BigBendFishing.Net

Started out at daylight going down the fogged St. Marks river from the fort. Could barely see 5 feet in front of the boat. Thank goodness for a chart plotting gps.

Put the lines in the water just as the sun broke the horizon. 5 minutes into trolling this one hit a blue over chartruese stretch 18 with a fly in front of it...



On the tape he was 33", on the scale 16 pounds. Biggest grouper the boat has seen.

Lines back in and 10 minutes later we had another hit and pulled in a 24 incher. This time on the blue mackerel rapala. A couple of shorts and one more 23" keeper rounded out the day. Caught one short on the fly in front of the stretch. After the tide quit about 10, no more bites. All fish caught in 12-15 feet of water.

Tide today was as low as I've ever seen it. Tried to help Surface Interval pull a bowrider off the Lighthouse bar to no avail. They'll be there till high tide.

This is what you get when its too cold to fish.

Another successful trip, well done that man.

Would most 33" grouper weigh 16lbs ?
Is there much variation ?

I tend to "see" fish by weight. I know that sounds a bit weird, but thats what we "measure" our fish by.
I am trying to change....honest.

Not really sure of the ratio Cran. To put it in perspective, the 31" fish I caught with Tin Can weighed 12 pounds.

Cheers Tom, I think it may be easier to change my perspective from weight to length.

Just don,t go metric on me.
I can,t master millimetres, centimetres and metres.
You don,t want to know about grammes, kilogrammes etc.

Bloody Europe !!!!!!!

WHAT? No limit?

Great fish, Tom.
The in shore has me stumped, but you sure have figured out the grouper.
Sonny looks good holding that fish.

Nice fish for sure!

The bite was back on around 3:30-4:30pm in 39ft, using LY.

Tom, would you kindly describe or show your rig using a stretch w/ a fly in front of it? I've thought about doing something like that, would like to know how you rig it. Tks.

The tide was a problem for me Sat morning launching at the Mashes Island public ramp at Ochlockonee for sure. Finally got unloaded and eased out to the river with the trolling motor but anyone with a steep-V can forget it near low tide. We trolled for about 3 miles SE of the bay toward some numbers with no luck. Picked up a considerable amount of grass. I took your advice Tom and went to 80 lbs on the leader but didn't get to try it out this trip. We anchored up on a spot in 19 ft. about 3:00 and within 20 mins had caught 1 short 20" and one keeper 25". The wife hooked up on two really good fish but was unable to bring them up and both broke off. She now agrees that all that cold air, frost and "fishing gear" aint so bad. We caught another 20" short on the spot and the bite shut off as the water calmed down. We lost a lot of bait to Sea Bass and caught two decent ones and kept a 15". We fished LY's and sardines but the LY's was the bait. I think we caught the end of the bite but still worth the time. The afternoon was as nice as it gets and overall a great day on the water.

How where the sea's? We went to Tampa to try to get into protected water. Was it rough? I am kicking myself about now because the fishing was absolutely horrible down there.
Chug

Winds were from the North and as we went out just after lunch seas were 2-3. Around 3:30 the water beginning calming down to a light chop. Nice! Water temp was 57.

yup! Shoulda went to Keaton!

Off the tag end of the leader which I left about 2 feet long I slid on a chartruese sea striker teaser, tied on a 5/0 J hook then put a pearl curly tail grub on the hook. It rides up and in front of the stretch making it run shallower and gives the impression of a fish chasing a bait. Got the idea from Whopperstopper.net.

That's an ugly colored stretch, Tom. Ain't nothin that color gonna catch a fish.

The FAMU plug was ugly but it sure caught em.