. Tight Lines. Capt. Jay