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Fishing Reports for Local Area - Location |
    
Capt. Randy
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 20, 2003 - 9:46 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 - 8:15 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
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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
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Capt. Randy
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, April 19, 2003 - 2:27 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
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Capt. Randy
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 08, 2003 - 12:35 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 - 2:59 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 - 8:15 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 - 8:24 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 sheepshead 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 - 12:43 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 |
Giguère Léopold
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, August 31, 2002 - 11:40 am: | |
Subject: kick tail fishing tacles
I am would like too find information about kick tail
tacles fishing. Tank you. |
Capt. Randy Craft
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, July 14, 2002 - 10:01 am: | |
Subject: Fishing Report 7-8-02
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida - Offshore
Most fortunately, Mother Nature has allowed us to take 7 groups of fisher folk offshore for some great fishing in the last 7 days and for the most part, our fishy friends have been glad to see us.
What Debo and I try to do is position our clients so that they can drop all that nice free food right into the fish's dining room. The fish normally appreciate our efforts especially since the food is not running around trying to get away from them.
Kevin Newton brought his daughter Francis (12) and their friends from up in Georgia, Steve Handley and his two boys Greg (12) and Matthew (14) along with John Handley for another full day of great offshore fishing with us again this year.
It was July 1st, and our wedding anniversary, which called for a little different beginning to the day than usual. After the crew got on the boat, we opened a bottle of good wine and made a little toast poured into our finest Dixie Cups to mark the beginning of a great anniversary day and some super fishing.
17 grouper to 23#, 4 nice black snapper to 10# and 3 good lane snapper decided to join in our celebration rounding out a sure enough super fun day.
The 2nd brought Charles and Tim Howes along with Bryan Brown from Tallahassee and their bud, Patrick Jarvis from Kiner, VA. to fish a full day with us.
The fish were off their feed a little, but we still managed 8 nice grouper to 20# and 2 big ol' red snapper to 14#.
On the 3rd Debo had to be off due to a foot strain that required elevation and ice packs. I pulled double duty for Brian Taylor and Ricky Siros from up in Lexington, SC and their buds Jay Richardson and Lewis Turner from Woodstock and Alpharetta, Georgia. It was to be a slow bite day despite my very best efforts.
I even took these fellows to two spots where on the charter the day before we had missed several huge grouper in hopes that these boys could handle them. Shoot, we couldn't BUY a bite. I hit better than 14 spots, burned more fuel than I have all year and even extended the charter by an hour in hopes of producing better than the 4 grouper and 2 lane snapper we ended the day with. It was all to no avail and to add insult to injury it turns out that these fellows had no appreciation what so ever for my going way above and beyond the call of duty in my efforts.
Hey, guys.. there are days when they just will not bite. Get a GRIP. And, if you are going to no-tip stiff me, at least give me a critique as to what part of my service you were disappointed with. I guarantee, those boys will never set foot on DEBO TOO's decks again, even if they begged me.
Now that I have that junk off my chest, let me tell you of a nice July 4th spent with very nice folks.
Christi Curry and Chad Shepard brought their buds Jeff and Jennifer Greenberg down from the Atlanta and Lawrenceville, Georgia area along with their friends James and Ann Buckley from over in Prattville, Alabama to help them enjoy their first vacation in 4 or 5 years.
Debo was back in action although her foot was still a little tender. The fish were still off their feed somewhat, but the enthusiasm of the crew made up for it. A fine day was ended with 12 nice grouper to 20# and a bunch of grins back at the dock. Yep, the crew's attitude can make all the difference in the world.
The Daly clan in the persons of Shannon, Leslie and Susan from over in Dallas, Texas brought their buds Robert Wilcox, Kay Breedlove and Michael Hoffman to fish a full day with us again this year on the 5th.
What a difference a day can make. Three stops provided heavy duty, viscous strikes from bubba class grouper and by lunchtime we had our limit of 30 beautiful grouper to 26# and a very nice red snapper at about 12#. We trolled back to the dock picking up 2 out sized Spanish to round out a super catch.
The 6th brought the Hay and Lauder families from Thomasville, Georgia for a full day of fishing on our beautiful Gulf. It was again a slick calm day as most all our trips have been since the 1st, and just a bit hot. The A/C units of DEBO TOO and the big green back deck bonnet have come in mighty handy on all our recent trips.
And, again the big guys were on the prowl for free eats. We realized our limit of 30 very nice grouper to 23# at about 11:30 and again picked up 2 good Spanish trolling on the way back in. Nice pictures and grins were the order of the day back at the dock.
Yesterday, the 7th brought two nice families to us from Tallahassee to try a full day of fishing fun. Carol and Ed Moore brought Corbin and Murray along with their good friends Fran and Frank Shaw to help in the fishy activities.
We had gentle seas, a nice little breeze and sparkling blue waters all day. And, by the by, 19 frisky grouper to 22# made for a very fine trip indeed.
Take those kids fishing! & Catch Em Up!
Capt. Randy |
Capt. Randy Craft
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, July 02, 2002 - 2:54 am: | |
Subject: Fishing Report 6-30-02
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida - Offshore
We have been blessed with some very fishable, though at times soggy, weather since the 24th. And, for the most part, our fish have been cooperating with us very nicely……….indeed.
On the 24th Peyton Thomas brought his buds and coworkers down from Dothan, Alabama to fish with us again this year. They had a great time last year, but this year was to prove even better.
Massive strikes from big frisky grouper greeted us on about every stop we made and caused a bunch of great, heavy duty deck dancing for Debo and myself. The crew were tickled pink with their 30 grouper limit at about 1:30 in the afternoon. Many of those fish were near bubbas at better than 20# each.
Don Shemonic brought his family and friends down from up in Kentucky to fish a half day with us on the 25th. 4 nice grouper, one being a bruiser at about 24#, graced us with their presence. A spotted reef shark and some Rubys rounded out a very respectable half day catch. I’m pretty sure they will be doing a full day with us next year.
Ty and Kerry Westbrook, while in the midst of their honeymoon, decided to do a half day trip with Debo and myself on the 26th. We didn’t get but 2 grouper, but again another bruiser pushing 25# picked on Kerry as a wedding gift. A bit brutal, but a gift none the less. Now, it did take a little help from Debo but Kerry landed that bubba and made the day for us all. Ty and Kerry are a wonderful couple of kids and we wish them all the luck in the world.
Tim Jarvis from up in Jasper, Georgia brought just about his whole clan down to fish with us for a full day on the 28th. Mom stayed home with their youngest, but sent grand mom Mary Bryant along to keep the crew well greased with sun screen and civil.
Clint, (ole’ crip, with a broken arm) at 12 years old, Hunter (9), Aubrey (10), and miss Marybeth (7) rounded out a spirited crew of really good kids.
The broken arm was a small handicap for Clint in the beginning, but when the bite got hot he figured out some pretty creative ways around it.
11 grouper to 18#, 2 nice Spanish, 2 huge trigger fish and a whole mess of ruby lips and black sea bass made for a nice catch and a happy crew. And, thanks Tim for hanging tough.
Yesterday, the 29th brought Greg Goff and 10 of his buds and co workers down from up in the Dallas, Georgia area for a two boat mini tournament. I called on Capt. Doug Kirtley to help out with 5 of the fellows on his boat.
We concentrated on the grouper on “Debo Too” and Capt. Doug opted for amberjack and some grouper. A nice day was ended with 22 grouper to 20# and a black snapper on our boat and 6 big ole bruiser amberjack to 26# and 6 grouper to 23# on Capt. Doug’s boat. Grins all around back at the dock.
This morning, Charles Lester from St. George Island brought his son Karl and their friends LuAnn and Ramsey MacDonald to try a half day with Debo and myself. Charles wanted to try some trolling and some bottom fishing. A fairly tall order on a half day jaunt, but we aim to please as best we can.
We trolled out the east pass, had a nice pull down that missed and a little while later near buoy 5 something cut off 40# braided steel leader and stole one of my lures. Dang! I would love to have seen that bad boy.
We slipped on out to as deep as we could go within the time restraints of a half day and managed 2 keeper grouper at about 8# each along with some Rubys and black sea bass. Actually, the catch was not too bad for a split half day. I just hope Charles can give us a full day next year.
Debo and I celebrate our wedding anniversary tomorrow and we are going to do it up in style. A small bottle of bubbly, poured into Dixie cups and shared with our crew for tomorrow will begin what we hope will be another great day and a full week of fishing on our beautiful Gulf. Yep, it doesn’t get any better than this!
Take those kids fishing! & Catch Em Up!
Capt. Randy |
Capt. Randy Craft
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 6:09 pm: | |
Subject: Fishing Report 6-23-02
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida - Offshore
We have not been able to get Mother Nature to cooperate with us since this past Thursday the 20th. We tried this morning and although NOAA predicted 2’ to 4’ seas, the thunderstorms and lightning were just a little too thick to allow for a safe and enjoyable trip offshore.
Our fishy friends have been extremely glad to see us on the 4 excursions we were able to complete this past week. Hungry and frisky……….just the way we like them!
On the 17th, the Brown clan from over in Ovilla, Texas and Harrison, Arkansas enjoyed their first trip offshore with us. They did SUPER! By 11:30 that morning we had our limit of 30 beautiful grouper to 23# and began trolling back to the dock. A couple of hours trolling brought us 8 very nice Spanish mackerel to 8# and the crew called it an early and most enjoyable day.
Tuesday, the 18th brought Kim and Darell David along with their kids, Cody (16), Luke (10), Jacob (8) and their friend Abby Adams (9) to us from up in Nicholson, Georgia for a fine day of fishing.
Again, the grouper were laying in ambush for us. Several in the Bubba category elected to pick on the crew allowing for many intense fish fights early on. And, again we got our limit of 30 grouper to 26# by 1:00. On the last stop, 2 Big Ole’ near sow red snapper going close to 20# each also got into the fray. I don’t know what those guys were doing in only 55’ of water. Guess they were sent in as hit fish to teach us a lesson. It didn’t work. The head honcho fish is going to have to do better than that.
Andrew Copa came back to fish with us again this year on the 19th, bringing 4 of his best buds from just about everywhere to participate in some great fish fights.
Again, the bubbas were ready for us and again the hit fish were sent in. Our limit of 25 super nice grouper to 26# and two red snapper gave us a super morning ending our bottom fishing efforts at about 10:45.
One of the red snapper was the largest of this season going close to 25# and again we were in relatively shallow water.
We slow trolled back in picking up 10 nice Spanish to round out the catch.
Jon and Cindy Abrahamson brought their clan down from Sprio, Oklahoma to enjoy a full day of fishing with us on the 20th.
The day started off with calm seas in the early morning but soon kicked up to 4’ to 6’ which is very fishable, but can become uncomfortable for many folks in short order. After the first stop we lost the majority of our crew to motion sickness, but Dad and Cory were catching good fish. With the blessings of Mom and the rest of the downed crew the two salts kept on fishing and produced 21 very nice grouper to 23#. Mom and the rest of the kids were real troops and I want to personally thank them for biting the bullet and allowing Dad and Cory to finish out the day.
Take those kids fishing! & Catch Em Up!
Capt. Randy |
Capt. Randy Craft
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 17, 2002 - 7:02 pm: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 6-16-02
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
With the exception of Sunday the 9th and Monday the 10th we have had favorable fishing conditions here in our neck of paradise. It’s been a little hot in the afternoons, but certainly not uncomfortable.
The warmth has prompted me to fire up the A/C units on a few days this week for the ride back in. It’s a good commentary on the strength of our fish to say that on most days all our clients snoozed in the deliciously cool comfort of DEBO TOO’S cabin after a full day of fish fights.
Keith and Janice Costner brought their two boys, Remington (6) and Jarret (4) down from Maryville, TN for their first outing offshore. I felt that Jarret was a little too young as yet, but he did just fine and Remington turned out to be a cracker jack fisherman helping his Dad and Mom boat 13 nice grouper to 23#. A couple more years and Jarret will be into the fishing thing too and the fish will really have to watch out then.
Long time client, David Higgins brought his sons Geoffrey (12) and Bradley (9) along with grand dad Burrell and their friends Rob Hill and Miss Jordan Mauldin (9) down for a full day of fishing this past week.
Geoffrey, as on our last outing with them, was a fish’s worst nightmare. That little fellow knows how to catch big fish and accounted for a large percentage of the 16 keepers to 23# that day. Now, if I can just get Brad to stop watching Roland Martin and Jimmy Houston maybe I can help him improve on his offshore techniques enough to get him into the catchin’ column. Jordan did fine with a couple of nice keepers herself, but then the ladies seem to always have a finer touch when it comes to finessing a grouper.
Newly weds, Brian and Donna Bridgeman had been down all week on their honeymoon and we were to have taken them out on Tuesday. It was just too rough, so we tried on Friday and an intended full day turned into a half day, again due to rough seas. To add insult to injury, the bite was slow. We did manage to boat one barely keeper grouper at about 8# and some ruby and black sea bass.
Brian is talking about giving it another try in the fall and I hope we have some calm seas for them then.
Randy Hand brought his clan and friends in to fish with us yesterday the 15th.
These nice folks asked for nor gave the fish any quarter. This, in spite of the fact that a couple of the crew ( who’s names I won’t mention ) were hampered by deep water fishing techniques ingrained through years of fishing in Panama City and Destin. I just had to find some kamikaze grouper for those two boys, which I did.
The crew had a great time anyhow and ended the day with a fine catch, indeed.
24 grouper to 22#, 4 black snapper to 10#, a red snapper at about 6# and a 34” cobia sure made for great fish fights and will be even better table fare. Shoot, their photo may even make the web site in spite of the Gator hats being worn by two fellows, who’s names I won’t mention.
Take those kids fishing & Catch Em’ Up!
Capt. Randy |
Capt. Randy Craft
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 2:07 am: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 6-10-02
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
Man, have Debo, DEBO TOO and myself been busy!
And, for the most part, we have been blessed with hungry fish just waiting for us to show up with all that free food.
We have taken 6 groups of fine fisher folk offshore since the 3rd and have averaged 16 nice grouper per trip in spite of the fact that 2 of the trips were ½ days. We managed a couple of limit trips of 20 and 30 grouper and on all the trips some nice bubbas to 24# showed up.
We also managed to entice a few nice red snapper ( to 16# ) to the hook and a sure nuff’ heavy duty black snapper at about 14# on one trip. And, we also had one lone chicken dolphin to nose around the boat causing his eventual demise.
He went about 7#.
We are also blessed or plagued, depending on how you want to look at it, with a whole bunch of spotted reef sharks on many of the stops we have been making.
They fight really strong and are great eating if handled properly at catch. The downside is that if the sharks are really thick the grouper stay in their hidey holes and will not come out to feed, so we just have to go on to the next spot.
So, come on down and let’s go fishin’ kids! It’s finer than a split frog hair!
Take those kids fishing & Catch Em’ Up!
Capt. Randy
|
Captain Randy
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, June 05, 2002 - 12:08 am: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 6-2-02
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
We have really been blessed the last few days with great folks, calm seas and hungry fish.
Nora Hampton and her crew, consisting of Mark Furey and Drew and Val Miller fished with us on the 29th. It was their first time fishing offshore here in Florida and these fine folks from Texas and Oklahoma did great!
There are 13 grouper to 22# and a whole gaggle of rubys and black sea bass going back West for some fine suppers with that crew.
Andrew Reibly and his family from up around Marietta, Georgia wanted to do a half day of trolling with us on the 30th and that we did. I was able to slip in a couple of grouper stops during the trolling to add to the good mixed bag.
We had a fine half day with 2 grouper to 8#, two large spanish macks and some nice rubys and black sea bass.
The 31st brought Steve Russo and the cream of his workforce from his company in Palmetto, Georgia for a full day outing with us.
These great guys dove into the grouper with gusto, giving us a limit of 20 beautiful bubbas by 12:00. 6 or 7 of them went to the 20# or better category.
We also had a nice red snapper at about 12# and 1 amberjack at about 18#.
I had to talk Steve into going with his men and I think he is glad I did. Grouper fights can lift all sorts of cares from your spirit.
Keith, Becky, Brandon, Jack and Mary Jane Newberry, pretty much the whole clan, fished with us on 6-1-02. These fine folks from up in Byron, Georgia are close friends with Rodney Easler and his family and came down to fish with us at his urging. Their positive decision was well rewarded.
A near limit of 23 bubba category grouper to 23# and a fine mess of rubys and black sea bass made the fatal mistake of picking on this fine crew. It was grins all around back at the dock at picture taking time yesterday afternoon.
Today, was a makeup trip for a weather induced postponement of 4-1-02 for David Vaughan and his crew of John Hollifield, Mike and Ayla Register, and John and Johathan Elkins. We had a blast!
This fine crew gave no quarter to our fishy friends in getting a near limit of 26 grouper to 23#, a nice lane snapper (complete with racing stripes), and a nice catch of rubys and black sea bass. A big time FUN day and we’re looking forward to more, starting tomorrow morning.
Take those kids fishing & Catch Em’ Up!
Capt. Randy
|
Capt. Randy Craft
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 28, 2002 - 6:44 pm: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 5-28-02
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
We got blown off the water this past week with most of our clients rescheduling for a later date. We did have two beautiful exceptions and felt most fortunate in being able to get out to check on our fishy friends on those two days.
“Big Daddy” Roger Croft and his close buddy, Pete Snead fished with us on the 24th. These guys have been fishin’ buddies and friends since their childhood down in Dade County and both were truly fired up for a great day of fishing.
Our fishy friends weren’t all that enthused though. We fished hard all day over nice concentrations of big fish. About the only thing we accomplished for the first 6 hours of the trip was to assure the babies were well fed.
Finally, the big guys decided the babies had had enough and dove in on the action. It was deck dancing for Debo and I for the last hour of the trip with Big Daddy and Pete having a ball! We got our limit of 10 beautiful grouper to 22#, a nice red snapper at about 6# and a nice mess of rubys and black sea bass to round out the catch and a beautiful day.
Yesterday, the 27th brought Darrel Shankles, and his buddies Billy Burt, Brent, Lane and Don Smith to us for a full day of fishing. All these boys are from up around Fort Payne, Leesburg and Gadsden, Alabama. With the exception of Darrel, it was to be the first offshore trip for the crew. And, they did just fine!
The bite started off a little slow yesterday morning but quickly picked up at about 10:30. By 1:00 we had our limit of 25 nice grouper to 21# and one Spanish mack caught by the tail by one of the boys. I haven’t figured out just how he managed that trick as yet.
We decided to go play with the amberjacks on a little spot I have and were rewarded with lots of tough amber fighting fun along with one keeper at about 24#. We got broken off by a couple of big guys before I was able to get the drags properly re-set for the amber. Yep, drag settings are a bunch different for grouper vs amberjack. We set the drags with a hammer for the grouper. I just forgot in the heat of battle....dang it! Still a great, fun day!
Take those kids fishing & Catch Em’ Up!
Capt. Randy
|
Capt. Randy Craft
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 22, 2002 - 10:42 pm: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 5-21-02
Fishing Report of 5-21-02
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
Geez! Has it been blowing. And, it’s continuing to blow as I write this report.
Of the six charters we were to run in the last week or so Mother Nature has only allowed us 2 ½.
The trip we ran on the 18th with Joseph Thompson and his crew from up around Rome, Georgia was the roughest we have attempted this year. I had to cancel their trip the day before due to dangerously rough seas. They were understanding, but disappointed.
These fellows are all about as salty as they come and decided to stay another day longer than they had planned to try the next day. And, try we did.
About 9 miles off Dog Island the 3’ to 5’ seas predicted by NOAA turned into 8’ to 10’ with the occasional 12’ roller coming under us. The full day trip also turned into a half day very quickly.
We were very lucky to have brought back 4 grouper to 12#, considering the conditions.
Our good friend and long time client, Gene Carlton brought his fine group down from up around Decatur and Atlanta, Georgia to fish with us for two days back to back on the 16th and 17th. We got blown out the 16th, but it calmed down to a very fishable 2’ to 4’ seas on the 17th and we went.
We had a fair bite going with 4 nice grouper to 14# a bunch of Rubys and black sea bass when on the third stop I hung my anchor into something that must have been about the size of a Grey Hound bus.
After much tugging I was finally able to break it free, but in the process the anchor was turned into a pretzel. It was totally useless.
I always carry a back up anchor, anchor line and chain that is exactly like the one that I had just twisted up. The problem was a new shackle that had rusted up so badly that no amount of frammin and bammin on my part could coax it free. Alas, the best laid plans of men and mice go asunder. So, we went trolling for kings, Spanish and Mahi Mahi.
We boated 3 nice Spanish in short order when Gene mentioned that his group weren’t big fans of those types of fish and that they had just as soon go in an hour early, and that we did.
The best trip we had since my last report was on the 13th with Loretta Veenstra and her dad, Don and other kin Dona and Dean along with their close friends Philip and Mary Ann Hanes. These kids are all from this general area of Florida, but it was to be their first trip offshore to tackle our local bruisers.
It was a great day. We had fine seas of 1’ to 3’ and 18 hungry grouper to 23# just waiting to pick on the crew. Of the 18 grouper boated, 8 would go to the near bubba category of 20# or better each. Tired, but smiling faces were the order of the day as we took pictures back at the dock.
Take those kids fishin’ & Catch Em’ Up!
Capt. Randy
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Capt. Randy Craft
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 13, 2002 - 1:33 am: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 5-12-02
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
We have had 7 nice trips offshore since my last report. We tried for 9 but mother Nature kept us in with some pretty nasty seas.
Lee and Speedy Montefh came up from Miami and invited a couple of their Tallahassee buds to go along with them on a full day the 2nd of May.
I had Capt. Doug Kurtley stand in for Debo as deck hand and so that he could become familiar with “Debo Too” in so far as her handling and anchoring characteristics. Doug will be standing in for me on those few occasions I need to be off in the future. He’s an excellent captain with a super personality and he too knows where the fish are biting. Doug ran many trips in my stead on my previous boat, “Miss Debo”. All were very successful outings and all my clients liked Doug very much.
With Lee and his crew catching 12 nice grouper to 16# and a bunch of black sea bass by 12:00 noon, they decided they had all the fish they needed for the next several months and asked to go in early. It was a nice day with a great group of fellows and now Capt. Doug is a super fan of “Debo Too” and can’t wait to take her out.
The 3rd of May brought Rick Farrington and his crew down from up in North Georgia for a full day of fishing with Debo and myself. 13 good grouper to 18# and a keeper red snapper saw fit to attack the crew. These nice fellows gave the fish tit for tat and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
On the 7th we had a half day trip with Chris, Lynne and Rusty Munday and their buddies Glen and Monica Eldredge from up around Peachtree City and Ball Ground, Georgia. It was supposed to be a full day, but the seas kicked up unexpectedly causing the change in plans.
We still managed 3 pretty good grouper to 14# and some nice black sea bass and rubys.
Charlie and Mary Lester along with their friend Dan Ledbetter opted for a half day on the 8th. The grouper bite was slow except for the babies…………..we must have caught and released close to 40 of those little guys. We did boat one nice red snapper, a black tip spinner shark and some black sea bass, all fine eating and fun to catch.
The 9th brought some super nice folks down from the Big Apple to fish with us.
The Gort family consisting of Gary, Robert and Lisa brought Robert’s special lady along in the person of Erin Bruinsma for her first taste of offshore fishing.
We had a great day with these fine folks in spite of a slow bite. We finally did get 8 nice grouper to 18# and a nice mess of black sea bass and rubys to play with us. It was all grins back at the dock that afternoon.
Darrin and Nancy Taylor brought their crew back down from up in Georgia to fish with us again this year on the 10th. These nice folks got to finally experience a calm day with a good fish bite. 1 to 3’ seas greeted us and 19 frisky grouper to 21# made our day. Darrin boated the largest black snapper brought aboard so far this year. That handsome fish probably went close to 10#.
Long time clients, Rodney and Elaine Easler brought their daughter Mandy and her pal Meredith Howell down for another outing with us on the 11th. These fine folks fish with me several times a year and have experienced catching just about every fish we have to offer in this neck of the Gulf. They are cracker jack people and Elaine is ALWAYS fired up to catch fish.
It was a slow bite, except for the baby grouper, pretty much all day. Then we hit our last stop. 9 of the total of 16 grouper to 16# came aboard fast and furious on that last stop. Those added to the good catch of black sea bass and rubys made for a fine day indeed.
Take those kids fishin’ & Catch Em’ Up!
Capt. Randy
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Capt. Randy Craft
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 06, 2002 - 12:18 am: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 4-30-02
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
My report of this week will be abbreviated somewhat. I’ve got a good many irons in the fire and am just a little behind. Hopefully, next week won’t be as hectic.
We had 4 nice trips offshore here in the past few days with the grouper bite continuing to improve. Most of the larger grouper in the + 20# range have been favoring our frozen and cut baits over our live offerings.
We’ve had folks fish with us from as near as just up the street here on Ochlockonee Bay to as far away as Colorado and Pennsylvania. All have been a joy to take fishing and all have done very nicely indeed in their participation in fish fights.
I had one big old Bubba red grouper to break one of my rods during my initial talk and demonstration of technique to the crew from Colorado. I got him up to the boat, but missed with the gaff and he broke free. He went down, told on us and shut the bite down. We moved over to the other side of the reef, less than a 10th of a mile, caught good fish, moved back over old rod breaker, caught him and a few of his buddies. How did I know he was the same fish? He had my fresh strike hole in his jaw.
The charter of the 25th was an enlightened crew that wanted just 2 or 3 fish for supper with the rest being catch and release for the remainder of the day. With this in mind, still the average catch for the 4 groups fisherfolk we took offshore was 18 grouper per trip going better than 23# for the largest.
I have to mention Joey Mauldin and his kin. Dad, Howard and brothers Terry, Gary, and Donald along with their good friend Nick Nichols all from up in North Georgia. We experienced the slowest bite all week with these fine fellows, but ended the day with 8 nice grouper to 22# and probably the most excitement of the week. Our first cobia of the season came to us on the last stop of the day and that better than 50# bad boy made the day for us all. I believe it was Terry that had the honor of tangling with him and after a fine fight of about 15 minutes brought him to gaff. Terry might call the honor dubious.
Take those kids fishin’ & Catch Em Up!
Capt. Randy
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cAPT. rANDY cRAFT
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 24, 2002 - 1:48 am: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 4-23-02
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
We have been blessed with very nice weather for the last few days, with the exception of early morning fog. The fog causes us to slow down as we are outward bound, but has burned off nicely towards mid-morning giving us beautifully clear, calm days for all four trips we made offshore this past week.
The pin and pig fish we stop and catch for live bait have shown up nicely on our inshore grass patches. They are thick enough that it only takes about 15 or 20 minutes to gather up a good live well full for a day of offshore fishing.
On one of the trips we ran, I believe it was on the 19th. with Joe Gilboy and his crew, a nice school of mahi mahi showed up on one of our stops. Their being here this early in the year is unusual, but most welcome, in spite of the fact that we couldn’t get them to take a bait.
Joe’s crew consisted of himself, Greg and Richard Parsons and David Sands from Tallahassee and another portion of Joe’s clan from over in Jacksonville in the persons of Tim and Rich Gilboy.
These boys had a fine day giving our fishy friends tit for tat in some pretty intense fish fights. Especially when a nice school of oversized red fish graced us with their presence. Fun City! Out of the 5 or so that hit and were boated, only one was small enough to take home along with 15 grouper to 18#, a red snapper at about 4#, 2 lane snapper at 3# each along with a nice gaggle of ruby lips and rock bass. The 4# red snapper we caught was in state waters which made him a keeper. Later on, in federal waters, we caught and released a near sow red snapper that would have gone close to the 20# class. That’s O.K., she’s legal now and I know where she lives.
The Wall gang fished with us again this year on the 20th. John Wall brought Clate, Lee, and Daniel along with Ron Blankenship down from up in Leesburg and McDonough, Georgia for another full day of fishing in hopes of a repeat of our limit outing of last year. The fish didn’t cooperate quite as well as last year, but we still had a fun and fairly productive day. The 10 grouper to 18# and one 37” king is a catch anyone can be proud of.
John has booked another trip with me in July for a rematch.
Cathy Robinson of Robinson Brothers Guide Service called me the night of the 20th to see if I could take some fellows who had been booked with another boat out of Apalachicola on the 21st. The captain had some boat problems and would not be able to take the guys fishing. We were open on Sunday and were able to oblige.
Mark Wall, George and Clinton Tanner, Jerry Rucker, Johnny Musick and Bob Yaeger are all super nice fellows who believe there is a silver lining in every cloud after comparing DEBO TOO to the boat they were scheduled to go out on.
These boys, all from up in the Rome and Cedartown area of North Georgia gave no quarter to the fish. A very nice day was ended with 12 grouper to 19#, a nice black snapper at about 8# and a good catch of black sea bass and ruby lips.
Yesterday, the 22nd, the fog didn’t show up in the morning for the first time in three days. It was a gorgeous day from the git-go for Matt Key and his buds, Brad and Bryan Gregory, Luke Key, Bob Tompkins and Jeb Griffin all from around the Moultrie, Georgia area.
This Chamber of Commerce day was ended with a nice catch of 13 grouper to 17#, a red snapper at about 4# and a whole mess of tasty black sea bass and ruby lips.
Take those kids fishin’ & Catch Em’ Up!
Capt. Randy
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Capt. Randy Craft
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 17, 2002 - 3:35 pm: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 4-16-02
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
All Right! Bout’ time!
We had two very nice trips this last few days and I am proud to announce the fish have gotten off their snooty attitude of the last couple of weeks.
The Bruce, McFarling and Jones clans came down to fish with me on the 13th from up in Albany, Leesburg and Elberton, Georgia. These nice folks were a little short on experience in offshore fishing, but long on enthusiasm and that makes all the difference in the world.
We had a great time with 14 nice grouper to 18#, a nice king mack and a good mess of black sea bass deciding to pick on the crew after lunchtime. Slim pickings’ in the A.M., but they fired up nicely for lunch.
Yesterday brought our first limit catch of grouper for the season and it happened for a sure nuff’ diehard group of great guy’s from up in cold nose Indiana.
Kevin Bird brought his buds, Norm and Simon Ladd, and Brian Burton down to try our brand of offshore fishing on the Forgotten Coast. These boys have been fishing for many years out of West Florida, Destin, Pensacola, and such and wanted to try their hand at our grouper. We fish very differently here than the boys do west of us. No two hour rides out to the fish. We start fishing about 45 minutes from the dock, anchor up, shut down the engines, and catch GROUPER, snapper and OTO.
A fine day it was, indeed! 1’ to 2’ seas and frisky fish, just waiting in ambush for us. The crew was up to the task and put their previous experiences to good use.
Our limit of 20 nice grouper to about 18# were on board at about lunch time. One smallish, but keeper red snapper did grace us with her appearance in state waters and is today also going back to Indiana.
Debo is working with me on charters Friday through Monday in the position of deck hand / first mate and is also in training for her captains license. She is doing one more jam up job too!
Take those kids fishin’ & Catch Em’ Up!
Capt. Randy
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Capt. Randy Craft
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, April 08, 2002 - 5:15 am: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 4-6-02
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
Sorry I haven’t reported recently. We have been busy as rip taking folks fishing this first week of April and all of the trips have been a bunch of fun, if not as productive as we would have wished.
We’ve had some unusually severe water temperature fluctuations of late and I believe it’s contributing to the fickleness of our fishy friends. A couple of days this past week we were able to catch pin and pig fish for live bait quickly and in suitable quantities. Then a little over night cool snap would drop the water temperature causing them to vamoose off the flats out of our reach.
The grouper and snapper can’t decide if they want to feed in the morning or the afternoon or feed at all. This fickleness occurs a couple of times each year, but thankfully only last for a couple of weeks.
We are blessed, though, with nice clean, clear waters offshore. There’s no black water in our area and I feel for the boys down in Key West having to contend with that strange stuff.
Our last charter of March came on the 28th. Howison Schroeder brought his two kids, Jack (9) and Liz (15) along with their friends Porter (15) and Elizabeth (12) down for a half day trip on the Gulf. A fun time was had as the black sea bass and ruby lip snappers swarmed us on about every stop. One grouper at about 12# decided to join our feed up party, but the big guys I was marking were being snooty.
April 2nd, Richard, Logan (13) and Bob Williams brought along their buds Don Britt and Charles and Katherine (13) Price down from the Snellville - Loganville area up in Georgia to enjoy a full day of fish fights with us.
And, fish fights we had! The first stop showed nice near bubba grouper and they were in the mood to feed-----thank goodness. Grunts and grins all around for the whole day brought 20 very nice grouper to 18#, a lane snapper and several black sea bass back to the hill for the trip to Georgia. Beautiful, calm seas, hungry fish and great fisherfolk make for a mighty fine day.
Carl Updyke and his wife, Mercedes brought their kids, Alicia and Vincent along with their buds, Donald Douglas and Brian Rickie up from Miami, Fl. to fish with us on the 3rd. Danny, now my ex-deckhand, failed to show for the last time and we went fishing without him.
Snooty grouper greeted us at pretty much all the stops we made that day. 5 did finally decide to bite with the largest going about 17#. We had a nice mess of ruby lips and black sea bass to round out a pretty fair catch.
The bright spot of the trip came with a large school of offshore red fish visiting us on one of the stops. It was an instantaneous 6 fisherfolk hook-up with a whole lotta grunting and squealing going on. Of the 6 hooked, 4 fell within the slot limit at exactly 27” on the upper side. The other 2 were just HUGE spawners and were quickly released to continue to do their thing.
The Kidd and Clark clans fished with me on the 4th, and a finer set of fisher families could not be asked for by any Captain. Michael, Marilyn, Jon J., and Chris Kidd hail from Delton, MI.. Maggie and Mike Clark are old friends transplanted in Ackworth, GA.
We had 2’ to 3’ seas, a clearing day and high spirits as we rounded Dog Island in search of bubba groupers and OTO. I made in excess of 13 stops at what should have been very productive spots in depths from 42’ on out to 78’. What we were greeted with was legions of ruby lipped snapper and black sea bass and what I thought were very picky bubba’s. Then, the bananas were discovered onboard.
It’s an old superstition that you NEVER take bananas on a fishing boat as it causes that no-catch monkey to be on your back all day. I’m not as superstitious as many captains, but I do know that after the bananas were scarfed up, we started catching grouper.
13 nice, near bubbas to 16# were added to the near ton of rubys and black sea bass to make for a fun productive day.
A half day morning trip was just the ticket for Bryan Tomlin and his son Zack (9).
They brought their friends Jamie, Ty, Chase and Sally to help out with the catchin’ duties on the 5th. Lawrenceville, Ga. And Marion, Ohio can be proud of this crew. They nailed 8 nice grouper to 18# and a nice mess of rubys and black sea bass on a half day trip. It’s a tough trick to pull off, but these kids did it with style and a bunch of grins.
Arnold Conforti, from up in Louisville, Ky. brought all his children (4) and their buddy Lauren Neumann to catch the second half of the 5th.
We all became victims of fish lockjaw in the afternoon and felt very proud of the single grouper at 12# and one ruby lip snapper that finally decided to bite. It happens to the best of us and it’s why they call it fishin’ and not catchin’.
Take those kids fishin’ & Catch Em’ Up!
Capt. Randy
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Capt. Randy Craft
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 25, 2002 - 3:05 am: | |
Subject: Fishing Report of 3-24-02
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore
I got a nice email from Charlie Jackson over in Navarre, Florida this morning asking why I don’t talk more about the baits I use to catch all those grouper and snapper I’m always talking about.
And, you know, he’s right. I didn’t intend for it to be a secret. It’s just that I haven’t thought about it from a novice’s standpoint and I am now going to correct my oversights.
Follows, is Captain Randy’s bait primer for novices and heck, maybe some old salts too.
Pretty much since the net limitation here in Florida caused the price of IQF cigar minnows to triple, I have been using IQF Spanish sardines or locally caught, ice brine rinsed and frozen LY. I don’t miss the cigars until it comes time to clean the boat. The Spanish sardines have scales that get everywhere and makes it a little more of a chore to clean DEBO TOO. The grouper and snapper love the sardines and that’s what makes it fine with me.
The sardines don’t lend themselves to trolling as well as the cigar minnows since they are a little softer. But, the additional oil in the sardines makes it a very good bottom and pelagic specie bait. So, if you are heavy duty into trolling go ahead bite the bullet and spring for the cigars or maybe even ballyhoo.
The LY we get locally is also excellent bait if properly handled when caught. The major drawback to me is that I have to take so much of it for an outing that it’s almost impractical. It’s always double or triple the weight required vs. Spanish sardines or cigar minnows to accomplish the same task. Bait prep for maximum presentation is the reason for this, as you must use a whole LY for the best effect.
Squid…………yep, I like squid. Especially when I want to serve the grouper steak n eggs on the morning bite. I | |
