BigBendFishing.Net

Sorry no pictures. Went out with a buddy for the first time in several weeks to show him how to bottom fish. We started around Oak Island and picked up a couple nice keeper specks until we decided that the weather would allow us to ride out a bit. We headed to the Rotary area and found some bottom and marked some fish. We also relized that we didn't have a marker on the boat. No problem, the back-up anchor, a piece of rope, and one of the throwable preservers worked nicely. We tried squid, LY, jigs, and shrimp. I turned out that you could'nt beat the shrimp. We tried a little trolling using 25's but I still don't have confidence in it. I sure could use a lesson...hint...hint

16 - short gags
1 - red
6 - grunts
2 - sheeps
1- porgy
1 - black seabass
1- mangrove
2-trigger
4 - specks - wouldnt take live shrimp - used candy corn assasin on bottom
several hard hits that we weren't prepared for

Stretches sure didnt work for us yesterday...Drug them for about four hours over bottom that had been really paying off in the past month..Caught one lizard fish... Places that had been showing fish previously were bare yesterday..Couple of rock piles we'd taken some fish off had nothing on them...I wondered if red tide or something had caused it...

Sounds like a good day on the water.

Good job...

I've never caught a grouper trolling. I've caught King on the 30's out of Mobile but that is about it. I'll keep trolling for a kind hearted fisherman to give me a lesson though. Keep in mind that I'm a generous student of the art ! Sometimes you just have to see it to get it. I'm a firm believer that confidence in your techniques is the only way to be successful fishing.

BBridgeJohn wrote: confidence in your techniques is the only way to be successful fishing.

No truer words have ever been spoken on this forum.

What Birddog said. If you don't have confidence in what you're doing, you won't stick with it.

Red and White Stretch 25 and green tiger stripe Stretch 25 in 20' at 4.5 mph.

It works.

sundown wrote:Stretches sure didnt work for us yesterday...Drug them for about four hours over bottom that had been really paying off in the past month..Caught one lizard fish... Places that had been showing fish previously were bare yesterday..Couple of rock piles we'd taken some fish off had nothing on them...I wondered if red tide or something had caused it...

If the visibility off St. Marks is anything like off Dog Island then pulling stretches right now is going to be hit or miss. There is a lot of particulate matter in the water especially on the outgoing tide and the fish just can't see the baits. If you troll in 25 feet I would pull a stretch 30 until it bumped bottom then back it off a hair. Get it right down on the bottom. Trolling any deeper than 35-40 is probably a waste of time until the water cools and kills off the algae.

Thaks for the direction. How often do you loose one on a rock or something and how do you handle grass ( floating and bottom)? ...I know..I'm just like a child..lol When I've tried to pull them around here I can't seem to get them to stay down. I'll keep trying though.

I hardly ever lose one to a rock. Most times as soon as you give them some slack they float up off of whatever they were hooked on. You can also just turn the boat around and pull in the opposite direction and they will normally come up.

Grass is one of those things you just have to deal with. You can build weed guards out of wire that will sit above the leader swivel that help but most times you just have to give up trolling if the grass is thick. If you are having trouble keeping the lures down its probably one of 2 things. Either you are pulling them too fast or they are out of "tune" with a bent or twisted lip and need to be "tuned" to run true again.

What size were your sheepies?
20"-25" ?


Thanks

MJsigns -

The sheepies were much like my wife when we first met.....just respectably legal.

BBridgeJohn-

Thanks - I absolutely love to hunt this species of fish. There is a time of year when the falling water temps bring in the "big-boys" 19" to 25" inches and they migrate to inshore areas seeking warmer water and structure and deep holes for the winter months. These fish fight like a redfish, bend your rod like a grouper, and are an absolute delicacy on the dinner table. I love fishing for them because they are a challenge to catch, they specialize in being "bait thieves".....



Thanks-

I'd never been on the water in the forgotten coast till the last weekend in February of this year. In fact, the closest I'd been was a business fishing trip in Applachicola Bay about 5 years ago. I've been learning allot though and have had much luck this year. Growing up around Dauphin Island South of Mobile, I have'nt been able to apply everything I've learned but some of it has come in handy. We didn't have to go as far to reach 60ft of water as I do out of St. Marks . In fact, I'm not sure I can't count on one hand how many times I'd been fishing between the end of October and May. lol We just didn't.

I'm still learning. The patterns are similar but different. I appreciate everyone's attempt to educate me. I also think that last weekend was the first time I'd caught a sheephead since catching them periodcally in the cast net while throwing for mullet before breakfast as a kid ( well younger kid...i'll never completely mature )...fresh mullet and grits yum yum..

Here's to more flat weekends before the wind picks up