Aucilla on Sunday
Posted: June 9th, 2008, 7:50 am
TallyFly, Dangerous Dave, and I decided to come out of the shadows and fish the Aucilla yesterday morning using the Gerald Craft. Put in around 7:30 a.m. with the tide still high and beginning to fall out. Wind ESE 5-10 MPH, most of the day - very nice. Sea water temp around the low 80's. We ran out to the east flats area and began fishing a longbar outside of the mouth. Right away Dave had a nice 22" Red pounce on his Molting flavor Gulp & Jig - in the box! Then, a few minutes later The Dangerous One had a 20" trout smash his Gulp & Jig - in the box, too. Dave & I spotted a big group of Reds "pushing water" in close to shore and Gerald began stalking them using the trolling motor. Then some Dufus McGilacuty in an air boat ran too close to the school and bye-bye Redfish. We all caught a few throw backs in shallows until about 9 a.m. and then headed out to the 6-8' water as the sun rose higher and the temperature became 90+ degrees! The floating grass everywhere kept me from effectively working my top water lures and religated us to throw soft baits all day. I missed a big cobia at the boat on a Slurp & Jig out in the deeper water around noontime - the darn fish grabbed the Bass Assassin & jig by the tail and pulled it loose, then peeled out with my Bass Assassin never to return. We started catching lots of Rock Bass and a few small Grouper (10-12") over the rocky areas in 7-8 feet waters on Gulp jigs or Cajun Thunder & Gulps. Gerald caught a couple of 16-18"ers - in the box, for sure. I kept catching all the smaller fish, but that was fine, too. Some very nice 10-12"'er Rock Bass pestered Dave (who seemed to have the hot rod all day). So, we kept a few of them, too. Finally the heat and sun took it's toll on us around 2:30 p.m. and we put the boat on the trailer and enjoyed the wonderful A/C ride back home in my truck! Gerald's boat, motor, & trailer towed by my truck makes a good combination until I can get the Miss Courtney fixed. What a nice day afloat with two good friends - well worth the time & money (of course). 
According to my 2007-08, Fl. Saltwater Regulations (that is now soaking wet - I'll need another)...Black Sea Bass must be a minimum of 10-inches, you are allowed 15 of them! 
We threw back a bunch of 6-9"'ers (they were all over those rocks out there in 7-8 feet of water). And, since they were caught on Gulp & Jigs/CT's, no circle hooks required. 
Lots of short trout C&R, too - nice to see the populations in good shape (and still hungry - especially after a NFGFC tournament). 