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Although we originally hoped to head offshore for some deeper water fare, we stuck fairly close to shore as the south wind picked up and looked to be a bit rough. We fished out of St Marks, not hitting the water until around 930 am. We began drifting in 5' of water, and almost immediately began catching fish. We would put the Power Pole when we caught fish, and then if the bite slowed, we'd just drift another 50 -100 yards until we got more bites.

We went through a LOT of short trout, but we ended up with 4 good keepers in the box.



Other things were biting too! We got a bonnet head shark and a blacktip shark, both on Gulps, and then we stumbled into a school of big reds. We had a flatlined pinfish behind the boat that got hit, and another on a Gulp under a popping cork, and both happened at the same time. The reds ran us around the boat a few times, but we finally boated them both. One was over 34" to 36" and the other one came in just an inch over slot at 28". Lots of fun on light tackle!





We headed offshore for a bit, and did see some bait being harassed, and got one good size Spanish in the boat. Based on the condition of our 40# flouro leaders, we also missed many of them in the process. At around 2pm, the seas were around 1.5, but were further spaced than usual, which made it a bit easier, but still not comfortable enough to run out further.




The weather was beautiful, and water temps ranged from 75f to 78f during the day.

Monster reds and that's an impressive spanish.

Hey, those are some great reds!! I don't see how you landed them on light tackle, must be good line.

Wow! Great report and some really nice fish. I would say the fall fishing has begun. Let’s see what this cooler weather does to them this week.

Great report and encouraging action. I fished SM Monday to the east and the floating grass was really bad. Found some reds in skinny, but most didn't want to play. Did manage about a dozen trout, a 15-inch gag and had a small 'cuda on briefly, all on DOA near clear shrimp. The sole red was on ADL gold spoon. Water temps were 72 at first, but warmed back up to 80 degrees by later afternoon. Mostly clear, but water east of Deep Creek has a noticeable tannin tint.

Good job on those overslept reds on light tackle. Always fun. When posing for photos, it's better for the fish to hold them horizontally instead of vertically by the jaw. No support for internal organs that way and injury could result. Grip around the base of the tail and hold head with gripper or a hand under the chin to support them in a horizontal pose.

Very nice day of catching. Thanks for posting.

Outstanding! Very nice!

Looks like you had nice day there. Always fun fighting those bruiser reds.
Let me know when you come back to Carrabelle, we’ll chase some reds .

Awesome!