St. George - 8/20 - Newbs trip #2

[CoachDitka]

Got down to the cut to launch at about 8:30. Some idiot has boat parked RIGHT on the ramp catching pinfish, ignores us as we are sitting there ready to launch, so I launch on the beach part on the other side of the dock there, just so I don't have to talk to the guy. We load up on pins on the bay side, and head out to try The Apalachicola city site, the St George bridge reef, and the Franklin county reefs, in that order. We hit the Apalachicola city area and find a few other boats there. Plenty of bonita and mackrel doing their thing, but we can't get anything going on the bottom. Fish on the SONAR, just not on our hooks. Catch a few large spanish for the smoker, and some bonita for fun (too bad they aren't good to eat). Damn!

Next we head over to the SGI bridge reef. That thing is big so I figure I will not have any problems finding good bottom structure. We find the middle, and I decide to troll to the corners to mark them on the GPS. Got some nice strikes on the spoons, but nothing boated. Time for some bottom action. Lots of good stuff on the bottom, so we start dropping. Plenty of reds, all short. Damn again! I am having no problem pulling up the reds, but newb friends can't seem to hook up. Too bad for them as I want some dinner. Friend #1 FINALLY hooks up, and about 10 minutes later gets a VERY nice grouper of some sort (not a red) to about 3 feet out of gaff range, and then it gets off somehow. It was somewhere around 30-40lbs. Pull up some triggerfish for dinner after they manage to mutilate all our remaining pinfish.

Friends say maybe some more trolling, but at that point I am sunburnt and tired, and it looks like rain, so we head back in at about 4:00. I figure we might as well stop at the West Pass to try and snag a tarpon or at least some trout/redfish for dinner on the SV drybar. Got some nice tarpon action, 4 in about 30 minutes, 1 to the boat, about 100-120lbs, then the rain came so back we went. No pics as my cell phone was dead by then. Doh! All-in-all, we are starting to get the hang of things. Next trip I am going straight to the SGI bridge reef, as about every drop was getting hit there, and I had no problem finding good spots. I think next time I will get some stretch 40's to troll around along with the spoons.

Thanks to everyone for the various bits of advice I have been getting, and hopefully this coming weekend I will be eatings some grouper that I didn't pay $9.00/lb for!

[birddog]

Good luck, Coach. Let us know how you do.

[EddieJoe]

Going to start at the old bridge reef, and see what we can see. At some point we will also be trying the West Pass for some tarpon/bull reds, as well as the SV dry bar for some trout/keeper red action. Hopefully I will be able to find the reef this time, as it may look like something more than a bump on my SONAR...haha! This is our second trip out, and hopefully will have more luck than last weeks Lanark/Dog Island trip.

Good luck to everyone heading out!

I'll give you a shout on 16, but I will be to your East.

EJ on the "Ghostrider"

[catchin1]

Good report coach. Man stay after those Tarpon

[dstockwell]

Good report, $9 a lb is cheap compared to what they want to sell it for in stores.