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6/17/2017 snapper trip

PostPosted: Mon Jun 19, 2017 12:06 pm
by Capt Dan Medina
Had a scheduled charter for this upcoming tuesday, but looking at the forecast, and predicted 35+ mile per hour sustained winds, there was a pretty good chance the trip was going to be cancelled.

My crew was staying on North Captiva. Their party of 5 had 3 of its 5 members arriving into town at 330 PM this saturday. With Saturday being the best weather day, we agreed to get a late 4 pm start and just fish the afternoon/evening bight.

We pulled off from Barnacle Phils at a few minutes past 4pm. We ran out captiva pass in near glass calm conditions. Once we reached 55 ft of water or so, we began seeing schools of bonita crashing glass minnows. We deployed one rod on the troll and picked up 3 quick bonita which we later turned into snapper bait.

Before the sun went down, we went to some good grouper grounds in 90-100 ft of water. We got hammered with lots of break offs. We did manage one good 26" grouper for the box before the bite completely shut down.

Now in the pitch black, we set out another 15 miles or so in search of some tasty snapper. THe bight certainly did not dissappoint. The mango bight was great with our average fish in the 18 inch range. Our big mango of the night was right at 23". We had a bunch of short red snapper, with 3 keepers making the box, with the biggest at 24". We caught a bunch of vermillion and Lane snapper to compliment, including one lane that pushed the 20" mark.

The wind started picking up around midnight and we made our way back to the dock around 4AM.

The bight was hot and heavy, and it was a pleasure seeing some Kansas boys enjoy our wonderful fishery.

Not a whole lot of pics on the water as the bite was fast and furious.

Hopefully mother nature will be a little more forgiving as our weather windows continue to be small.

Till next time!

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