Rock Bass Frenzy - Carrabelle
Posted: January 21st, 2015, 8:10 pm
I haven't posted a report in quite a while so I thought I would give every one the heads up on some productive fishing. Finally went out on MLK day, decided to try out my usual red spot slightly offshore in Carrabelle. Couldn't ask for a better day the weather was perfect and the seas were calm. After a short ride I arrived on the inshore reef I usually fish and began bottom fishing with squid. The bite was slow but we picked up 4 nice flounder and a few rock bass. I noticed an old man fishing just off of the reef who seemed to be getting plenty of action. I eased up to him and he told me he was catching rock bass and to fish the sandy areas around the reef. I decided I didn't want to crowd him and moved to another inshore reef a few miles away. As soon as we dropped down we hooked up on a few rock bass and soon got into a mess of Key West Grunts. We caught 25 grunts in a little over a half hour. It was getting late in the day and decided to try the first reef again. I took the old mans advice and began fishing the sandy areas around the reef and the bite was relentless, the rock bass were like piranhas and it wasn't even peak fishing time. We idled for about an hour and picked up 45 more rock bass, they were good sized bass. We hated to leave with the bite so good but it was getting late. Lessons learned - listen to the old timers! We also found better luck not anchoring and idling over the hot spots. All said and done we ended up with 55 nice rock bass, 4 flounder, 6 sand perch, 2 porgies and 30 key west grunts. For the life of me I cant figure out an easy way to attach pictures (I do not have photobucket) - sorry guys.
That's one of the best ways to fill up your freezer with some premium tasting fish! Once the BSB start biting, you can catch em on bare hooks!
I think next time I will make up some double and triple hook rigs, I noticed most times when reeling them up that several other rock bass would be following.