Mashes Sands 8-18-2007
Posted: August 19th, 2007, 9:29 am
DWilliams invited Andre and I out for a day on the water. We were all itching to do something, but the latest vis reports had us worried about diving. We decided to head out with both fishing and diving gear and attempt to do both.
Left the mashes ramp around 7:30 and by 8 we had about 40 pinfish in the livewell. DWillams punched in a number 28 miles away, but then said, lets try a close number first.
We arrive at the first number and get anchored. Nothing for almost 5 minutes so I put my rod in the holder. 10 seconds later our first gag of the day hit. 22 1/2 " and in the box. 30 seconds later Dwayne was bowed up and brought this nice beauty.
We had 2 fish in the box by 8:30 and were feeling good. However, the water color had us worried about diving. We struck off for deeper water in hopes of better vis.
We arrive at the next spot in 60 feet with decent show on the bottom, but no bites in 10 minutes. I decided to suit up and have a look. Water on the surface looked pretty good and I felt ok going down the anchor line. But at 50 feet I could not see the end of my gun and it looked like someone had turned out the lights it got so dark. I turned around and right back up the rope I went.
With nothing to show for this spot we ran around looking at others hoping to find something. We did and anchored up. It wasn't long before fish we coming over the gunnel.
DWillams Big Red
I was bringing up my 5th fish of the day and it was a good one. Got him all the way to the surface and went to lift him in the boat and the circle hook tore out of his mouth. 12 pound gag back to the bottom. That shut the bite down on that spot. The seas were starting to lay down so we decided to run back west a few miles and check out some of DWillams' loran numbers.
First place we found close to the number was small and didn't look like much unless you were right on top of it. But it looked pretty good on the machine.
We all dropped down and the action was fast and furious.
Andre's Gag
We lost several nice fish on this spot and cannot wait to get back and dive it to see what's there.
A quick fishbox count revealed we had our 3 man limit so we packed up and headed for the hill. We made it back to the dock at 2:15 and loaded the boat. As we were, the FWC Survey guy comes over and asks all kinds of questions about the day and measures quite a few of the fish. This is the first time I have been surveyed ever. Makes you wonder about the "best available science" they use for the bag limit reductions.
Great day on the water and a lot of fun. Not too hot on the water, but cleaning fish took it out of me. Thanks Dwayne and Andre for a great trip.
Tally for the day:
12 Gags to 15 pounds
3 reds to 14 pounds
Only 5 or 6 throwbacks all day and no trash fish.
Left the mashes ramp around 7:30 and by 8 we had about 40 pinfish in the livewell. DWillams punched in a number 28 miles away, but then said, lets try a close number first.
We arrive at the first number and get anchored. Nothing for almost 5 minutes so I put my rod in the holder. 10 seconds later our first gag of the day hit. 22 1/2 " and in the box. 30 seconds later Dwayne was bowed up and brought this nice beauty.
We had 2 fish in the box by 8:30 and were feeling good. However, the water color had us worried about diving. We struck off for deeper water in hopes of better vis.
We arrive at the next spot in 60 feet with decent show on the bottom, but no bites in 10 minutes. I decided to suit up and have a look. Water on the surface looked pretty good and I felt ok going down the anchor line. But at 50 feet I could not see the end of my gun and it looked like someone had turned out the lights it got so dark. I turned around and right back up the rope I went.
With nothing to show for this spot we ran around looking at others hoping to find something. We did and anchored up. It wasn't long before fish we coming over the gunnel.
DWillams Big Red
I was bringing up my 5th fish of the day and it was a good one. Got him all the way to the surface and went to lift him in the boat and the circle hook tore out of his mouth. 12 pound gag back to the bottom. That shut the bite down on that spot. The seas were starting to lay down so we decided to run back west a few miles and check out some of DWillams' loran numbers.
First place we found close to the number was small and didn't look like much unless you were right on top of it. But it looked pretty good on the machine.
We all dropped down and the action was fast and furious.
Andre's Gag
We lost several nice fish on this spot and cannot wait to get back and dive it to see what's there.
A quick fishbox count revealed we had our 3 man limit so we packed up and headed for the hill. We made it back to the dock at 2:15 and loaded the boat. As we were, the FWC Survey guy comes over and asks all kinds of questions about the day and measures quite a few of the fish. This is the first time I have been surveyed ever. Makes you wonder about the "best available science" they use for the bag limit reductions.
Great day on the water and a lot of fun. Not too hot on the water, but cleaning fish took it out of me. Thanks Dwayne and Andre for a great trip.
Tally for the day:
12 Gags to 15 pounds
3 reds to 14 pounds
Only 5 or 6 throwbacks all day and no trash fish.
Thats a fine August grouper trip.