Left the fort at 7:00 AM and headed out for a few spots some friends had gone diving on the week before. The 2 that had gone diving the week before were on this trip also with both diving gear and rods. We got to the first spot about 8:00 AM, surrounded by thunderstorms. No rain on us, so we decided to stay and fish. On the way out, we had been teasing my buddy about bringing 2 spinning reels with 10 lb. test. He said he had this "new bait" that couldn't fail. It was this little rubber fish that looked like something you would get for 1/2 off in the reject bin at Walmart in the fishing section. We were only in 30 ft. of water, so I told him to slap on a nice weight and give it a try (sarcastically I might ad)

Well, I'll be danged that if on the 2nd cast he didn't have that rod doubled over with something. I told him to hold on to that bonita while I got the gaff he was requesting. After 10 minutes or so, he got the fish to the surface. A 26" gag!!!!!

We didn't hear the end of that #@$! for an hour! We stayed on the spot for 2 hours and boated a few nice grouper and some shorts. We decided to move on to another spot anf troll along the way. There was alot of green grass and "snot" in the water which made trolling almost pointless. We did manage one nice spanish before reaching the next spot in 35 ft. We got a few nice bites and the boys decided to strap on their gear and head down for a peak. While suiting up, we hooked up an on board underwater camera and sent it down to have a look. There were lots of baitfish and a few grouper hanging around on some nice bottom. Kinda neat to watch. They went down for about 25 minutes and came back with 1 nice red grouper and 2 nice hogfish. Saw numerous other fish, but they scattered before any shots could be taken. The red was taken by going over a hole in the grass and seeing two eyes looking up. The fish had no where to go and got shot right between the eyes......the spear never even got all the way out of the gun!! We went to a few other spots, dodging the rain, and finally called it a day at 5:30 PM.
TOTAL FOR THE DAY: 3 RED GROUPER (20"-24")
2 GAGS (24"-26")
2 HOGFISH
1 SPANISH
NUMEROUS SHORTS (MOSTLY REDS)
FISHED FROM DEPTHS OF 25-38 FT. WITH MOST FISH CAUGHT IN THE 35 FT. RANGE. BAIT OF THE DAY WAS SQUID AND LY'S (OH YEAH, KNOCK OFF RUBBER FISH TOO).
By the way, the other keeper gag, came off the freakin' rubber fish too!!!!

Go figure.......