Trolling for grouper, April 26th. Econfina
Posted: April 28th, 2008, 10:04 am
Left Econfina at 700 am with the sun peeking up on the horizon. Little choppy and not 1-2s but doable. Ran out at 180' and started trolling in 24 feet. Got first keeper grouper in first few minutes. The fishing forcast was Poor on the Gps but didn't matter....no one told the fish. I dont really put lots of faith in that but do check it at times. Mainly my fishing is timed by seas predictions and money avail for gas. 
Continued trolling all day. The color of the day was yellow and orange. Caught 12 gags with largest being about 15 lbs and only one just keeper gag. Caught probably 10 shorts 21.5-21.75 and few smaller so the gags were out there. Never got into them in feeding frenzy picking up 1 fish at a time. They bit slowly all day long.
Tried the new Xrap rapalla trolling lure in yellow and orange. Picked it up a Gander Mountain in St Augustine. Used Suffix 80 lb line braid. It worked great! This new lure Caught probably 1/2 of all the fish caught . Cost a little more than stretches but trolled straight
Also caught on standby chartruse color and metalic stretch silver with gray new textured bait also worked well. We trolled 4 grouper lines and 2 clarks spoon. Only caught one spanish. They must be in closer. A friend brought over some new stainless steel right angle for outrigging 2 side rods. This worked great on a small boat. We have outriggers but have never used them with stretches. Has anyone had any luck with this? Please respond if you have.
Never bottom fished during the day the fish were scattered and didn't want to change what was working. We trolled from 24 feet to 40 feet with most of the fish being caught 28-31 feet with few at 25. Found some new good bottom in 25 feet but no luck.Trolled also to the west of 180 .
The tides were screwy and if the bigger fish bit (20lbs +), we couldnt find them.(I'm not complaining don't get me wrong! ) We tried to wait till the last falling tide but decided we'd had enough. Left to ride in about 5:45 pm. It was a long day but great day with friends. The 3 fish limit was caught.( hope this is not adopted. )specially the gag catch.
Trolling has been the answer for us ...out of 5 trips since the first of the year we have caught many more fish than the total all last year. The bait fish are back and so are the gags. It just takes lots of patience and calm seas and luckily we have picked day that were productive.
Still no pictures but hope you enjoyed the report and the info!
Continued trolling all day. The color of the day was yellow and orange. Caught 12 gags with largest being about 15 lbs and only one just keeper gag. Caught probably 10 shorts 21.5-21.75 and few smaller so the gags were out there. Never got into them in feeding frenzy picking up 1 fish at a time. They bit slowly all day long.
Tried the new Xrap rapalla trolling lure in yellow and orange. Picked it up a Gander Mountain in St Augustine. Used Suffix 80 lb line braid. It worked great! This new lure Caught probably 1/2 of all the fish caught . Cost a little more than stretches but trolled straight
Also caught on standby chartruse color and metalic stretch silver with gray new textured bait also worked well. We trolled 4 grouper lines and 2 clarks spoon. Only caught one spanish. They must be in closer. A friend brought over some new stainless steel right angle for outrigging 2 side rods. This worked great on a small boat. We have outriggers but have never used them with stretches. Has anyone had any luck with this? Please respond if you have. Never bottom fished during the day the fish were scattered and didn't want to change what was working.
We trolled from 24 feet to 40 feet with most of the fish being caught 28-31 feet with few at 25. Found some new good bottom in 25 feet but no luck.Trolled also to the west of 180 . The tides were screwy and if the bigger fish bit (20lbs +), we couldnt find them.(I'm not complaining don't get me wrong! ) We tried to wait till the last falling tide but decided we'd had enough. Left to ride in about 5:45 pm. It was a long day but great day with friends.
The 3 fish limit was caught.( hope this is not adopted. )specially the gag catch. Trolling has been the answer for us ...out of 5 trips since the first of the year we have caught many more fish than the total all last year. The bait fish are back and so are the gags. It just takes lots of patience and calm seas and luckily we have picked day that were productive.
Still no pictures but hope you enjoyed the report and the info!
