Grouper Offshore

My fishing partner Chipper went offshore Saturday while I was at home rebuilding my dock. He took some live bait out 7 miles from Longboat Pass and tore em up. In all he caught 10+ grouper including this nice 20"+ fish.

Weather was a little on the rough side with seas 2-3 feet with an occasional 4-5 swell coming through. Look for the water to lay down as the Holidays approach.

The forecast calls for 2' seas for the next several days.

Snook in the Canals

Weather forced a shortened trip yesterday because of increasing winds from todays cold front coming through. We fished the canals around cortez and didn't have much luck. We did land one snook around 20" on a DOA shrimp out of the mangroves.

More later once the weather clears...

Live Baiting Around Docks

Saturday was another fun one in the Cortez area. My buddy and I loaded up the livewells with white bait and fished around the docks on the northwest end of Longboat Key in the afternoon.

Using light spinning tackle and freelining white bait we tossed lines around the docks and had good success. We caught grouper, trout, and a small snook. We also pulled out a 18" mackerel, imagine that.

Conditions:
Water temp 66 degrees, tide was about mid and not moving up or down but there was a slight current still moving in. Sun was out bright and wind was blowing around 5-7 knots.

Bluefish in the Pass

Last Saturday (12-1) my older brother and I went out in the afternoon for a little fishing and beer. After spending 45 minutes looking for bait and I wasn't in the mood to chum we decided to troll out through Longboat Pass. I dropped a 4" blue/silver Yozuri overboard and headed West. It wasn't 2 minutes when the rod bent down with a "Fish on". I quickly grabbed the rod and landed roughly a 20" Mackarel. "Wow was that easy", I thought. We continued West and caught about 12 bluefish one after another.

Conditions:
It was a nice sunny afternoon around 3 PM The water temp was 65 degrees and the tide was moving in about 2 knots.