St. Marks Offshore 5-5-2012
Posted: May 8th, 2012, 10:08 pm
Decided to head out to the deep blue sea in search of some grouper and Aj's saturday with my wife, dad, and a first time offshore candidate from work who has been chomping at the bit. We pushed away from the dock at 740am into the pea soup. Foggy all the way to the bird rack...thank goodness for saved gps tracks. We headed to the flats and loaded the livewell with Pinfish and Blue Runners. At 9am we headed south into the slick calm ocean in pursuit of our bottom dwelling bounty. On the way out I couldnt help but notice the most boats offshore that I have seen in quite some time, good sight to see. We pulled up to the first hole in 30ft a few miles past buoy 24 and immediatly started putting short grouper in the boat..in addition to throwing two keeper gags back due to crossing into federal waters pursuing red grouper 
! We left their and went to the next hole out in 40ft. Once again, a short factory of red and gag grouper their. Well, after hitting our two better holes and having to throw back keeper gags and not having any luck on the reds, we made the call to run out to an Aj hole we havent fished in a while. No one disagreed seeing that it was the calmest we had seen all year. Running wot we made it to our 30 mile out AJ spot by about 1pm. Upon araival we were not dissapointed as we saw the depth finder light up "like a fat kids eyes at an all you can eat buffet". On my wifes first drop she was pinned to the rail and dragged around the back of the boat from gunnel to gunnel for about 10 minutes. Finally I stuck the gaff in her biggest AJ to date weighing in at an impressive 32 lbs. It was pure action for the next 2 hours until the tides went slack. My dad caught a few, my buddy chris who had never been offshore caught a few and has officially found a new passion, and of course my arms and back are still screamin at me today 
! We pointed ol "Fin"alee N towards the hill at 3 and ran 30mph all the way in and were cleaning fish at the dock (Shell Island Fish Camp) by 415. Couldnt have asked for a better weather day and even better time with friends and family. -Tight Lines
Kylie with her new personal best!
Dad and his AJ
Chris with his first keeper saltwater fish, what a way to break the ice
Chris fighting the hog...
Like fishing in a gold fish pond
Dad, Myself, and Kylie back at the dock
The rookie offshore fisherman with a new passion!
! We left their and went to the next hole out in 40ft. Once again, a short factory of red and gag grouper their. Well, after hitting our two better holes and having to throw back keeper gags and not having any luck on the reds, we made the call to run out to an Aj hole we havent fished in a while. No one disagreed seeing that it was the calmest we had seen all year. Running wot we made it to our 30 mile out AJ spot by about 1pm. Upon araival we were not dissapointed as we saw the depth finder light up "like a fat kids eyes at an all you can eat buffet". On my wifes first drop she was pinned to the rail and dragged around the back of the boat from gunnel to gunnel for about 10 minutes. Finally I stuck the gaff in her biggest AJ to date weighing in at an impressive 32 lbs. It was pure action for the next 2 hours until the tides went slack. My dad caught a few, my buddy chris who had never been offshore caught a few and has officially found a new passion, and of course my arms and back are still screamin at me today ! We pointed ol "Fin"alee N towards the hill at 3 and ran 30mph all the way in and were cleaning fish at the dock (Shell Island Fish Camp) by 415. Couldnt have asked for a better weather day and even better time with friends and family. -Tight LinesKylie with her new personal best!
Dad and his AJ
Chris with his first keeper saltwater fish, what a way to break the ice
Chris fighting the hog...
Like fishing in a gold fish pond
Dad, Myself, and Kylie back at the dock
The rookie offshore fisherman with a new passion!
