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Fishing Reports for Local Area - Location |
    
john doss (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 13, 2005 - 10:19 am: | |
If your planning to retire your loran. dont pull it off the boat right away. first install your GPS and go to your spots using the loran and find the error between the loran and the Gps, or you might not find your fishing spots, the lot/ long the gps gives you are different from the loran no mater how much you spend I'm having to bid on a used loran on e-bay after 2 seasons of trying to MAKE the GPS work. i have been fishing the gulf for 25 years have 3 world records and cant seem to Make the GPS find those loran spots. and if you have a loran in good working condition you want to get rid of .....let me know - captnjohn@msn.com |
Capt. Randy
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 20, 2003 - 9:47 pm: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 5-19-03
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
We have been pretty busy since my last report taking groups of great folks in search of hungry, hard fighting fish in our beautiful area of the Gulf. It is a Ton-O-Fun, and with the super nice weather we’re having it will just keep getting better.
And, our grouper, for the most part, seem more interested in our offerings. We have also had some good catches of red and black snapper and nice size, hard fighting amberjack to augment the day’s fun.
On occasion, the grouper have been going back to their snooty ways and when that happens we go after more O. T. O. fish. Amberjack, cobia, king and Spanish mackerel make up a goodly portion of this private grouping of specie. They all have been doing their part to assure our clients a great day on the water.
Mahi have started to show up in advance of the Sargasso weed and we look forward to adding those guys to our catch in the weeks and months to come. The more Sargasso we have come into our area the heavier the concentration of those tasty, hard fighting, fish we will have.
On the 12th we had the pleasure of taking the Ray family from up around Nashville, GA. offshore again this year. Howard, Gregg, Clinton, Clint, Mitch and Mitchall (8) made up this fine crew. It was a good thing the guys brought Mitchall along this year. He caught the first two keeper grouper of the day on our first stop. That little fellow is a cracker jack and had no qualms in setting the standard for his older kin.
A fine tally of 12 grouper to 17#, 3 snapper to 6# and a limit of 6 amberjack to 28# made for great photos back at the dock at days end.
Marshal, Judy and Matt Litchtenstein along with their friends Mandy and Bert Love and Jon Grostin from up around Roswell, GA. fished with us on the 13th.
And, though the grouper didn’t want to cooperate with us on that day, these fine folks had a great time and exceptionally tough fights with our amberjack. The crew was tired, but grinning with their excellent catch of a limit of 6 big ole’ amberjack to 32#, 2 grouper to 12#, and a gaggle of tasty black sea bass and ruby lips at the end of the day.
On the 15th I had the pleasure, though a lot of work, in putting together a 4 boat group charter for Earl Griner and 24 of his employees with the insurance company he heads from up in Atlanta. The Terminator, run by Capt. Reid Hicks, The Blue Gill, with Capt. Doug Curtley, The Lil’ Teake, with Capt. Jayson Knapp and DEBO TOO with myself and my lady Debo as crew, participated in this all day fun fest.
Man, did we have a blast! It was great, friendly competition between all the boats and crews and at days end the total catch was near 600# of great fish and 25 smiling, but tired faces. The catch of grouper, amberjack, snapper, shark and black sea bass was pretty evenly distributed amongst all the boats.
It was a super fun day that I feel Earl and his folks will repeat with us next year.
Joe Gilboy brought his buds, Dennis Smith, Lane Lucas, Paul Forrester, Richard Parsons all from the Tallahassee, FL. area and Scott Riley from Birmingham, Al. to fish with us on the 16th. They are a great bunch of guys who have fished with us before.
We had a beautiful day, calm seas and fickle fish. Yep, it was tough fishin’, but we still managed to entice 8 good grouper to 14# and a gaggle of black sea bass and rubys to make the trip back to Tallahassee for some special dinners in their honor.
On the 17th we had the Wall gang fish with us again after a year and a half wait. Lee, John, Daniel and Clate Wall along with their bud, Daniel Spivey all from up around McDonough, GA. were scheduled to fish with us on three different occasions during the last 18 months. On all three occasions Mother Nature prevented our taking them fishing.
We had great weather on Saturday and again, snooty fish. It’s a little frustrating to see them stacked up like cord wood under the boat with nary a one willing to open their mouths. But, that is fishing and the Wall boys understand. We ended the day with 4 grouper to 12# and 4 good amberjack to 28#. Our fine crew is looking forward to taking another crack at em' in the fall.
Our long time client, Dr. Ron Carney, his son, Grant and their friends Steve and Travis McCoy, Wayne Johnson and Joie Grant all from up around the Thomasville, GA. area fished with us yesterday. We were greeted with a little rougher sea conditions than NOAA had predicted as we cleared the east pass. Still very fishable though.
I am pleased to say that our fishy friends may be getting into their normal feeding habits. We had good heavy bites on most all the stops we made throughout the day. We had an increase in the number of live baits taken by our grouper and were just plain out manned by several bubbas during the day on both dead and live baits. 15 near bubba red and gag grouper to 18# did make the mistake of getting too far from their hidey hole while taking our baits. Those fish and a good mess of black sea bass made for a nice catch and good photos filled with smiles back at the dock.
Take those kids fishing
&
Catch Em’ Up!
Capt. Randy
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Capt. Randy
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 8:16 am: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 5-11-03
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
Our good friend and long time client Billy Westmoreland brought his friends Donald and Charlotte Dodson, Harold and Hal Still and Lonnie Young down to fish two days back to back with us on the 8th.
These good folks are from up around the Barnwell, SC area and are avid fisherfolks and a heck of a lot of fun to take fishing.
The first day of fishing produced 7 good grouper to 15# and nice red snapper and a good bunch of black sea bass. The grouper bite was a little slow so I decided on a little different strategy for day 2.
This time of the year there should be some good concentrations of amberjack on some of the taller structures throughout our area and I decided we would check them out. I was right. We had a blast catching our limit of 6 good amberjack to 30# on our first stop. Man do those guys fight!
We fished hard the rest of the day in water depths ranging from 48’ on out to 97’
but still experienced fickle fish that had very little interest in our fine baits. We only got one 7# grouper but did manage to entice 3 nice red snapper to 12# to finally bite. Fishing was tough, but Billy and his crew understand that fishin’ isn’t always catchin’ all you can stand. Now, he’s done both with us.
We were surely hoping for a change in the attitude of our fishy friends and that may be happening now. Towards the end of Billy’s last day with us I saw the first flying fish of the year and the water temperature is up in the high 70’s now.
Yesterday, we had Ronnie Lamons and his crew of friends from up around the Pelham and Thomasville, Georgia area fishing with us. We ended a fine day with a much improved catch of 16 good grouper to 18#, a limit of 6 good size amberjack to 30#, a red snapper at about 6# and a nice mess of black sea bass.
Take those kids fishing
&
Catch Em’ Up!
Capt. Randy
|
Capt. Randy
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2003 - 3:46 pm: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 5-07-03
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
Man, we have been blessed with some outstanding weather for fishing here in the last week or so ---------- despite NOAA’s fickle forecasting. Bless their hearts, it’s probably just the fickle weather that’s got them bumfoozled. I just wish those kids would stick their heads outside once in a while to sort of back up their predictions.
We have had a bunch of really fun trips since my last report. And, I’m going to blame my lack of timely reports on our being busy taking great folks out in search of those fickle fishy friends of ours.
True, our grouper and snapper have just now begun to turn on in our part of the Gulf at this time. I’m marking good concentrations of heavy fish on most every stop we make. We have been putting down the finest in baits, including live pin and pig fish, but the most productive baits for us has been our frozen northern mackerel at a ratio of 100 to 1 over the live baits. Yet and still, the bite has been slow.
Mike Summersill and his great group of guys from over in Jacksonville, Andrew Patrick from up in Chillicothe, Ohio along with his family and friends, Mike Broom and his buds from Tallahassee, Danny and Jennie Rutten from Havana and their friends, Andrea Bird and her friends from Tallahassee and Paul, Todd and Ed McCormick and their buds, from just about everywhere in the U.S., can all attest to the fact that fishin’ has been tough for the last week or so. They will also tell you that they had a great time and got involved in a good many tough fish fights.
46 good grouper to 18#, 12 snapper to 9# and a good gaggle of black sea bass and rubys came to the fish box in total for all the folks above. Yep, the fishin’ is tough, but just as fun as ever.
Take those kids fishing
&
Catch Em’ Up!
Capt. Randy
|
Capt. Randy
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, April 19, 2003 - 2:28 am: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 4-18-03
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
We took a few days off this past week to visit the newest member of our family,
Evan Bailey Ackerman, at his mom and dad’s home in Greenville, SC. He was born on Friday the 11th of this month and at 8 # 6 oz. he would make a good sized grouper, but moreover a fine grandson.
Evan is our second grandson from Mom Jodi and Dad Steve. They are doing an outstanding job of providing us with an extremely fine future fishin’ crew. We can’t wait to get the boys out!
We did have the opportunity to run two very fine charters in the last week or so.
Chip Miller, from up in Illinois brought a bunch of his Canadian buddies down to fish with us on the 12th. Ken Landry, Gord Congdon, Colin De Jong, Mike Bachnick and Terry Gough made for a fine Canadian crew, “A”.
We really enjoyed fishing with these great guys and a more fun loving bunch I don’t think could be found anywhere. I accused them of being the Canadian version of Girls Gone Wild without the girls and they pretty much owned up to it, “A”.
We had a nice catch of fish too, “A”. 12 grouper to 14# and a nice mess of black sea bass. We also caught and released 6 big ole’ red snapper, “A”.
Chip is planning another trip with us later in the season for his family and we look forward to it. He’s a super nice guy.
Pat and Sharon Haasl from up in Charlotte, NC brought their extended family in from Wisconsin and California to fish with us on the 16th. Charlie and Virginia Haasl and Marvin Mattheisen made up the rest of this fine crew.
This was to be Pat’s second trip with us and Sharon and Virginia’s first. It good they brought the ladies along as they asked for nor gave any quarter to the frisky grouper we encountered that day. The guys noticed right off that the ladies don’t play around.
A good catch of 10 nice grouper to 16# and a couple of nice state type red snapper and a batch of tasty black sea bass made for nice photos back at the dock for this fine crew.
Take those kids fishing
&
Catch Em’ Up
Capt. Randy
|
Capt. Randy
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 08, 2003 - 12:36 am: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 4-07-03
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
Finally, yesterday we were able to take our first charter clients of this season offshore for a fine day of fishing. DEBO TOO is standing tall and spiffier than she was even when she was brand new.
Glen McPheeters and his son Kyle from up in Marietta, Georgia made their first trip with us and 6 good grouper to 12# will be making the return trip to Marietta with them. And though we were not fortunate enough to get a limit of keeper grouper, Glen and his boy thoroughly enjoyed the nearly nonstop action we experienced all day. They did say they wanted to come back next year after the snapper season opens so that the snapper we caught and released yesterday could also go home with them.
The trip we ran yesterday is a good example of how fish will turn on and off in their feeding habits and some times be down right cantankerous / snooty with respect to our baits.
Since we had not been offshore in the last couple of months or so, I felt it prudent that Debo and I do a scouting trip on Saturday prior to Glen and Kyle’s trip just to see what was going on with our fishy friends. On 3 of the 5 stops we made Saturday, we found good heavy concentrations of grouper in the 12# to 18# class and took 4 fish for ourselves. We left the fish in a feeding frenzy on all three of those spots and could have easily loaded the boat on any one of them. Yes Sir, we had found three killer spots for our guys the next day!
Guess what? We went right back to those spots Sunday and could only get the babies to feed. I was still showing heavy fish on all three spots, but the big boys couldn’t have been more disinterested in our offerings. We were able to entice only one keeper to bite on all three spots. The remaining 5 fish we took came from spots further to the west and we still had to sort through about 50 babies to get those.
Well, it’s all fishin’ and it’s all fun. Don’t worry, the big boys will turn on and it will be……… Katy, Bar The Door!
Take those kids fishing
&
Catch Em Up!
Capt. Randy |
Capt. Randy
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 30, 2003 - 3:00 pm: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 3-31-03
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
Well, finally DEBO TOO’s rain delayed improvements will be completed Monday and we will be getting her back to her slip. And, she will be quieter, faster and pure white, slick and shiny inside and out. She, like Debo and myself are more than ready to get back into action.
In checking with our buddies who have run a few charters in the last week or so, the fish seem to be trying to decide if they want to feed or not. One day, they will bite pretty good, the next day they just mill about under the boat acting pretty indifferent to whatever baits are sent to them.
Some captains have had good success with grouper in shallower waters (38’ to 52’) while others who have worked deeper spots (60’ to 85’) have found good concentrations of red snapper. Course, we can’t keep the red snapper in federal waters until the 21st of April and most certainly those fish know that. The better educated red snappers will also read the paper on the 20th and vamoose on the 21st. No fear though, we’ll find our fair share of those bad boys.
There have been some good catches of spanish macks around the east pass between St. George and Dog Island in the last couple of days. I haven’t heard of any kings being caught, but rest assured, they are hot on the trail of their smaller cousins.
I am really looking forward to giving you first hand reports of the action beginning next week.
I have saved the best news for last. An old investment has come through for Debo and I allowing us to pay DEBO TOO off. Now, by not having the heavy-duty monthly payments, I will be able to go back to my pricing structure of last year.
That is, $800.00 for a full day and $550.00 for a half day. The change will, of course, be retroactive for all our 40 or so groups of clients who have already reserved their day with us for the coming season.
It pleases us a great deal to be able to do this.
Take those kids fishing
&
Catch Em’ Up!
Capt. Randy
|
Capt. Randy
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 17, 2003 - 2:28 am: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 03-16-03
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
I got a call a few weeks back from Mr. Earl Griner who is with a life insurance company in Atlanta. Earl wanted to set up two days of fishing for 60 of the company’s star employees as a way of saying Thanks! for their hard work over the last year.
It seems that the company has been doing this for several years. Earl and his people have tried head boats and other charter operations in Savannah, Charleston, Destin and Panama City, but this year Earl wanted his people to experience something different.
I was recommended to him as the person who could put it all together for him. Also, I and other charter captains in our marina carry a reputation of working hard to make every charter fun and productive. And, By Diddlie Dang, we were able to put it together.
The group of 60 was split up with 30 folks fishing with us yesterday, the 15th and the rest coming down on April 11th.
Four boats were to be involved. Debo and I on our boat DEBO TOO, Captains Gary Bee Bee and Bob Lee on THE THREE CATS, Captain Jayson Knapp on the LITTLE TEAKE and Captain Reid Hicks and Chuck Mansfield aboard the TERMINATOR. The only problem was, two weeks of constant rain put us two weeks behind in getting DEBO TOO back in the water after her improvements and we couldn’t participate.
My good friend Captain Doug Kirtley aboard THE BLUE GILL was able to take our place and yesterday morning, much to my chagrin, I was reduced to waving good bye as all the guys headed out for what was to prove to be a great day of fishing.
Upon their return in the afternoon the catch was very impressive and varied. Grouper, Amberjack, Red Fish, Black Sea Bass and Ruby Lips made up the catch and though I didn’t get an accurate count, there were several hundred pounds of fish caught. The smiles on the faces of the crews really told the story and I think we have some more steady fisher friends from Atlanta.
With a little good weather we should have DEBO TOO standing tall and spiffier than ever and back in the water by the end of this week. I guarantee you, we are READY to get back into the good fight!
Take those kids fishing
&
Catch Em’ Up!
Capt. Randy
|
Capt. Randy
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 28, 2003 - 8:16 am: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 2-26-03
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
We, like most of our buddies who take folks charter fishing in our area, are busy doing yearly maintenance and generally spiffing up our boats for the upcoming season.
Our boat, DEBO TOO, is coming along nicely and we hope to have her back in the water standing tall and tough in the next week or so. A complete interior paint job including all decks, additional sound attenuating materials underdeck and some advanced electronics will make her even nicer and more efficient for our many clients’ coming adventures offshore.
Effort wise, the upcoming season is showing signs of being even busier this year than last as advance bookings at this point in time are running far ahead of last year. This is most heartening to me as increases in fixed and variable cost forced me to increase our pricing some for the coming year. Hopefully, no further increases will be required for several seasons to come.
Fish wise, indications are very positive though we ourselves haven’t been fishing since about mid January. Many of our sport fishing friends have had good catches of grouper in the last couple of weeks when they have been able to get a fishable day. Many of the larger (Bubba) grouper have been way offshore doing their spawning thing for the last few weeks but have been showing back up in their regular haunts here of late. Hopefully, they will be all frisky and famished when DEBO TOO comes to visit starting about mid March.
Weather wise, the days are getting longer, the fronts are further apart and are lessening in severity, and it’s getting warmer. Guys, we can’t wait! It should be a great season!
Take those kids fishing
&
Catch Em’ Up!
Capt. Randy |
Capt. Randy
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 05, 2003 - 8:25 am: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 2-3-03
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
There hasn’t been much activity, fishing wise, in our area to speak of lately. About the most action I am aware of is my next door neighbor’s Dad caught a good mess of Sheepsheads off his dock next door.
There have been a whole bunch of down right COLD, cold fronts tracking through our part of paradise in the last couple of weeks. It makes you pay close attention to your antifreeze levels in all vehicles including your boat.
We are presently waiting in line for our opportunity to pull DEBO TOO and put her on the hill for her yearly maintenance and some up grades. I will finally be retiring my Sitex Loran C system and installing another DGPS system for redundancy and chart plotting. I’m looking at both the Northstar and Furuno systems as they both carry good reputations.
I will also be adding additional sound insulation underdecks to make her a little quieter in the cabin. The sound levels have never been objectionable, but I have always felt there could be improvement. The down side is the cost of making her 30% to 40% quieter. Just the material to accomplish the goal will run better than $2000.00 and to that you add another $900.00 for installation. If the goal is accomplished it will be more than worth the cost down the road. It will make DEBO TOO just that much nicer for our clients.
A bottom job, zink replacement, and other mechanical maintenance and we should have DEBO TOO standing tall and spiffy for what promises to be a great upcoming season.
We can’t wait…………..Debo and I both have a bad case of cabin fever and are already tired of the cold weather.
Take those kids fishing
(when it warms up a little)
&
Catch Em’ Up!
Capt. Randy
|
Capt. Randy
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 20, 2003 - 12:42 am: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 1-19-03
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
Debo and I got back from our vacation on the 10th of this month. We stopped to ring in the New Year with our close friends Pam and Ed Renberg in Tampa before going on down to the Keys to be totally tourist.
I’ve been knowing Ed for about 30 years now………..shoot, we used to ride dirt bikes together around Atlanta back when you couldn’t even buy a dirt bike. Ed hasn’t changed a lick. His choice of machines to ride have changed a little. Now he’s got a whole garage full of the nicest Harleys I’ve seen lately for he and his family to enjoy. And, he’s got his priorities straight too. The Escalade and new Chevy truck sit outside.
Ed and his super family and friends treated Debo and I to an OutDamnStanding New Year celebration. Keep on boogying, brother! You can’t do any better!
Thereafter, Debo and I became……….TOTALLY TOURIST!
Man, did we have a blast.
We spent 2 days about everywhere in the Keys from Islamorada on down to Key West and about two days of Key West was about all this ole’ geezer could handle. Way too much fun.
Debo and I are pretty much partial to the middle keys, so we doubled back up to Marathon to check on the availability of an offshore charter. Yep, that’s right. We wanted to go fishing, have someone else run the boat and someone else deck hand. And, we found just the outfit to do it with.
Through personal recommendation from our buddies up here and their buddies in Marathon, we hooked up with Captain Morris and his son Captain Marty Lewis running out of Key Colony Beach Marina in Marathon on the Main Attraction 1, 2 and 3. Main Attraction 1 and 2 are nice custom built 42’ Morgans run by Morris and Marty and Main Attraction 3 is a nice, super fast, custom center console of about 27’ in length run by Captain Jason Long.
I would highly recommend these boys to anyone who might be thinking of fishing in the Keys. Captain Lewis’s operation is very professional and exactly on par with our services up here in the panhandle. And they, like us, put you on fish.
Our day with Captain Marty was to be strictly catch and release with a mixture of bottom fishing and trolling. Now, bottom fishing is not really their thing though just to be nice to me they did try it once. TROLLING is their thing and they do that to perfection for sails, king mack and tuna.
The trip really was to have been catch and release as per our wishes, but the night before I got an excellent piece of pan seared, fresh, yellow fin tuna served to me in one of the fine restaurants in the area. Right off, that made for a tough day for any yellow or black fin tuna we might be encountering on our upcoming trip. I mentioned my penchant for tuna to Marty and though he said they hadn’t caught many of late, I could tell by the sparkle in his eye that my statement didn’t bode well for those noble specie.
We began our day on the water a little late due to the live bait being difficult to locate. The chilly morning ( by Keys standards, almost intolerable at 49 degrees) had chased the pilchards from their normal haunts delaying our departure to about 9:30. That was cool though, someone else was running the boat.
Beautiful, bright sunny skies and that gin clear water met us just outside the marina as we began our run offshore and Capt. Marty began dodging zillions of lobster pot buoys. Man, I thought our crab traps were thick up here. Not a drop in the bucket compared to what those boys have to contend with down there.
First we sight cast to a swirl of macks, but had no luck. We then ran to a reef to try our hand at a little bottom fishing for yellow tail and grouper, but the fish didn’t want to cooperate.
Now the boys wanted very much to put Debo and myself on some sails, so we got down to some serious slow trolling with live baits. After a while Debo hooked up on what everyone thought was a huge fish and after a whole lot of heavy duty fighting she brought a respectable king mack, foul hooked in the tail, to the boat. It has to do with fishy mechanical advantage.
As Debo was fighting the king, a hot and heavy strike came to the starboard rigger and I was in a good fight. Fun City! And guess what? It was a nice 18#
black fin tuna…………right up my alley. That bad boy came home with us and continues to be wonderful.
Another larger king picked on Debo as we trolled on in search of the elusive sails and though we didn’t have the good fortune of raising one to our baits, we thoroughly enjoyed the hunt. Marty’s dad did catch and release 2 sails with his clients that day so it was solid grins all around the dock at the end of the day.
After our return, Debo and I had the pleasure of taking our long time client Rick Benge and his buds, Tim Laychak, Gene Lenhart, Thomas Ghiney, and Ken Hart offshore on January the 15th. And, though the Keys are pretty, and their fish are tough, there’s really no place like home and the heavy duty tugs from those 11 big ole’ beautiful grouper welcomed us back home in fine style.
Take those kids fishing
&
Catch Em’ Up!
Capt. Randy |
Capt. Randy
Unregistered guest
Rating: 
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 02, 2003 - 3:51 am: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 12-30-02
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
What a great way to end a super season!
I mentioned in my last report that we were scheduled to take one more group of folks fishing for the 2002 season on the 30th. As luck would have it we were able to take two great groups of fisherfolk before the end of our season.
Milton and Laura Johnson called at the last minute for a half day of fishing with their close friends Bud and Dee Blank and Ron and Marcie Parks for the 29th. It turned out to be one more drop dead, gorgeous day, slick calm, bright and sparkling.
Though the bite was a little slow we managed 5 good grouper to 12# and a whole mess of black sea bass for our short outing. Lots of smiles ended the day and a promise for a full day next year………..for sure.
And, yep, the 30th brought our favorite “End Of The Year Gang” in the persons of Miss Danylle Le Blanc, Cameron McClure, Gary Bennett, Robert Jones and David Dalrymple down from up in the Atlanta and Cumming, Georgia area to finish out the year in style.
Danylle and the boys finished the 2001 season with us last year with an excellent half day and decided to try a full day this year. They were not to be disappointed.
From the start we steadily picked up nice grouper on every stop, twozies and threezies that were as frisky as anyone could ask for. On the way to our fourth stop I noticed something fishy looking in an area that I had not crossed before. I pulled back around, anchored up on the little show and BAM! Heavy duty, viscous strikes from grouper that were absolutely tickled to death to have us bring them all that free food!
Cameron was pounced upon by the Bubba Of The Day on this spot. A beautiful 28# gag that gave him about all the fight he could ask for. It was a super new spot, yielding 10 sure nuff’ frisky gags. We named it after Danylle.
We ended this beautiful day back at the dock with a near limit of 22 very nice grouper, a whole gaggle of black sea bass, six or eight out sized key west grunts and a white snapper thrown in for good measure…………..Oh, yea, and a whole bunch of grins!
Thanks everyone for a Super Season and have a safe and Happy New Year!
Debo and I will be scooting about in the Keys for the next couple of weeks……….looking for someone else to run a boat for us while we do, hopefully, a whole bunch of catch and release and GRINNIN.
Take those kids fishing
&
Catch Em’ Up!
Capt. Randy
|
Capt. Randy
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 10, 2002 - 2:03 pm: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 12-09-02
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
A last minute decision by Len Hall from Tallahassee, Florida allowed his grandson Brandon Norick and his dad Skyler the opportunity to enjoy some of the best fishing our Gulf has to offer on Monday the 2nd.
Brandon and his dad were down visiting from up in Columbia, Montana over the holidays and granddad Len had tried to take them offshore with a friend out of Alligator Point on the previous Saturday. It was to be a very rough and not too productive day for them.
That Saturday was so rough in fact, that we had postponed the charter we were to have taken on that day.
Well, granddad Len was bound and determined to show them a great time on our Gulf and called me. We were blessed with 1’ to 2’ seas and hungry fish.
By 1:00 we had our limit of 15 nice grouper to 19# and just as I told the boys we had our limit in the box, a sure nuff’ Bubba slammed Glen. Man, I mean he was big! That ole’ booger went better than 40” long, had a maw the size of a syrup bucket and as I held him up for the crew to kiss goodbye before release, I believe he would go better than 35#. He is the largest grouper that’s ever come on board Debo Too and I guarantee the absolute luckiest.
On the 7th we had Archie Thompson, Sr. and Jr. and Andrew Thompson along with Josh Milam, Santiago Islas, (hope I got Santiago and Josh’s last name right) and one more fellow who’s name I can’t decipher from the log, fishing with us.
All these fellows hail from around Cairo, Georgia and the Thompson boys had fished with us before. As a regular part of the fishing trip, I always give tips on how to go about catching fish on the first stop.
Just as I dropped down to demonstrate the technique we know produces best….WHAM! I had a great big ole’ Bubba grouper jump on ME!, of all people. A bad decision for the ole’ Bubba. And, no, it was not the same grouper we put back on Monday. This guy turned out to be smaller by about 6” and 6# lighter, not to mention we were 11 miles from the spot holding the other ole’ Bubba. None the less, he was a super nice fish that did a great job of kicking the skunk out of the boat.
Now, when you catch a grouper like that on the first drop, on the first spot you stop on, you rather expect to do GREAT all day long. Well, it just goes to show you that we are in fact, fishin’ and not always catchin’, though we try very hard to do more of the latter. We fished hard all day, and even went by where I put that big boy back on Monday and managed only 7 more grouper (all going better than 14# though) for our efforts. That big ole’ Bubba must have remembered what Debo Too sounds like, because neither he nor any of his kin that were stacked up under us on that spot would give us the time of day.
One of the fellows did catch what is for us, a very unusual and highly prized fish. It was the largest of only three that I have ever had come on any of my boats in the 17 years I have been taking folks charter fishing. It was a hog nose wras of about 8#. Certainly a most beautiful fish with it’s outlandish dorsal fins and orange and black coloration. And, they eat GREAT!
Divers shoot a good many hog nose in this area, but they are exceedingly hard to catch with hook and line. The fellow who caught him is having him mounted and it will make an excellent trophy. I got a picture and hope to put him in our gallery soon.
Take those kids fishing & Catch Em’ Up!
Capt. Randy
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Capt. Randy
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, December 02, 2002 - 3:37 am: | |
Subject: Non-Fishing Report of 11-31-02
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
Yep, we didn’t fish this past week.
We had Jodi, Steve, Chris, Kelley and my grand son, Andy down visiting with us for the Thanksgiving holiday. Man, did we have a great time with them. And, did we eat!
I’m the designated turkey cooker for the holidays and that deep fried turkey was just as good as it’s always been. Along with all the other great stuff Debo whips up, I know we all put on better than a couple of pounds in the last few days.
We got the seafood angle in also. The evening the kids got in, we roasted a bushel of Apalach oysters on the grill and munched on steamed stone crab claws and fried grouper fingers while watching a beautiful sunset off our dock here on Ochlockonee Bay. I can’t imagine it getting much better than that……….anywhere. We surely hope everyone had just as good a holiday as we.
Our next scheduled trip offshore is the 6th of December and we look forward to a fine, productive trip. The water temps are continuing to drop and that will continue to make our fish friskier and friskier.
I’ve gotten reports from a couple of my buds that the Southeast bottom is beginning to pep up. It was a little slow down that way all this last season, so this is good news indeed.
During the next few months I may not be reporting to you as often as weekly. With the incoming blue northers we get starting around this time of year, we won’t be able to fish nearly as much as we would like and therefore would not have as much to tell you about.
And, after Christmas, Debo and I may actually be able to take a short vacation this winter. It would be the first in about 8 years. I know, I know. You are saying to yourself………now, what do those turkeys need with a vacation when they already live in paradise and get to go fishin’ any time they want?
Well, we would just like someone else running the boat while we fish. And, we’re betting there’s a captain and deck hand somewhere in the middle keys that would be glad to oblige.
I’ll tell you about it if we are fortunate enough to be able to put it together.
Take those kids fishing & Catch Em’ Up!
Capt. Randy
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Capt. Randy
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 20, 2002 - 4:26 pm: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 11-20-02
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
I guess you could say that the reasons for my lack of reports in the last couple of weeks are multi-faceted. Rough seas would be the main culprit for our inability to fish all last weekend.
We had to postpone or just outright cancel three trips with folks that have been fishing with us for years beginning last Friday through Sunday. Man did it Blow!
NOAA predicted 20 to 25 knot winds producing upwards of 10’ seas and they were correct.
As for my not being able to get back to you with my reports, we have been just SUPER BUSY finishing up on our re-construction / re-modeling project on our home. We began the project last January and finished it up this past Sunday…….Thank Goodness! And, it really turned out NIZE. Just what we had in mind.
The last trip we were able to run was the 9th of November. Stormy Lisk brought Terry and Thomas Payne, Jody Welch, Tracy Harrison and Chuck Iwamasa down from up in Cairo, Georgia for a repeat of a trip they did with us about 2 seasons ago.
The guys noticed the improvements I had made to DEBO TOO insofar as the big back deck bonnet, additional A/C and larger fighting pads inside the gunwales. It made me feel good to have them complement us.
We had a pretty darn good day too. 12 grouper with one of them a near bubba at about 23#, a good sized black snapper and a king that went to 41” and a good mess of black sea bass.
We were also visited by a school of HUGE offshore red fish. We were able to get a couple in the boat for photos. Those two went about 40# each and were released unharmed to keep on makin’ baby reds. A couple of the others parted our 80# test line like it was sewing thread and we will never know how big those guys were.
We caught a goodly bunch of nice red snapper and of course, released those since they were out of season. It’s hard to see grown men have a little tear trickle down their cheek. That’s OK, we’ll catch those guys next year and they will be even bigger. Mr. Chuck has already inquired about an open date next April.
Take those kids fishin’ & Catch Em’ Up!
Capt. Randy
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Capt. Randy
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 22, 2002 - 5:59 pm: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 10-22-02
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
Finally, we are getting into true fall weather conditions.
Nice crisp mornings, beautiful sunrises over the Gulf as we go offshore, and the water is cooling down a little. The surface temps are still in the high 70s though, and we would prefer them to be a little lower at this time of year.
Our fish are trying to get into the fall spirit, but they are still confused and somewhat scattered. The waters are still a little turbid, but are continuing to clear.
The baby grouper, especially the reds, aren’t confused in the least. On the 4 trips we were able to take offshore this last week we averaged catching and releasing better than 90 small grouper per trip. I believe we only had 2 fish die on us out of all the ones we released. I can say for sure that we have been feeding the babies to the utmost and they should be fat and sassy next year.
On the 17th our long time clients, Tom Gross, Sr. and Jr. brought Shelton and Marc Floyd and Jerry Cook down from up around Atlanta to fish with Debo and I.
One of the fellows brought a bag of artificial lures he wanted to try out on our grouper, but it was the next to last stop before we remembered to try them. I rigged one up for him and he dropped it down. BANG! The largest fish of the day jumped all over that thing. A red grouper at about 17#! I was shocked.
I have tried a whole gaggle of artificials over the years with zip results on all. The results with that little lure was refreshing, to say the least.
He continued to fish with the lure and caught a couple of more keepers on it before we had to head back to the hill. He left a couple with me to try on the next day’s fishing trip and I was looking forward to trying out this possible new secret weapon.
I found that if you have got the fish in a feeding frenzy, the lure works fine. But, then again, most anything works fine when they are in that mode. Chicken gizzards, hot dogs, bubble gum, and I suspect that if I were down there with them they would try to nibble on me. Thanks fellows for bringing that lure with you.
I haven’t given up on it in the least and have purchased a few more to give it a fair try.
Oh, yea. We had a very good day. Another 13 nice grouper and 17 red snapper were added to the ones produced by the lure and I’m going to try to get the picture Tom, Jr. sent me up on the site this week.
Back in July, Billy Westmoreland brought a bunch of his buddies down from up in South Carolina to fish with us. We had a banner day getting our limit of 30 big ole bubba grouper by 10:30 that morning and Billy promptly booked us for two days back to back this past 18th and 19th. What a difference a couple of hurricanes and fickle fish can make.
Billy, Roy Baykin, Rodney Bolen, Harold Still, C.A. Palmer and L.K. Young all fished as hard as anyone could have on both days. But, our fishy friends decided to play hard to get. The two day total was 21 grouper to 17#, 11 snapper to 8# and a spanish mack that decided to nibble on left over cut bait on one of the fellows retrieve.
Not a bad catch at all, but we had all hoped for better.
And, Thanks Billy, for our ration of fine deer meat again. We had some of the cubed steak last night and it was wonderful.
Our long time client, Wayne Lay brought Sam Higdon, Ed Fannin, Jeff Starling and Sean Myers down from Tallahassee to fish with us on Sunday the 20th.
The day started off a little bouncy as we had to motor bow on into a 4’ sea to get to the area I wanted to fish. It calmed down some towards lunchtime making for an all and all fairly comfortable day offshore.
The fish continued to be a little snooty, but we still managed a fair catch of 9 nice grouper to 14#, a red snapper at about 6#, a lane snapper and 2 nice king macks at about 40” each.
The kings are fairly thick out there right now. Shoot, we may even try trolling for some this coming week.
Take those kids fishing
&
Catch Em’ Up!
Capt. Randy
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Capt. Randy Craft
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 15, 2002 - 1:21 am: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 10-14-02
Apalachicola, ST. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
Our waters are clearing up, slowly but surely. The fish are obtaining a better attitude, slowly but surely.
We’ve been able to pick up some live pin and pig fish for baits and the fish are more inclined to take them. And, along with the live bait our frozen baits are still producing nicely……when our fishy friends are in the mood to feed.
The little baby grouper are certainly in the mood it seems. I don’t think I can remember catching and releasing so many little red grouper as we have done in the last few trips. The last three trips we have averaged releasing more than 90 fish per day. And, of the 90 we only lost 3 or possibly 4. Two were taken by cudas and the other two were just too badly hooked to be saved.
Those little fish are EVERYWHERE! From 28’ on out to better than 100’ they are thicker than fleas on a fat dog. It’s a good indicator to me that our grouper population is in fine shape and should continue to be on into the future.
We had three nice, super fun trips over the past weekend. Mother Nature was doing her best to see that the sea conditions were as favorable as they ever get.
All three trips out to our beautiful Gulf were in 1’ to 2’ seas or just downright slick.
On the 11th Steve and Cathy Russo brought their close friends, Rog and Barbara and Pete and LaShaw Paine down from up around Douglasville, Georgia to enjoy an encore of their earlier trip of this year. We didn’t catch quite as many fish on this trip as on the previous one, but it was a better mix of fish and everyone had a great time.
This fine group of folks worked hard and took 10 grouper to 19# and 16 red snapper to 11# making up a very respectable catch at the end of the day. The trip was a first for the ladies and I don’t think the guys will be able to leave them home in the future. I say worked hard and I mean it. Remember that in addition to the keepers, they caught and released more than 90 smaller fish.
Gary and Shane Bennett and Steve Laboda and Chad Haney came down from the Alpharetta / Lawrenceville, Georgia area to fish with us on the 12th.
The baby grouper were still pretty active, but the big guys decided they had watched the babies feed long enough. We were very busy on every stop and at about 1:00 we had our limit of 20 fine grouper to 18#. We went in search of snapper and were able to take 4 black snapper to 6# and 1 red snapper at about 6# before the grouper started rising off the bottom to take our baits. What a great problem to have! We released several keeper grouper unharmed to fight another day.
“Big Daddy” Roger Croft brought his buds, Ben and Don Galloway, A.D. Holt, and Winsel Love over from Valdosta, Georgia to enjoy some fishy business with us on Sunday.
We had great hopes that the big guys would continue their frenzied feeding as they had done on Saturday, but the big un’s held back and let the babies absolutely tear us up. I know we caught and released better than 100 baby grouper……….mostly red.
We did manage to take 12 keeper grouper to 12# and 3 black snapper and 2 red snapper all going in the 6# range before the babies could cover us up. It was a fun day and we surely caught a bunch of fish.
Take those kids fishing & Catch Em’ Up!
Capt. Randy
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Capt. Randy
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 09, 2002 - 4:58 pm: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 10-09-02
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
As I mentioned in my last report, passing hurricanes can be a blessing or a bane or most anything in between for our offshore fishing efforts.
For the last couple of trips we have most recently run, conditions have leaned more toward the latter. This past Saturday, the bay was so muddy that catching pin fish for our live baits was not an option. We tried, but were greeted with hordes of hungry hard head cats. Yesterday, we didn’t even try for them. Suffice it to say, the adverse conditions are not only affecting our efforts as all our charter captain buddies are doing the same groan and moan.
On the plus side, the murkiness of the waters offshore is improving quickly. Saturdays trip showed improving clarity starting about 16 miles offshore. Yesterday, the waters began clearing at about 9 miles. Hopefully by this coming weekend our waters will be back to their normal pristine conditions.
This past Saturday we had the Ethridge clan down from Doerun, Georgia to fish with us. Dad Gary brought Gary M., Brenda Joyce, Sarah and Rachel along to have a go at our upset and displaced fishy friends.
We fished far and wide, shallow and deep and about as hard as you can imagine and finished a calm, sunny day with a pretty good catch, considerin’.
8 good grouper to 14# and 4 nice red snapper to 8# made the trip back home with us. Back at the dock, Gary was looking around for a large angle lens for his camera to make the catch hung on the fish board look a little bit bigger. Still, everyone had a great time. There was no shortage of grins at the end of the day, and that’s the real bottom line.
Yesterday, Ernie Rezendes brought his extended family and good friends in from just about all over the world to fish with us. I say just about, because his son Scott, who is just back from a tour in Afghanistan was to fish with us. Scott’s son, (and I’m sorry I didn’t get his name) who turned 6 yesterday had a man to man talk with dad persuading him to spend the day with him. Though we missed Scott’s presence, it was the capital thing to do. In another couple of years we will have both of them on the boat and have a sure nuff’ fine day!
Along with Ernie, the crew consisted of Debbie and Ryan Lovell, Mary Birt and the retired sheriff of our fair Franklin County, Warren Roddenberry.
Last year, at about this time, Ernie and a bunch of his buddies from Tallahassee fished with us and we absolutely slayed the fish. We had a limit of bubba class grouper early on in the day and 6 tired but happy fishermen. What a difference a year and changing sea conditions can make.
The morning produced 4 nice frisky grouper for us and I had high hopes for the rest of the day in spite of the 20 or 30 catch and release little guys we sent back down unharmed. But, alas, though we were on large concentrations of big fish the rest of the day, we could only entice 2 more grouper and 1 nice red snapper to bite. At about lunchtime all the fish got lockjaw and we couldn’t buy a bite for the rest of the day.
Yep, here of late, fishing has been tough and the catching part has been somewhat tougher. Things will get better though. Conditions will improve and our fishy friends will get back into the swing of things. I hope it’s soon, cause’ there may be a crew down the road that will want this captain to walk back.
Take those kids fishing & Catch Em’ Up!
Capt. Randy |
Capt. Randy
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 01, 2002 - 6:10 pm: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 10-01-02
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
For the last few weeks, since the 11th of September, we have been pretty much laying low and dodging hurricanes as best we can.
It’s most fortunate for us that the brunt of the last couple of blows have come ashore to the west of us and caused no damage in our area.
The storms have of course, played havoc with our fishing schedules. We are only allowed to fish at Mother Nature’s behest. Man’s plans, vacations, bank notes due, etc. are certainly secondary to her whims.
Normally, after a hurricane or two our waters are churned up some and the bottom changes offshore. It can be a mixed blessing. It can displace a bunch of hungry fish, move them to us or it can scatter our home boys making them a little more difficult to locate.
The 11th of September was the last opportunity we have had to fish up until this past Sunday, the 29th. We have had 8 groups of folks who have had to re schedule their trips making the later three months of our season busy indeed.
On Sunday, Fran and Len Reynolds, Beth and Butch Yarbrough, Fran Trulock and Richard Smith came down from the Camilla and Bainbridge area of Georgia to try their luck at fishing with us.
The trip turned into a scouting expedition early on. Yep, our home boys have been scattered. I went west to some very productive spots only to find nothing.
I worked south and found a few fish that were a little out of sorts and not really interested in feeding. We worked our way over to the east side to really beautiful bottom only to find more fickle fish.
We fished hard all day and hit almost twice the number of spots that I would normally try. I extended the trip by an hour or so to make sure that we gave the fish a good try, but we never could get the big boys fired up when I did find them. We ended a fun and beautifully calm day with 6 grouper to 12#, 1 nice black snapper at about 8# and a good mess of black sea bass.
I think the slow bite was a timing thing. It’s possible to fish too soon after a blow as it sometimes takes a few days for the bottom and the fish to settle down.
We were to have fished today, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but it appears that Mother Nature has different ideas for us again. I’ll be back in touch when she decides to give us a break.
Take those kids fishing & Catch Em’ Up!
Capt. Randy
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Capt. Randy
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, September 17, 2002 - 7:10 am: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 9-16-02
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
We have had a minor blow from Mother Nature this past week that supplied only much needed rain……..thanks goodness.
The down side was that three of our groups of fisherfolk had to reschedule for later on in the fall and hopefully we will be able to get out then.
We were able to get out on the 10th with Billy and Frances Chain, Harold and Minnie Livingston and Tim and Darnell Livingston. These fine folks hail from Monticello, Florida, Steens, Mississippi and Ethelsville, Alabama.
As we rounded Dog Island at the east past it was a pleasure to be greeted by the calmest day we have experienced in quite a while. The 1’ to 2’ seas were out of the southeast and a nice sun was just beginning to rub the sleep from it’s eyes to look over our beautiful Gulf.
We had stopped to catch a few pin fish for the day’s action, just in case the grouper and snaps had a change in taste. And, they did, a little.
And they bit, a little.
Our live baits accounted for about half our catch of 7 good grouper to 14#, with the rest of the fish including some nice black sea bass taking our frozen baits.
It was a fun trip in spite of the slow bite and the crew thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
The 11th brought Beth Puckett, Rebekah Van Horn, Tricia Grimes, Carolyn Derr, Sherrie Lovell and Becky Ulmer all down from up in Arkansas to form up my first all ladies crew.
All these gals were up for a fun day of fishing and were not disappointed.
Debo and I really enjoyed working with the ladies in showing them the finer points of grouper and snapper digin’. And, they did just fine.
We ended the day with a nice catch of 8 grouper to 23#, 1 red snapper and 1 black snapper that went about 8# each and six ladies grinning ear to ear. They were taking pictures all day to show to their spouses. I’ll bet the guys decide to go next year, too.
Take those kids fishing & Catch Em’ Up!
Capt. Randy
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Capt. Randy
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, September 08, 2002 - 11:02 am: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 9-08-02
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
Man, is it blowing!
We were to have been fishing this past Friday, Saturday and today, but Mother Nature decided we should stay home and continue to do remodeling work. Most of the cancelled trips have been able to reschedule with us at later dates.
Hopefully, we will be able to fish next week as we have 4 groups of folks that are just itching to get involved in some good fish fights.
We were fortunate in being able to get offshore on 4 occasions since my 8-27-02 report and on most of the trips we had fine catches, indeed.
We were to have taken long time clients, Rodney and Elaine Easler fishing on the 30th, but that was about the time the weather started turning sour so they rescheduled for the 14th of September, the 30th of November and the 7th of December. Maybe, just maybe, Mother Nature will cooperate on all those dates or at least on a couple of them.
We are taking live baits to our fishy friends and on some occasions we are actually catching fish with them. But still, the frozen baits are producing the most and largest fish. More gag grouper are showing up on my spots in anticipation of their winter spawn and with the water temperatures dropping, both the gag and the red grouper are getting friskier.
Charlie and Mary Skinner fished with us for a half day again this year on the 1st of September. They brought their friends Tony Everson and Joseph, Ronald and Janice Hall along from up around Cairo, Georgia to help enjoy the fish fights.
It was just as well that they elected to do only a half day this year. It blew pretty hard producing up to 5’ seas after we got offshore and we felt fortunate in boating 5 grouper to 14#.
Bill Brackett from up in Norcross, Georgia brought his clan in the persons of Tim and Cheryl Brackett and Bryan and Debbie Johnson down on the 2nd for a repeat of his trip last month. The seas were somewhat rougher at 2’ to 4’ than was the case on his last trip. We did managed a near limit catch of 20 very nice grouper to 24# before the decision was made by the crew to call it an early day due to building seas. We were back at the dock at about 1:30 grinning and taking pictures as the seas built on up to 6’ or better that afternoon.
On the 3rd the seas had laid back down overnight enough to allow us to take the King clan for a full day of fishing. Kenneth, Brenda, Patrice and Tom King brought their buddies Dranna and Greg Gaddis along to enjoy a good day of fishing on our beautiful Gulf. Most all these folks hail from Scottsburg, Indiana and had been looking forward to the trip with us for a long time.
We ended a respectable day with 15 nice grouper to 18# and one black snapper at about 8# in spite of a slow bite.
On the 4th, Brian Frantz from up in Suwanee, Georgia brought his buds Jason Layne, Bob, Jason, Jeff and Chase Veal (10 ) to enjoy some good fish fights with us. The whole crew was up for the trip, especially The Chase Man.
It was tit for tat and toe to toe fish fights on a couple of spots in particular. Chase did an excellent job of taking his share of nice grouper and I’ll bet is just itching for another shot at em’ next year. Our calmest day of the week was ended with a near limit of 25 very nice grouper to 23#.
Black sea bass was requested and we did catch one nice one, but with the grouper feeding as they were the sea bass wisely decided to keep out of harms way. Maybe next trip.
Take those kids fishing & Catch Em’ Up!
Capt. Randy
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Capt. Randy
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, September 08, 2002 - 11:01 am: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 8-27-02
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
Our fish still seem to be a little on the lethargic side since my last report to you.
They continue to turn their noses up at our live bait offerings, but more than make up for their snootiness when we send our frozen and cut baits down to them.
As schools around the country get going again we have a little lull in the number of trips we run this time of year and it gives us the opportunity to rest up some for the coming fall season. Fall is an excellent time to fish here on “The Forgotten Coast”. The waters are cooler and our fishy friends get frisky and hungrier in anticipation of their winter spawn.
Most of our long-time clients are aware of this fact and many make sure they have a day reserved with us for our version of a fall festival. It could be considered a little on the mid-evil side with all the fish fights and such going on.
The plus side is that the guys don’t have to don armor nor are the ladies required to dress in their long flowing gowns to be able to participate in the festivities. It’s, come-as-you-are. The fish are going to pick on you just the same.
The 22nd saw John Hallmark and his sons Josh and Jason along with their friends Mike Henshaw and Jesse Edmunds fish with us again this year.
We had a great day going with 6 nice grouper in the box by about 11:30 when a $1.50 bolt gave up in DEBO TOO’s raw water pump forcing a full day charter to be changed into a half day charter. Yep, even a vessel as well maintained as DEBO TOO can have a problem. It’s a first for her though, and we will continue to strive to keep unexpected down time to a minimum.
We trolled as we were being towed back to the hill and managed to pick up a nice spanish in the process.
Luckily, we had no charter on the 23rd, which allowed repairs to be made and we were good to go by that afternoon.
Wayne and G.W. Stone brought their friends, Marc and Wes Shannon and Mike Keeler down from Tifton, Georgia to enjoy a day of fishing with Debo and I on the 24th. It was my birthday and I was in high hopes the fish would join in my little celebration. And, they did. 12 nice grouper and one lane snapper thought my cake looked pretty good.
Captain Bill and his lovely lady Captain DeDe Conn from up in Hotlanta, GA invited their friend Rance Cain from Cummin, Georgia down to enjoy another great day of fishing with Debo and I. Capt. Bill and DeDe own a super nice Grand Banks trawler “Snowbanks” and we met them as they moored next to us as transients year before last at the Moorings Marina, our home port.
They missed fishing with us last year due to a host of reasons, but were looking forward to getting back into the swing of things on this day. I think our fishy friends missed them too because they jumped all over us!
We had our limit of 15 near bubba category grouper to 23# by 11:00 and we left them biting on that little spot as we went in search of snapper.
The snapper proved hard to find in a feeding mood so the crew elected to troll back in for pot luck. We did pick up a nice spanish for our efforts and a great day was ended with bo-ku grins back at the dock.
Take those kids fishing & Catch Em’ Up!
Capt. Randy
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Capt. Randy Craft
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, August 20, 2002 - 9:19 am: | |
Subject: Fishing Report 8-19-02
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
We have had 7 nice offshore trips since my last report. Lots of really nice folks who enjoy good fish fights and the large plus of just being able to get out into our beautiful Gulf for the opportunity to tangle with our respectable quarry.
Our waters have begun to cool down a little and that fact alone should go a good ways to improve our fishy friends participation. The bite has been off and on for the last week or so. We have had extremely productive days and some days when the fish couldn’t be less interested in our offerings.
A couple of things that are a little strange this time of year is that the fish are still not too interested in our live baits and all our good catches have been in relatively shallow waters on our frozen and cut baits. Normally, I go deep and live bait is paramount this time of year. It’s been just the opposite for the last month or so.
Yep, just when you think you may have them figured out a little, they throw you a curve ball. It tends to keep you on your toes.
Steve Norris brought his fine crew, Travis Kitts, Mike Lewis, Cory Blanton, Krista Payne and Kendal Norris down from up in Tennessee to fish with us on the 6th of August.
It was a day when our fishy friends wanted to lay up and snooze in the shade, but we still managed to get 10 nice grouper to 23# and an outstanding red snapper at about 20#. Our crew had a great time and those fish will make a nice meal for a goodly sized group of folks up in the mountains.
Pete North with ABF Freight Lines brought a group of his buddies over from the Tifton, Vidalia and Hazelhurst, Georgia area to fish with us again this year. Their day, the 10th, was to turn out a good bit rougher than the NOAA forecast of 2’ to 3’. I made a courtesy stop just off Dog Island so that the crew could have the option of rescheduling the trip or trying to tough it out.
The decision was a go and that we did. Pete, Bart Thompson, Dan Russell, Tony McCabe, Eddie Gordon and Gerald Smith are all fine, tough fellows who despite the 6’ seas made a nice showing just the same. We were able to coax 13 good grouper to 17# to our fish box without too much ill effects to the crew.
The 12th saw another pretty, but a little rougher day than predicted greet us as we rounded The Dog with Bill and Doris Brackett and their buddy Gregg (Sparky) Sparks from up in the Norcross, Georgia area.
These fine folks hung tough all day and caught 10 good grouper to 16# and a lane snapper at about 4#. We look forward to Bill and Doris returning with their son to fish with us on Labor Day. Hopefully, the seas will be a little calmer and the fish a little hungrier.
Lenny Snow from Trenton, Georgia brought his two buds Cal Haygood and Scott Hill down from up in Rising Fawn, Georgia to enjoy a day of good fishing with us on the 13th. The seas were thankfully, calmer and the grouper were waiting in ambush for us.
We had massive strikes from big bruiser bubba grouper on our 2nd and 3rd stops that morning producing a limit of 15 big boys to 25# by 11:15. Big time fun city! The decision to troll back in produced 2 nice outsized spanish mackerel at about 10# each to add to an already outstanding catch. A fine day with fine fisherfolks and Debo. I can’t ask for more.
Another fine day dawned on the 14th as Darry Elliott brought the whole clan down from Little Rock, Arkansas and Greenville and Simpsonville, South Carolina for a great day of offshore fun. Linda, Will, Jason and John Elliott along with Bill Coffey were all up and ready for fish fights. And, the fish were ready for them.
We had two nice keepers on the first stop, one on the second stop and WHAM!, 23 bruisers jumped us on the third stop. Again that was at about 11:00 that morning and we fished on the rest of the day getting our 30 grouper limit by about 1:00. 2 of those bubbas went to 25# or better and 3 more were all over 20# each. Debo and I were doing some sure nuff deck dancing keeping up with all the fish these fine folks were bringing onboard.
My favorite son-in-law, Steve Ackerman brought my grandboy, Andy and my daughter Jodi down from their home up in Greenville, South Carolina so that we could participate in Andy’s 1st birthday. Debo and I took the 14th off so that we could be with that fine boy and his mom and dad on that very special day. We had a great time!
Now, Steve and Jodi are really good fisherfolk. It’s just that they are so busy building a great life together up in Greenville it’s seldom they get to come down to visit and go fishing.
Steve graciously offered to pull first mate for Debo for our scheduled 16th trip with long time clients Mike and Kim Freeman from up in Jersey, Georgia. Steve loves to be on the Gulf and is a pretty darn good first mate.
Jane Nesmith and Rod Ayers from up in Conyers, Georgia and Lonnie Ryder and JoAnne Brown from Tallahassee, Florida accompanied Mike and Kim on this trip on our beautiful Gulf.
The seas got back into it’s “not as predicted” mode, but was fishable at 3’ to 5’ and the crew decided to give it a go anyhow. The downside to the day was that the fish also got back into their snooty attitude and we had to fish hard for the 8 grouper to 15# and 1 red snapper at 8#. The slow bite didn’t dampen the spirits of the crew, though bless his heart, Mike was pretty happy to get his feet back on solid ground at the end of the day.
Larry and Elin Brydebell brought their friends Rusty McCormick, Robert Culverhouse, Kevin Byrd and John Black along to do a rescheduled trip with us on the 17th. These good folks are near neighbors of ours from Crawfordville and Tallahassee, Florida and were all up for a fine day of fishing. The bite was to continue to be slow and live bait continued not to produce as all the keeper fish came from our frozen and cut baits. Matter of fact, Larry caught the largest, a gag at about 18# that topped a total of 12 grouper and 1 black snapper for the day. An enjoyable time was had anyhow and we look forward to having most of these same folks back for Rusty’s scheduled trip of September 28th.
Take those kids fishing & Catch Em Up!
Capt. Randy
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Capt. Randy
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, August 05, 2002 - 4:46 pm: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 8-05-02
Carrabelle, Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
The bite has been on and off for the last several days in our area. It’s pretty much typical this time of year. Water temperatures are high and the fish are a little lazy the last two weeks of July and the first week or so of August.
We just have to fish harder and enjoy our efforts more.
Of the 6 trips we have run since the 24th, one day, the 2nd of August, saw a little N/W cool front dip down to us. It almost seemed like a fall morning when Debo and I got to the boat at about 6:00 A/M.
The fish must have liked it also, as we had a better than average catch for this time of year on that Friday.
Greg and Travis Richardson from over in the Ocala, Florida area brought their buds, Cliff, Ed, Jack and Willie along with them to fish with us again this year on July 27th. At the end of last years trip we made a picture of the crew with their fine catch hanging on the board and Travis had it put on a coffee mug and gave it to me this year upon their return.
Thanks so much guys. I’m sipping coffee from it as I write this report.
Funny coincidence though. I believe we ended the day with the same number of grouper we had last year as evidenced by the photo on the mug. 13 really pretty grouper to 18# and a good mess of black sea bass is still a nice catch this year too.
On the 28th, Vickie and James Reeves brought the birthday boy, Wade Finuff and their buds, Thomas, Day and Burl down to help Wade celebrate his day while fishing with us. All these fine folks are from the Tallahassee, Quincy, Florida area and are considered near neighbors of ours.
It WAS to be the birthday boy’s day! Wade is a fine young fisherman who gave the grouper no quarter. I believe he caught the most and possibly the largest of the day. The crew’s spirits couldn’t be dampened by a slow bite and we ended a super fun day with 9 nice grouper to about 18# and one amberjack at about 22#.
And, yep, the birthday boy caught the amber too!
On the 29th Miss Mary Kelley brought her nephew Owen Dundee down from the Decatur, Georgia area to fish a half day with us. It takes a certain amount of luck to catch good grouper this time of year and it takes a LARGE amount of luck to catch grouper on a half day excursion. Luck out we did though. 2 nice grouper at about 18# each and a good mess of black sea bass and rubys were boated by the crew.
Also, I believe it was with Mary and Owen that we got to see 2 exceptional water spouts form about a mile from Debo Too. It was as we were pulling the anchor to head back in and we were glad to give those 2 products of Mother Nature a wide berth.
David and Pam Willey brought their two children, Nate (14) and Drew (12) down from Marietta, Georgia for a full day of fishing with us on Tuesday the 30th.
David only wanted a couple of grouper for supper and we were to do catch and release the rest of the day. Quite quickly, on the first stop or so, we had 5 big grouper to 22# and one red snapper at about 8#. We did catch and release up until about 1:30 when a bunch of huge thunder storms forced our return to the dock a little early. Still a fine day that was enjoyable to all.
The cool, crisp day I mentioned earlier was to dawn for Mark and Paul Husack and their friends Lynn and Steve Mobley, Amy Parker and Matthew Wike on the 2nd of August. This crew hails from the Fayetteville, Douglasville, Carrollton, Georgia area and all were up for good fish fights and the fish didn’t disappoint.
Miss Amy was the smallest of the crew and of course, that’s whom the grouper picked on the most. Surprise, Surprise, Mr. Bubba grouper, little Amy turned out to be tougher than a nickel steak. Man, she really worked those fish over! The whole crew was super and did great, it just seemed that the fish picked on Amy and she stood toe to toe tough with them all day long.
22 really nice grouper to 24# met their match with my crew that fine Friday and I’ll bet, provided plenty of fine eating for the 26 person fish fry later on.
Terry Laminack brought his close friends Marilyn Hobbs and William and Sharon Daniel down from the Thomasville, Pelham, Georgia area to fish a whole day with us on the 3rd.
The weather was to turn out to be questionable in so far as sea conditions were concerned, so I did a courtesy stop just off Dog Island to see if the crew wanted to proceed or reschedule their trip. The crew decided they wanted to try it in spite of the 3’ to 4’ seas we encountered and most did fine all day.
We experienced a slow bite all day, but still managed to boat 9 nice grouper to 18# and Terry did say it was the best catch they had ever gotten on an offshore trip.
Take those kids fishing & Catch Em’ Up!
Capt. Randy
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Capt. Bob Soderholm
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, July 13, 2002 - 12:19 am: | |
Subject: Carrabelle fishing report
After a cancellation and a little juggling of the schedule, I made several fine trips this week with fair to good flats action. Tarpon are roaming and eager to strike a wide selection of baits. When site fishing, I like to use plastics. One of my favorite rigs starts with a Gorilla XXX hook and 3 feet of 120 LB leader, with a large Berkley Powerbait (minnow) threaded onto the hook. Dark reds, rootbeer, and grape colors work well. The finished rig has plenty of weight to cast a good distance on 30 LB line.
For those who prefer natural baits, a Tarpon can't resist a juicy chunk of fresh Ladyfish suspended under a float. There's no problem finding Ladyfish. Just look for small schools of fish busting glass minnows on the surface around bars, passes and current rips and you'll find all the Ladyfish you need. Cast a noisy Topwater lure into the Ladyfish and you'll get great action.
Greg Austin fished with me on Wednesday for his second trip with hopes of landing a Tarpon. Strong SE winds and flood tide made for a slow morning on the flats. Topwater fishing was near impossible and jigs didn't do the trick. So the morning was spent fishing live baits from Lanark eastward to Turkey Point with little success. By noon, the winds let up a bit and allowed us to run across the bay to work the flats behind Dog Island where we found a few Trout, Blues and Ladyfish.
On the tide change, we headed back to the flats along Lanark and came across our first Tarpon siting of the day. A quick cast by Greg was immediately hit and thrown by what I estimated to be a 30 LB fish. We continued west along the flats fishing with Topwater plugs and jigs until another Tarpon jumped behind the sand bar in the Hockey Hole. We were unable to get a hookup on this fish so we headed into Poston Bayou.
To my surprise, we hooked up on several Trout and Ladyfish deep in the Bayou...in less than 2 feet of water. The action wasn't great, but it was pretty good and yielded a few keeper sized Trout. Just when the Trout action was getting good, we spotted another Tarpon near the mouth of Carrabelle River.
I slowly headed the Sole Searcher to the South end of a sand bar to the west of the river entrance and allowed the wind and current to drift us into position for a stake out. Several Tarpon were chasing LY's in the current rip outside the river entrance. I rigged a Penn Powergraph with a large Pigfish under a flat and cast into the current rip. Within seconds, the line was slammed! I powered up for a chase but the fish threw the hook without a jump.
I rigged up another large Pigfish and Greg made a cast. He didn't even flip the bail on the Penn reel when another Tarpon hit! This one gave us a pretty good fight before heading too close to Range Marker and cutting the line. I rigged up another large Pigfish and headed back into the current rip. Greg made the cast, but nothing hit. Figuring that we spooked the fish, we let the line stay out and hoped for the best.
A short time later, and near dusk, the line started screaming off the reel and a loud splash broke behind the boat. I powered up for the chase and followed the fish eastward down the flats outside the Hockey Hole. After about 15 minutes, the fish surfaced and revealed its bright silver sides and massive body. I estimated it to be well over 100 pounds.
The chase went on for another 30 minutes with the Tarpon making frequent runs followed by a mixture of meandering and erratic moves. One thing was obvious, the fish was not even beginning to tire and this was proven by several strong, fast runs. However, I was beginning to have high hopes of a landing due to the fact that we held the fish for over 45 minutes.
The Tarpon continued to make a few more strong runs and finally began to show signs of weakening. Greg was able to lead the fish and applied some "Down and dirty" technique which really took the wind out of the fish. It looked like Greg was going to surface the fish when suddenly it made a violent turn and burst away from the boat in the strongest run of the fight. It made a right turn and made another violent run which snapped the 30 LB line.
With darkness falling, we headed home. I was really hoping to land that Tarpon but Greg was satisfied with the fight. He'll be back next year for another round of Carrabelle flats action.
Thursday afternoon I had the pleasure to fish with Michael Dean from AL. Mike is an accomplished Bass fishermen and was eager to try his skills on the flats. With an outgoing tide, I headed to the East end of Dog Island and was greeted by schools of Ladyfish busting minnows all over the place. Working Topwater plugs near the Ladyfish, Greg nailed a nice 4 LB Trout on the edge of a grass patch which was a good addition to the numerous Ladyfish hammering our lures.
I made a quick stop on the grass just to the west of Dog Island Harbor and found several nice Trout and a few Blues which kept the action going. After playing with the Trout, we decided to hit Dog Island Reef to try for Mackerel.
Upon arriving on the reef, we found numerous patches of fish ripping through baits on the surface which turned out to be big Blues in the 4 to 5 LB range. I searched for Mackerel but none were to be found.
With the sun setting, we headed back to Lanark in search for big Gator Trout. Slow presentation with spooks or dark colored plastics are effective on big Trout at dusk. However, we only managed to get a few strikes and near misses before the action shut down at dark. Still and all, it was a pretty good outing with plenty of action.
Tomorrow, I'll be fishing the Timber Island Yacht Club's annual Youth Tournament with a boat load of kids. Hopefully, the weather will hold out and give the kids a fun day on the flats. This is something I look forward to every year. There's nothing like watching a kid catch their first "Big one"!
Until next time, Take a kid fishing. It's well worth it!
Capt. Bob Soderholm
Sole Searcher Charters
Carrabelle, FL
(850) 899-0455
Member, National Association of Charterboat Operators
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