9/28 Busy Midshore Trip!
Posted: September 29th, 2007, 3:03 pm
Work and life had gotten in the way of fishing for over a month. With a Friday off from work and the wind looking as mild as it had been in recent weeks, I couldn't put off the fishing fever.
My regular fishing bud, Sharkman, is currently working on a Master's degree and has a test on Monday that made him reluctantly give up on the idea of getting out -- accordingly I decided to try going it alone.
Went out of Econfina and worked my way out of the mouth by the light of the moon to avoid getting caught in skinny water. Stopped just long enough to take two pictures of the sun rising and the moon falling...
Quickly caught a handful of pinfish and headed out to deeper water. Only had to stop at one spot, as the bite proved to be on. Quickly landed five grouper (and loss a sixth
) - three were short but all provided much fun 
Next up was a hyper blacktip! Not the biggest I've seen but he made up for it with acrobatics. Made about four clean jumps and did a few circles around the boat and my anchor rope
Made sure to tire him out well before taking the photo below.
Last bite of the day was the best. I hadn't caught anything for about twenty minutes and when I got the bite was caught a bit off guard
Grabbed the rod, clicked the lever to engage, and instantly knew I was on the big fish of the day. Battled for about 10 minutes to get a view of what I had hooked and finally saw the flash of a nice cobe before it decided to make three of four more good runs away from the boat. No suprise, but the cobia proved most difficult to photography while I was alone on the boat 
Took three tries but finally got the cobia to quit fighting me just long enough to snap a photo.
Headed back inshore and tried two of my favorite red spots... neither produced but the mullet were mighty thick and in a jumping mood Enjoyed the constant mullet teasing as long as I could stand it before a million love bugs and flies gave me motivation to get some air flowing. Saw one last interesting sight on the way to the Econfina landing... was well down the river when a shark made a leap out of the water. I wouldn't stake my life on it not being a dolphin as it happened quickly and caught me by surprise but by the quick look I got it looked more like a shark about 6 feet in length. To give those of you that know the area well an idea of where it jumped, it was after the river narrows and was closer to the houses in the "no wake" zone than it was the mouth. Made for an interesting close to a super day on the water. Running marathons in Maine and South Carolina during October so fishing may not be in the cards but if it's the last trip for the fall season, I'm thankful for the blessed day 
My regular fishing bud, Sharkman, is currently working on a Master's degree and has a test on Monday that made him reluctantly give up on the idea of getting out -- accordingly I decided to try going it alone.
Went out of Econfina and worked my way out of the mouth by the light of the moon to avoid getting caught in skinny water. Stopped just long enough to take two pictures of the sun rising and the moon falling...
Quickly caught a handful of pinfish and headed out to deeper water. Only had to stop at one spot, as the bite proved to be on. Quickly landed five grouper (and loss a sixth
) - three were short but all provided much fun Next up was a hyper blacktip! Not the biggest I've seen but he made up for it with acrobatics. Made about four clean jumps and did a few circles around the boat and my anchor rope
Made sure to tire him out well before taking the photo below.Last bite of the day was the best. I hadn't caught anything for about twenty minutes and when I got the bite was caught a bit off guard
Grabbed the rod, clicked the lever to engage, and instantly knew I was on the big fish of the day. Battled for about 10 minutes to get a view of what I had hooked and finally saw the flash of a nice cobe before it decided to make three of four more good runs away from the boat. No suprise, but the cobia proved most difficult to photography while I was alone on the boat Took three tries but finally got the cobia to quit fighting me just long enough to snap a photo.Headed back inshore and tried two of my favorite red spots... neither produced but the mullet were mighty thick and in a jumping mood
Enjoyed the constant mullet teasing as long as I could stand it before a million love bugs and flies gave me motivation to get some air flowing. Saw one last interesting sight on the way to the Econfina landing... was well down the river when a shark made a leap out of the water. I wouldn't stake my life on it not being a dolphin as it happened quickly and caught me by surprise but by the quick look I got it looked more like a shark about 6 feet in length. To give those of you that know the area well an idea of where it jumped, it was after the river narrows and was closer to the houses in the "no wake" zone than it was the mouth. Made for an interesting close to a super day on the water. Running marathons in Maine and South Carolina during October so fishing may not be in the cards but if it's the last trip for the fall season, I'm thankful for the blessed day 