Alligator Point Cuda"B" 11/15/09

[fish finder]

After checking the weather for the weekend, I called the owner to see if he wanted to go check if the grouper had been "relocated" by Ida. I had to move Cuda"B" around to the marina on Saturday due to the extreme negative tides in the morning; I would be unable to get her out of the canal until late AM! Left the marina about 7:30 and stopped to see if there were any pinfish on the reef, not expecting much as the surface temp was about 65. Even so, we were able to put about 3 dozen pinners in the livewell, but it took 45 min. Stopped just off Dog Island in 38ft to see if some grouper might have moved in. They were there, but only shorts, so we moved on to one of my "honey holes" in 50ft only to find 2 other boats sitting right on top of it. I don't think they were right on my spot but too close for comfort for me so, we moved on a couple miles to some other nearby spots and marked some fish so we decided to anchor up. Well, the windlass wouldn't cooperate so instead of throwing the spare, we decided to "hover", taking turns at the helm. Same old story, lots of grouper, both red and gag, but all short! I did manage to hook up with another Cobia, second one on as many trips. It was barely a keeper, weighing 25lbs, but it was nice to have something in the box with the seabass and KW grunts.

I had gotten a report that morning from the marina that the only boat to come back with "keepers" the day before was fishing in 90ft. With that info and the fact that we hadn't caught any keepers yet, we decided to head out! An hour later, we pulled up on nice spot I had found back in the summer in 100ft and the bottom machine was "lit up" with the classic "snapper cloud" ranging from the bottom up to about 30ft from the surface! We decide to fish the live pinners with 8-10oz weights to try to get to the grouper on the bottom. The strategy worked to some degree, as were able to put 2 keeper Red Grouper and 2 keeper Gags in the box, with the largest being a 13lb Red! Of course, we also caught and released our limit (8) of nice Red Snapper!! I'm not sure where the "officials" are getting their information about the state of the Snapper fishery, but they Are Not fishing where I fish.

A decent Red Grouper for Kendall Smith!

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One of the many typical Red Snapper that we released!

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Landon gets some help with his grouper:)

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One proud six year old!

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By this time it was 2:30 and we were a long ride from home so we decided to head home, happy that we were actually able to come home with some keeper grouper. Seas were great, about 1ft all day with a light breeze and the water temp ranged from 65-70 by the afternoon. As well as live bait, we also fished squid, LY's and sardines, although if we were deeper than 40ft, you take the risk of being pissed off cause you will be releasing snapper. We released quite a few, with no floaters, as I have become quite proficient at this "venting" thing Cuda"B" ran great and we were back at the dock about 4:30.



Light wind & low seas,

Capt. Jay

[Sir reel]

Very nice job of reporting and the information covers a lot of water. Thanks

[qoutrage]

Like Bud sez, nice report and pictures. Congratulations to the young'um for that nice gag.
Thanks for the heads up on finding them at 90 ft.. I was wondering if anyone was fishing out that far and doing any good.