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Date: Fishing After Ivan
Title: Sept 18, 2004
Date: 28 Sep 2004
Time: 05:35:37 -0400
Steinhatchee and surrounding communities dodged another atmospheric A-bomb this week. Ivan caused a lot of preparedness but brought just a little wind and rain. At high tide, the river swelled to the highest I’d ever seen it but all the water was maintained inside the banks. I looked at the NOAA marine reports near Ivan before landfall. Seas topped out at 56 feet and sustained winds were forecast at 110-115 mph with gusts to 125mph! Tilt, game over, past time to get your ducks in row, time to be a duck. Wow, how blessed are we? I hesitate to say “Thank God” because it would imply we are in better graces than those in the panhandle and He plays no favorites. I’m inclined to pass off our good fortune to real estate; location, location, location. Next time we may have the ill-fate of hosting TWC crew. I never want to see Jim Cantore in Taylor county. Saturday was the first shot at fishing we’ve had in what seemed like forever. Little B and I were fit to be untied from the dock. Tom Idoyaga and five great guys from the Gainesville area came west ready to go. All eight of us were pumped to play with the fishes. We stopped at the pinfish traps, got a go load of pigfish, but the water was so dirty one couldn’t see the bottom four feet below. Not a great sign. How’s the offshore scene? A hurricane, of Ivan’s magnitude, can shake the bottom up like a giant Etcha-Sketch erasing miles and miles of live habitat. We were going to inspect a few area’s to see how much things changed. Right away, we all noticed the offshore waters were flocculent with silt stirred from the seabed. The water had a weird light blue chalky appearance; visibility was poor. Could the grouper see to eat our bait? The first anchoring answered that question. In 42 foot of water, we picked up two red and one gag grouper, as well as, some throw backs. We could have stayed in that area and had a good day of fishing. But I needed to roam. We roamed out to 75-80 foot. Out there, the grouper greeted us with open mouths. Every stop gave us a quick 2-3 grouper. One spot produced five big gag grouper to 15 pounds. Everything was turning out wonderful until two o’clock. Our welcome was worn-out. Fresh rocks gave no bites. Back tracking to were we caught fish earlier gave no bites. Who turned the switch off? How does the switch get turned off? Most importantly, how do you turn it back on? If anyone has an answer, let me know. It really didn’t matter by that time. We had a fine box of quality grouper; we were just greed fishing, trying to max out. I believe the greed came forward because we had spent so much time ashore. Looking back, we were thankful for the fish we caught and threw back, the fish we kept, and the fish that we never turned from their holes. A great day on the water. Grouper fishing seems to be very good. On Saturday, there were several boats that came in with beautiful catches. Most of the grouper came from waters 40-50 feet. Frozen baits were effective but those big pigfish were hard to beat. I haven’t got a recent trout report other than those who ventured out a couple hours in the afternoon Saturday. No one I spoke with had a good catch. I’m sure once things settle down, the trout action will become outstanding, especially with the hint of cooler water. Anyway, it is good to still be here. Take care of yourself and your tackle. Capt. B