Grouper or dove

[konrad]

Saturday I was faced with a little dilemma. Should I try to go catch some shallow water grouper or should I go dove hunting? After seeing the NOAA report on Friday calling for 1 foot sea’s I made up my mind. I’ll do both.

Meet up with my dad at 6:30 and headed down to the Fort at ST. Marks. We got down their around 7:15 and ran out to Dog Ballard and trolled some stretches for about 30 min. Nothing but one short grouper so I decided to head a few miles south to some other numbers I have. Once we arrived we started trolling again and it didn’t take long before we were hooked up but they were all short except for one. The one keeper we caught measured in at 25 inches. Not a big one but a keeper. I decided to drop some lead down and make a few drifts over this same area. We picked up a few more short gags so we thought it best to head further south/east. Went about 6 more miles out to some natural bottom and commenced to trolling once again. We did this for about 30 min and nothing. Decided to drift this area with some dead squid and sardines. On the first drift we pick up the usual. A few short gags, black sea bass and some rosey lip grunts. Just as we were about to start the drift again I got hammered by what felt like a decent fish. Turned out to be our 2nd keeper grouper that measured 23 inches. Again not big but a keeper. Since our plan was to troll I didn’t bring much bait along. The grunts and sea bass were everywhere so I decided to break out a light spinning rod rigged with 12lb test and a gulp shrimp while my dad continued to fish with the dead bait. I was picking up grunts one after the other and ended up keeping 5 of the bigger ones. As a bonus I landed a 24 inch flounder. It was one of the biggest ones I have seen in a while. By this time it was getting to be around noon and the thought of listening to the FSU game and shooting a few dove was starting to sound good. We decided to do one more drift and head to the hill after that. On the last drift I was still using my small spinning rig. About half way through the drift I got hammered by something I knew wasn’t a grunt. After a brief fight I landed my 3rd keeper grouper. It was a 22 inch red. Although it wasn’t a big fish it was the largest one I have ever caught on such light tackle. At this we decided to head it. Plugged in the numbers to the bird rack and the GPS read 17 miles. By this time the seas had laid down to less than a foot so the ride back was pretty nice. Just turned on the football game, had a beer and enjoyed the ride back.

Got back to Tally at 2, dropped my dad off at his car and headed to the dove field with my boat in tow. Got their just in time to lessen to last of the FSU game. Most everyone was already out in the field but there was still a few guys hanging around the trucks. I decided to hang out with them and shoot at the occasional dove. Ended up hitting two which I was thrilled about. It isn’t every day I can catch grouper and shoot a few birds in the same 12 hour period. I left the field early since I had a boat and fish to clean. It was a great day. As an added note I just went dove hunting on Sunday and picked up 10.

Saturday’s Harvest result:
3 grouper
5 grunts
1 flounder
2 dove

[Flanders]

AND A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!

[Dubble Trubble]

"MY 3rd keeper grouper? " I am assuming one was a red, since the one man limit is 2 gags...

Yeah, I know there were 2 of ya in the boat...just jerkin your chain...but I would not have told the man it was my 3rd. Remember, you had 2 and dad had one, right......


Good day on the water....

Dubble

[qoutrage]

Nice write up.. I remember, when I could do both (fish n hunt on the same day), but them days are gone.
I say ditto on the good day on the water. Thanks for the report