Friday @ Cedar Key: We took a late start and hit the dock around 2 p.m. to work our stone crab traps. After a team effort of gaffing crab buoys, coiling lines, clearing crabs, and rebaiting we fished for a short bit for the usually obliging white grunts & black seabass.
Casey & Kait’s with a jumbo
While kid catching (grunts & black seabass) a gag hit a rod stuck in the gunnel and it was Kait’s turn to bring it up.
A big rod for Kait but she’s doing fine
Kait’s & her 23” gag
Tuesday @ Crystal River: We visited some school friends of Casey’s who’s parents have a place in Crystal River and we hopped aboard their boat to swim with the manatees. I took a lot of underwater photos and here are a few of the better ones. Most of the manatees we interacted with were around the canals where the water clarity wasn’t that clear, comparatively speaking to the spring heads. This is truly a unique experience for kids. Thanks Bob & Marie!!
Starting out right away at the surface
The first of many
What remarkable mammals
Kaitlyn & her friend, Shannon, were awed by this very social young pup that kept circling and turning onto his belly for some scratching
Seven year old Kaitlyn
Our friends, Marie, Shannon, & Andrew with a manatee pup that was extremely social
Saturday, Cedar Key offshore: The goal for the day was to introduce some friends to saltwater offshore fishing. We took one of Casey’s school mates, Trey, and his parents & grandfather. This was to be their first Gulf of Mexico offshore trip. Hoping to key onto what I thought would be the best bite for the day we left the Cedar Key dock intentionally at 2 p.m. and headed straight to a spot we had done well at a little over a year ago.
Using only frozen bait Kaitlyn was the first to drop and was immediately onto a nice grouper. Grandpa “K” was next and 2 gag hit the fishbox.
Meanwhile, Trey was busy playing with numerous grunts.
Then my wife, Pat, hung a nice gag.
Pat with a solid 11.4 lb gag (although in the photo it looks extremely small….)
Trey’s mom, after a brief struggle, caught her first gag too
Trey with a nice trigger
Colleen & son Trey with a couple of shorts
Grandpa “K” hooked up again and at this point has it figured out
(I won’t mention the good fish he had on that locked the rod against the gunnel and he couldn’t do anything with it……too funny)
Grandpa “K’ with a nice typical gag for this shallow depth
Colleen with her first trigger
Team Catchin’
On the way in we pulled in our two blue crab traps and bought 16 fresh volunteers to be introduced to an Old Bay & vinegar sauna treatment.
Fishing in 38 feet we only fished for 90 minutes after which, we ran back while it was still fun. We used only frozen baits and they were eaten without any hesitation. Surface water temperature in 35 feet was 70.7°F. Everyone had a pretty good rally of grouper fishing and it was fun to watch, and especially listen, as everyone hooked up with some hard pulling fish. Introducing grouper fishing to friends who haven’t grouper fished before makes for a fun time spent on the water!!
That was a FUN Spring Break!!
Hoo Yah!!
Brian
Looked like all involved were well pleased with the results. Cool pics of the sea cows
