Steinhatchee offshore. Wednesday, 4-20 05 (grouper)
Posted: April 23rd, 2005, 8:03 am
The goal for the day was cobia. Taking Bernie Fowlers 21 foot Key Largo, One Fish, we headed to Steinhatchee and were on the water by 6:30 a.m. On the way out we stopped to catch bait on a small spot of hard bottom in 24 feet. In about 20 minutes we filled the live well with really nice hand sized pigfish and spottail pinfish, but only a couple of pinfish. The seas were a solid 3 foot and safe anchoring would be questionable in deeper water so we blindly trolled for a bit hoping the seas would settle down. We trolled to 30 feet and only managed a 20 inch gag and 12 inch black seabass. With only a few miles to go to a small rock we powered up only to run across submerged bait (seen via the bottom finder) and a few gannets working the bait-it was too rough to see the bait on the surface. We pulled two Manns Stretch 25s and a small subsurface plug but managed only one small 7 lb kingfish. We continued trolling for a bit but no other macks.
In 39 feet we started fishing a small rock hoping a cobia would be present, but the baits were immediately intercepted by gags. We enjoyed a nice rally of gags. At one point I was dealing with an amberjack when I turned around to hear “woman noisesâ€
In 39 feet we started fishing a small rock hoping a cobia would be present, but the baits were immediately intercepted by gags. We enjoyed a nice rally of gags. At one point I was dealing with an amberjack when I turned around to hear “woman noisesâ€
