BigBendFishing.Net

Went out with RunningBare and my fatherinlaw and 2 of his friends. 25-30° on the ride down. About 35° on the water. Left Shell Island around 7:30. Made it to 24 in about an hour in 2-3 foot following seas. Put out some trolling lines and the first fish was mine. Turned out to be a big red but the leader broke at the boat, so there is a 35" red with a stretch 30 attatched to him. Next fish was a 36" king that hit a mauler. Kind of a surprise with the cold water. Next fish was a short gag that had another follow him up.

Found a nice area with some relief and trolled over it several times and ended up with 3 keeper gags a 25" AJ(released) and several shorts. We anchored on the spot and I droped down a jig with fishbites while the others used LY's. I was immediately freight trained on a fish that would not stop, and broke me off. After that the bite shut down, along with the wind. By 11:30 it was slick calm and warm, but the fish would not bite anything. We hit several spots and could not even coax up a grunt.

Came back in about 3:00 and was back home by 5:15. Beautiful day on the water but after it calmed down it was tough fishing.

Thanks for the report Tom.

Its strange, how the fishings often at its best, when the weathers not.

I,m suprised there are any grouper in the Gulf, after tin cans holiday.

Tom, can you describe the jig you used and what are "fishbites"; have you had success w/ this method consistently? Tks, TARPONMARK

The jig I used is a Spro Jig, the 2 ounce model in white


Fishbites are strips of stuff like fish or crab that are dried...well this site will explain it. If you buy some, be sure to tell them you saw it here.

http://www.fishbites.com

I have have had great success on this method. Not so much landing fish, but hooking up has been fun. I tend to use lighter than normal tackle for a fun factor.