Alligator Point 5/6/04
Posted: May 8th, 2004, 6:03 pm
I had the pleasure of taking a fine fisherman from San Diego, CA out on the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday. Noel Huelsenbeck came to Tallahassee to attend a friends wedding and got my number from this great web site to arrange a little fishing while he was here. A couple of my friends rounded out the crew and we left for the blue water right after loading up with some live bait on the reef. I wanted to see if I could put the first Snapper of the season in the box. We didn't stop until we got to 103ft, about 35 miles from port, near S-Tower. First 2 stops, where I had done well on the snapper and grouper last year, nothing but sharks, Blacktips. 
One was over 5ft, maybe 100 lbs. Dissapointed, we headed to some deeper water, SW, and finally marked some fish. Anchored up and started to catch a few. Had the chum basket out and although the bite wasn't red hot, we managed to put some fish in the box. About then this shrimpboat heads straight for us. I was getting ready to get the hell out of his way when he finally altered course. The deckhand came up on the bow and began hollering. We finally figured out what he wanted, BEER! They wanted to swap shrimp for beer. 
We didn't have much, but I offered them 2 and the exchange was made. Off they went, looking for another boat, Said they had been out for 20 days 
You never know what to expect on the high seas! 
Well, the bite never came back there. Moved to one more spot and caught a mess of short Red grouper along with a couple nice ones. Hit the S-Tower and only managed 1 short AJ. It was 3:30 and time for the 1.5 hr run back to the point.
The water temp ranged from 72-77, the blue water is clear and beautiful, the bait was live pinners, frozen LY's, spanish sardines & squid. The seas were absolutely fantastic, just a ripple all day offshore. The roughest water we saw was on the way in about 2 miles out.
Although I couldn't find the snapper this time, I will next time.
Back at the dock, the final tally was: 6 grouper, 3 red snapper. Noel caught a 34", 17lb Gag, and we also had a bruiser Red grouper that went 18 lbs.
We didn't come back with a boat load of fish, but it was a great day to be on the water and the company couldn't have been better. It sure beat the hell out of workin. I can't wait to get on the water again!
Capt. Jay
One was over 5ft, maybe 100 lbs. Dissapointed, we headed to some deeper water, SW, and finally marked some fish. Anchored up and started to catch a few. Had the chum basket out and although the bite wasn't red hot, we managed to put some fish in the box. About then this shrimpboat heads straight for us. I was getting ready to get the hell out of his way when he finally altered course. The deckhand came up on the bow and began hollering. We finally figured out what he wanted, BEER! They wanted to swap shrimp for beer. We didn't have much, but I offered them 2 and the exchange was made. Off they went, looking for another boat, Said they had been out for 20 days You never know what to expect on the high seas! Well, the bite never came back there. Moved to one more spot and caught a mess of short Red grouper along with a couple nice ones. Hit the S-Tower and only managed 1 short AJ. It was 3:30 and time for the 1.5 hr run back to the point.
The water temp ranged from 72-77, the blue water is clear and beautiful, the bait was live pinners, frozen LY's, spanish sardines & squid. The seas were absolutely fantastic, just a ripple all day offshore. The roughest water we saw was on the way in about 2 miles out.
Although I couldn't find the snapper this time, I will next time.
Back at the dock, the final tally was: 6 grouper, 3 red snapper. Noel caught a 34", 17lb Gag, and we also had a bruiser Red grouper that went 18 lbs.We didn't come back with a boat load of fish, but it was a great day to be on the water and the company couldn't have been better. It sure beat the hell out of workin. I can't wait to get on the water again!
Capt. Jay
