The weather in SW Florida goes from sunny and nice to dreadful in the matter of a few hours. We have been getting large amounts of rain. Followed by large amounts of wind and then finishing up with some very cold weather in the high 30's to low 40's. Our fish are mostly tropical and subtropical species which means they do not tolerate those cold conditions very well. Our water temperature has been hovering from 60 to 65 degrees which is quite bad for our fish in SW Florida. Especially considering the fact snook begin to die at 58 degrees.
Enough with all of the negatives. A good captain always has to be persistant in trying to find eating fish. Which is exactly what I attempted to do over the holidays. As mentioned earlier the water temps have plumeted so flats and sound fishing has become very tough. Most fish have moved to deep water or inland waters to find warmer waters. I decided to concentrate on grouper. My daughter and I headed off of Sanibel to find some hard bottom on the depth recorder. We were hoping once hard bottom was found the fish would be too. Lucky for us we found hard bottom and fish. I could see them on the depth recorder but not on the other end of my line. I tried freelining live bait, cut bait, live threadfin on the bottom, and chumming. After an hour or so I began to bore of the area and moved the boat to reanchor at a different location. It seemed as if that was the ticket. While I was fishing with the Ahab size 12 on the BlueWater Cape Fear Rod my Man O' War rod starts to bend. I put the BlueWater Cape Fear in the leaning post holder as fast as I can. Then I reach over to the Man O' War and drop the hammer on whatever just ate my bait. The fish made a dash for the rocks but it was no match for the Man O' War rod. Soon I had a nice 7 pound grouper to take home for dinner. When I got home my neighbor wanted a picture with the fish so she could tell her friends back home in Virginia she caught it. Here she is. Not such a bad day after all.
Paul Heine was my client on Monday. We originally scheduled for Friday but the weather was not in our favor that day. Besides the weather man called for a high in the 70's and light winds on Monday. Once again grouper was the target. We fished several spots that always produce but for some reason (COLD WATER) they didn't want to eat. We ran into a good friend of mine and he said they found Snook that ate really well earlier in the tide but have since slacked off. We fished the same areas he had just covered without even a nibble. I decided to take Paul to the one spot I know will usually always produce at least a couple of breakoffs. Before I handed Paul the 8-17 pound Cape Fear, I asked him if he had his muscles warmed up for some heavyweight action. He told me he was, but I don't think he knew what was in store. I tossed his frisky pinfish in near the submerged tree and handed him the rod and told him he probably already had a fish on. Sure enough Slam!! Paul would have had the rod jerked out of his hand if I had not warned him. For some reason the fish missed the hook so I rebaited Paul with a Little Jenny. Within 5 seconds of his bait hitting the water it was eaten. Paul set the hook and his rod bent double. The fish was so fast and strong it had already pulled him underneath the tree to the other side. Fortunately for Paul he was fishing with Fins PRT Braid which enabled him to pull the fish through the barnacle encrusted limbs. Paul eventually got the fish to the boat. It turned out to be a 3 to 4 pound grouper about 2 inches too short to keep. Paul remarked he never thought a fish that size could pull so hard. Paul managed another 3 or 4 grouper on the day with a couple of break offs to boot.
January the 2nd I called Nelson up to see if he was up to a little scouting trip. We got the boat in the water a little before noon and made the 30 something mile trek down the river and up the sound in search of some deeper water fish. We made it all the way to Cabbage Key and never even had a bite. We decided to work our way back towards the Causeway where we would finish our day. We dropped some Threadfin in Captiva Pass but only managed about 4 grouper to 10 inches. These grouper where eating fish half their size. I wish I could find some big ones that were hungry like that. We fished 5 or 6 more spots without even a nibble before we decided to head back to the Causeway and try for some late afternoon bait. We didn't get any bait at the Causeway so we decided to try a grouper hole we did well at a few days earlier. Nothing, only one Snapper on top. Nelson and I had mentioned to one another earlier in the day about how we missed chunking the big baits for big fish. We both said "it sure would be nice to have a few big baits to fish the next hole." We motored up and stopped in 2 to 3 feet of water on a flat near our next hole. Wouldn't you know it, the Ladyfish were there in full force. In no time we had 5 in the boat, with the largest going about 24 inches, she was a monster, in Ladyfish terms that is. When we reached our Mogan Hole, I grabbed that 24 inch Ladyfish and put her on the 7'0 Cape Fear Man O' War 30 to 50 pound rod matted to a Trinidad 30 with 200 yards of FINS 130 High Vis Yellow and 125 pound test TrippleFish leader on a 6/0 hook. Nelson grabbed one of the smaller Lady's and hooked it up to his 9/0 Penn Senator Spooled with about 800 yards of 100 pound test mono and tossed it out. We both put our rods in the holders and grabbed smaller spinners to fish with the Threadfin on bottom. The first 10 minutes it was slow but then I got popped on my Cape Fear EXT, I pulled back to set the hook and the fight was on. I thought I was about to win but the fish hit second gear and I had to palm the spool to keep it out of the rocks. When I finally managed to get it up to the top, a nice 10 pound Jewfish appeared. I love those fat things, they are so strong it is nearly unbelievable.
Fortunately for us that fish was the baby. Within the next 5 minutes the Trinidad's clicker goes off ever so slightly. I reel down, set the hook and immediately get pummeled into the structure. I gave that Cape Fear all I could and still couldn't double it up. I felt the fish on the other end of the line thumping. For a moment I thought I had a chance at getting it out, then the next second came and I almost fell in the boat when the 125 pound test leader snapped. My heart was a pumpin' after that. I rerigged and put on the next biggest Ladyfish in the well. I dropped her down, put on the clicker, and placed the rod in the leaning post rod holder. About 5 minutes later the clicker goes off again, I reel down to set the hook and almost fall again. The fish busted me off on the hookset. I go to the front of the boat to rerig again. Meanwhile Nelson starts to reel in his line when his rod starts to bend. He sets the hook and the fight is on. I yell over at Nelson and tell him if the fish gets near the rocks again to just flip his bail and we will wait him out. About 10 seconds later he was in the rocks and Nelson was busted off. Now we are down to our last two Ladys. I bait up as does Nelson. Over the next 30 minutes we got nothin'. We move the boat over a little. 10 minutes later BIG FISH ON!! I lay the wood to him. Then he jerks me into the rocks and busts me off again. Now that we have taken our BEAT DOWN we can go home like men. One of these days we will put one of those monsters in the boat. Rest Assured!!
Until next time may you have line singing, leader fraying, and
tackle busting action!!!!
If you are looking for
some tackle busting, leader fraying, excitement then give Captain Chancey a call @ (239)540-7529
