Mashes Sands 12/13/07

[Sir reel]

I don't often post an "off shore" report... but sure wasn't on the flats so here goes. Had a doctor's appt yesterday at 9:40. Had a young man who I've take out once before last year for his birthday. He had the week off from his regular job and he'd spent the week painting and fixing up the house that he and his family are moving into. We decided to try an afternoon trip to some spots we had fished before in the Rotary reef area. After the Doctor finished with me (at least what was left after whack'n and freez'n a bunch of pre cancer spots) I met my partner and we managed to get on the water around 2pm. Conditions were beautiful. Stopped at a few spots about 7 miles out and the bottom looked very good. Anchored and then drifted but didn't even get a nibble. Decided to troll towards some public numbers for "Rotary". Got to the spots with no activity on the troll and began to troll from one number to another but after hitting 4 we still did not have any thing to show. We backed up to an area where the bottom had looked the best and started a drift with some cut bait. We began to catch short sea bass one after another but only 2 that were keepers. My partner was at least enjoying the activity. Since it was beginning to get dark, and it seemed as though there was a "bite" beginning to show up, we decided to head back to the original spots where we started and try the bottom again. After a short run we dropped down some bottom rigs and started to have at least some decent "grunts" show up. Then a 8 inch baby grouper and something "good" that rocked us up. We repositioned closer to the rocks and the partner is trying to keep something from finding a hole! HEY...MR BUD... GET THE NET AND GET OVER HERE!! He was right...23" grouper joins the party. We went on to catch some more very nice grunts and had one more rock up. By now...its DARK. I was concerned that we might have some fog to deal with so we put everything away...turned on the running lights and the 1 million candle power spot and headed in on the bread crumb trail. On the trailer at 7pm. Most of the fishing was done in 25-30 ft. Visibility was good but I'm not sure it was as clear as the Saint Marks area that my wife and I fished last Friday...may have seemed that way because of some cloud cover. Surface temp was in the 64 degree range. Sure was fun fishing with my young friend and fishing the dark part of the day I've got a picture of the grouper but it's still on the camera. Glad we were able to get out before the weather changes this weekend. Don't want to wish troubled waters for those who need to get out on the weekend but I sure hope it rains some.

[Reel Cowboy]

Great afternoon on the water.

[BlindHog]

Are there any pix coming?

[birddog]

good trip Bud.

[RodBow]

Looks like a banner day/eve for you and Jonathan!
Looks like maybe the last good day for a while..

[Barhopr]

way to mix it up Bud.

[tin can]

An afternoon well spent.