Steve and his family braved the chilly weather and did a 3/4 day trip with Jose and I last week. They are from Michigan's Upper Peninsula, so a little cold doesn't bother them too much. With a 3/4 day trip, we are able to go a bit farther offshore and fish some deeper waters which gives us a better chance at a variety of bottom fish. We came in with a nice fish box of good-sized gray snapper and sent them off to dinner with some really good-eating fish. We fished in 70 ft. of water about 20 miles offshore on good limestone bottom which produced many too-small red grouper, a gag and a scamp. we also caught several good-sized triggerfish, but they are out of season, so back they went. The triggerfish are great fighters and even out of season, they are fun to catch. The wind and seas were light on the day we were out, so we were in shirtsleeves after lunch. All considered, a good day on the water!

On Saturday, Jan. 7, we ventured out to one of the local artificial reefs and trolled around just to see if there might be anything still hanging around. Sure enough, we tied into a double-header hook-up on the second pass. Bonita are a fun catch because they really fight hard and are a good size to deal with; they are not much on the table, although i understand that if prepared right, they can be good. We caught three nice one in two passes, then the bite cooled, so we went off to bottom fish near by.

Today was our first day out since the Alberta Clipper moved through Florida over the Christmas holiday. With the cold front, the water temperature dropped to the low 60s in our area. This temp drop snuffed out Spanish mackerel and king mackerel activity likely until spring. So, today we went bottom fishing and caught a nice bunch of grey snapper. We also caught a bunch of too-small-to-keep red grouper. The grey snapper is one of the beat eating fish in Florida waters and are overlooked by many fishermen. During the winter months, grey snapper are one of the most reliable catches we can think of-plus, they are pretty easy to catch and fight like crazy!

The weather has been on-again, off-again, being sunny and 80s with light wonds for a few days and then the Alberta Clipper arrives again with 40 knot winds, temps in the 50s and rain. And then there is the red tide sweeping in killing dish qnd making it impossible to breathe. We were able to sneak in a 4-hour charter this week just before the bad weather and underneath the red tide. We fished about 5 spots near shore before we finally hit on the spanish bite at about 3:30. In an hour, we caught 15 good sized Spanish mackerel, then the bite turned off and the wind had picked up to about 20 kts. So we beaded for home. All in all, a good day!!

With the overnight rain and morning fog, mist and wind, I wasn’t too sure that Jeff and his crew were going to enjoy a day on the water. But we got under way at 0900 and went to the SW of Indian Shores Reef to do some bottom fishing. Jeff and his crew had been Spanish mackerel fishing recently and wanted to do something different. We anchored up in 45 ft. over some limestone bottom and proceeded to haul in dozens of spot tails, yellowtail snapper, too-small red and gag grouper and a good-sized trigger fish (all went back in for another day) before the grunts made their way to our baits. But once they started, they came fast. Out of 30-40 that came over the rail, we put 14 in the box that were over 12” (our boat size limit). On the way in, we put out the spoons for Spanish, kings or bonita, but had no takers.

Aaron and “The Board of Directors” for his company went fishing with Jose and I this morning. We had steady action on the Spanish mackerel side but also hooked into a King that was a 1/2” too short. We also were able to get a nice baracuda on the line, but he had other ideas and broke off near the boat. Hope you can join us for some fishing soon!