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Date: Dragging through November
Title:
Date: 18 Oct 2004
Time: 11:58:46 -0400
“Dragging Through November” We were moving along just under five knots on a calm sea. Four lines back dragging Mann’s Stretch 30’s in 68 feet of water. I was intent on the TV (bottom machine) but listening to the guys yack about things not important. A half hour ago I had talked them into trolling for grouper. The day before a friend had told me he had caught a good mess of grouper in the area. Unfortunately, my closest number was two miles north of our current position. I was prospecting unaware to the crew and running low on forgiveness time. Ten more minutes till game over when we would cruise to a known waypoint to bottom fish. Within five minutes a cloud of suspended colorful balls appeared on the TV. Wow! I punched ‘mark’ on the GPS. It looked too good. Maintaining course, I peered over my shoulder and started silently counting down like I was pulling off a NASA space shot. Three, two, one, zero...Nothing. At minus three, two poles bucked down so hard the chirp of the drag sent six guys into ‘firemen’ action. Two guys hopped on the action rods, while two others reeled in the two without fish. “Remember what the captain said, work the lure back to the boat, don’t just reel it in put some action on it” blurted Little B, our best mate. The guys on the limp lures did a faithless effort of injecting the plug with life with erratic pumps. “*&%@#, my fish is off” notified the rest of us one of the two fish had come unglued. “Oh *%#*” notified me that one of the empty plugs being reeled to the boat was now full. “It hit at the motor, no kidding.” Little B and I gaffed two beautiful grouper to a celebration of six new fans. “Captain, you da man” I smiled knowing I was but four minutes away from becoming the chump not the champ. Over the next two hours, I found one more ‘honey hole’, a quarter mile from the first, while criss-crossing the first ‘honey spot’. On three occasions, all four rods dipped over and we managed to collect two of the three “quadra freaks”. Twice, a threesome came aboard. Many times we picked up doubles. The end of day tally was 26 grouper, none of which was under 8 pounds with the largest being 18 pounds. We had two plugs that were snatched off and one were the belly hook was torn off (I gave that plug away as an office reminder). “Do ya’ll want to try some bottom fishing?” I asked. One fellow shouted above the rest “Heck no, it’s to much hassle.” I agreed with him; something about a bird in the hand being... I shared the experience of that day to bring up some points. First, that trip occurred in the cool of the year. A time of year when much of ‘grouper food’ has already headed south and the rest ain’t far behind. Grouper know what’s happening and often stack up to feed. The fattening up period in nature. Second, I took a small portion of our day to search a new area. The hour chance paid off in spades with two new hot spots I’ll enjoy, with others, for a life time. As a matter of fact, roughly fifty percent of my grouper spots I found on my own time trolling plugs. Around twenty percent of my grouper holes were found trolling from A to B on charter. Most of the rest were found being attentive to the TV whether under charter or not. Less than one percent were gifts from friends. None paid for. Given that personal information, it should be apparent that trolling is not only an effective means of catching grouper but an extraordinary way to find new ‘honey holes’. Now, here’s the extra to that lead in story...king fish are patrolling offshore of Steinhatchee and neighboring water towns. Kings are cruising in 42 to 58 feet of water around the schools of bait. The zing of a king is a kick in the pants and a strong possibility for those trolling spoons and diving baits. So why not take a day to ‘king fish’ while keeping a close eye on your bottom machine to pick up some new grouper numbers? Here’s how to swing the deal. Run a Stretch 30 on the port side, a Rapala CD 22 off starboard and a big drone spoon down the middle, shotgun. Relax, get a cool drink, keep an eye on the TV and troll to nowhereville deviating toward bait pods. A cool day of fishing vacation for the weekend local fishermen. Think about it...if you pick up two good numbers on top of the fish you’ll catch, great day. Another good deal, at the moment, is to free line a live bait off the stern while you’re grouper fishing. Run the bait on number 3 to 5 single strand wire with a stinger hook. Personally, I don’t like frozen king steaks but picking up one nice king for the grill is worth the effort of putting out the free liner. Besides hearing the drag go off like a fire alarm is a charm in itself. Trout fishing is good in the skinny water. Kevin Reed and Cindy Huff, Hartwell, GA, popped some 19 inch plus trout, north of the river in less than two foot of water, chunking 6 inch Zoom Flukes in ‘Baby Bass” color with a weedless hook, no jig head. I’ve caught some good trout drifting in 2-3 foot using ‘shiner tails’. I was within eye sight of other guides working the same water. In the shallows you’ll knock some trout, as well as, having a good shot at a red. Thanks for reading. Take good care of yourself and the tackle. Capt. B.