Fun in Florida

Hey gang:

Spent my second day in FL and finally got some of these fish figured out. Yesterday just tried to catch bait for pompanos and finally gave up and bought them from a bait shop. Go figure!!! After watching a couple of dudes from the badger state catch whiting like they were going out of style , I figured why not join them. Tonight no nylure jigs for pompano, but a slip rig with shrimp for those little whiting. Managed four after trying to get them to bite on something different. Will post pics of a couple of EFN hat dudes fishing for seatrout and redfish.

Hey, would you guys turn down the fan. For crying out loud, the wind has blown from the northwest both days I have been here and they are forecasting it to blow that way through our guided flats trip on Sunday!!!

Mark

Just an update. I had the chance to share the skinny water with Capt. Chris Robinson from Apalachicola today and while it was slow due to the cold nights and wind, we caught some exceptional redfish. While I don’t have any lengths, I do have boga grip wieghts and will post pics of the fish we did catch. The day was highlighted by a 12# red which was the fourth fish of the twelve fish day. We started by being poled around the sand flats casting to troughs in the sand. Water depths ranged from 6″ to 5′. We also started by casting johnson silver minnows in the gold finish. We couldn’t get anything going in the troughs, so we started a stalk and cast attack with a 1/4 oz. jig and plastic shrimp tail tipped with a small piece of shrimp. When a fish was spotted, it was then just the difficult task of placing the bait just beyond the fish and twitching it to bring the fish. Pickups were subtle, but when the hook was set the runs were fantastic!!! I will post pics when I get back Tuesday. One more day tomorrow and am going to get up early for my last day of fishing to try to see if some pompano might be available. More later.

Mark

I am finally getting a chance to update with the pics from the 5 day trip to the panhandle of FL. A great time of the year to get there as the mud season is in full swing in Minocqua. This first picture is on the sunrise on Friday a.m. the second. As the weather has been cold and windy down there also (i.e. no warm nights), the pompano which had made it in the week before just weren’t showing up in the a.m. I rarely see sunrise, but pompano in the surf is worth the effort to make it up.

Mark

Most days were casting shrimp on a Lindy type rig and catching these small fish called whiting. Always a chance for redfish, seatrout, stingrays, small cats and small sharks during the day. Only caught whiting and these small fish are supposed to be tasty, but I didn’t bring a fillet knife, so they all went back. My wife Liz took this picture of a smaller version and it went back into the water.

A few friends I met fishing that were from Wisconsin…

You can’t go to Apalachicola and not have some oysters. These guys pull those beautiful oysters from the bottom with large tong like items called rakes. Then they clean them on the front of their boats and take them to the restaurants that they have on the back of their warehouses…

Later on Friday a.m., my parents and my wife and myself took a pontoon out to try for some reds and seatrout. It was really to windy, however my guide and I fished this same spot last year and caught some fish of these oyster bars. We weren’t able to catch anything on this morning trip. Along with the guide, my mom is in the foreground and sorry Liz…

Here’s my father and I sporting those EFN hats…

It was so windy that the shrimp boats were in the bay out of the wind. Normally you see them off shore at night as lights on the horizon fishing offshore…

Now you know you’re a fisherman if your truck looks like this…

As reported earlier, my father and I hooked up with Capt. Chris Robinson for a day of flats fishing for Redfish. This is the sunrise again!!!

After our six mile run to where Chris wanted to fish, he is manuvering to get us (my dad is in the foreground)in the best position to cast 1/4 oz. gold Johnson silver minnows for redfish. The water we were fishing was anywhere from 6″ to maybe 5′ deep. Chris poled us along and we would cast to the deeper troughs in search of any active fish. As the morning started out cold again that took some doing…

We caught two reds, a flounder and snagged a small stingray using this method. Capt. let the first five pounder go without a pic and this one is really only 18-20″. The bigger fish was in the 25″ range…

Around noon without a lot to show for our outing, Chris decided to change up and cast a 1/4 jig with a PLASTIC SHRIMP TAIL and a small piece of shrimp for odor. The game plan was to start to spot and stalk the fish that we would see. This fish had Chris excited as he thought it was bigger than it actually was. It was still a good fish at 8# (CPR’ed and over 27″ slot limit) and both he and I were happy. Dad was impressed that we got that thing to eat…

This fish is the one Chris thought we had the fish before. Not completely sure of the length, guessing 30-32″, but with the bogagrip it weighed 12# and was Chris’s biggest fish in his boat since the red season opened in FL.

Sometimes they come with multiple spots and that makes them trophy-like. This one had seven spots and was another 27″, 8# fish.

I have a bunch more to show, but it is getting late and I need my beauty rest. Enjoy guys, I am hoping Slop Bass will post when he gets back from FL as well. He is only 90 miles west of where I was at Apalachicola Bay and St. George Island.

Mark

Great pics!! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for all the great pics! That makes it fun in WI too!!!

Got a few Florida pics back today. While I enjoyed being out on the water, I URGE you to go w/a Private Charter if you fish. Group parties are ok, but it’s a hassle.

Traveling to the next spot.(spent too much time doing that) WOO HOO

and when we got there…more dinks

Here’s the little lady w/the only fish we caught of legal size. Apprently White Snapper don’t have a size limit. She was thrilled none the less.

A few dolphin visitors real quick…checkin us out