Hooked up on gags before weather went bad: Bonita Beach, FL
Posted: Fri Dec 24, 2004 8:22 amLast week was good for snapper, with mangroves to 16 inches and lots of keeper lanes. One day out there was particularly good for gag grouper too.
Monday, with small craft and heavy surf advisories issued, I cancelled my offshore trip. I braved the cold and some residual rough seas Tuesday morning, 12/21. The air temperature warmed up nicely by about 11:00 AM, but the water temperature was around 60 degrees. We used live shrimp to catch two keeper sheepshead, keeper mangrove and lane snapper, and a bluefish, at the artificial reefs off Bonita Beach.
Wednesday, I fished 19 miles west of New Pass. We had a productive half-day of fishing, with three keeper gag grouper, 24 inches, 26 inches, and 29 inches. We caught the 24 incher on a live shrimp, on light tackle. We were reeling in a snapper when a larger gag attacked it, so I grabbed the big pole (heavy tackle), hooked an 11 inch snapper on it, and we caught the 26 inch gag on it. We got that one boated, dropped the same snapper bait over, and got the 29 inch gag. We also got some nice mangrove snapper to 16 inches, and some large whitebone porgies. We released about twenty grouper shorts between 18 and 21 inches.
With action like we had Wednesday, I was dying to get back out there Thursday, but Mother Nature threw me a curve. The cold front predicted to arrive late in the day, arrived earlier, and I awoke to small craft advisories, and a radar that showed stormy conditions 20-30 miles offshore. I had to ditch the trip, in the interests of safety. The weather outlook wasn’t too good for the entire holiday weekend.
Monday, with small craft and heavy surf advisories issued, I cancelled my offshore trip. I braved the cold and some residual rough seas Tuesday morning, 12/21. The air temperature warmed up nicely by about 11:00 AM, but the water temperature was around 60 degrees. We used live shrimp to catch two keeper sheepshead, keeper mangrove and lane snapper, and a bluefish, at the artificial reefs off Bonita Beach.
Wednesday, I fished 19 miles west of New Pass. We had a productive half-day of fishing, with three keeper gag grouper, 24 inches, 26 inches, and 29 inches. We caught the 24 incher on a live shrimp, on light tackle. We were reeling in a snapper when a larger gag attacked it, so I grabbed the big pole (heavy tackle), hooked an 11 inch snapper on it, and we caught the 26 inch gag on it. We got that one boated, dropped the same snapper bait over, and got the 29 inch gag. We also got some nice mangrove snapper to 16 inches, and some large whitebone porgies. We released about twenty grouper shorts between 18 and 21 inches.
With action like we had Wednesday, I was dying to get back out there Thursday, but Mother Nature threw me a curve. The cold front predicted to arrive late in the day, arrived earlier, and I awoke to small craft advisories, and a radar that showed stormy conditions 20-30 miles offshore. I had to ditch the trip, in the interests of safety. The weather outlook wasn’t too good for the entire holiday weekend.