Tis' the Season for fronts. Cold Fronts, Rainy Fronts, Stationairy Fronts, Stalled Fronts, and even a Warm Front this week. Besides the cold and windy weather making it tough, the fish seem to be scattered all over the place. I even had some trouble getting fish to bite at my "no fail spots." I am sure there is a consistent pattern, but most of us local captains have had trouble finding exactly what it is.
On Tuesday I had a trip with David and his wife Terry from Ft. Myers. David was the high bidder for a trip I donated to the Coastal Conservation Association. I had already caught bait the day before, which meant we had a well full of frisky pinfish without having to get wet or cold first thing in the morning. I knew the Tarpon were still around, but I was not sure how well they would eat. Especially since a front had just passed. The front brought overnight night temps down into the 40's. We found Tarpon at each spot we visited, but the numbers were way down, only 3 or 4 rollers at each spot.
At some point a captain has to know when to change the species he or she is going after and that point was right then. So we switched over to redfish and luckily for us that was the ticket. David tossed his bait up toward a rock jetty and I tossed Terry's frisky pin as close to the rocks as I could get it. Less than a minute later Terry's line was zinging off of her 4000 Megalite spooled with 8 pound diameter Fins Braid. Terry wasn't quite ready for such a hard strike and run, which meant the redfish was able to pull the hook. Now that David had seen the action first hand he tossed his bait next to the rocks and POW!! fish on! at least we thought, 3 or 4 seconds later another lost fish. Well, time to do it again. I rebaited Terry and she tossed her bait next to the rocks this time. Not even 10 seconds later Zing!!! double bend in the Cape Fear. Terry started hollering, "it's hurting my wrist, I can't reel it in, it's too strong." That's when David said "stop being a sissy and reel that fish in, we're not gonna help ya." With that little bit of encouragement, she toughed it out and put some extra pressure on the fish. When it finally surfaced a nice redfish was ready for the cooler. She sure was pround of that red and it really made my day to see her get such a thril. As you can see by her smile she really enjoyed the battle.
With all of the fronts moving in and out, along with the high pressure systems, it wasn't until Sunday until we could get out and get on some fish again. My good friend Nelson gave me a call to see if I wanted to go out. I wasn't planning on it, but the Bucs were killing the Falcons at the time. So I said "why not?" We managed to get out around 3:30 in the afternoon. Once in the water we headed straight for the Causeway to get bait. In 6 or 7 casts Nelson had the well loaded with Threads.
Next, we headed offshore a little to see if we could find some hard bottom for a some grouper action. I have yet to get a chance to use my 30 to 50 pound class Man O' War Cape Fear on a big fish. I put on one of the biggest threadfins I could find in the well and dropped it down on top of the rocky bottom. Ten minutes later it was still down there without even a nibble. Meanwhile Nelson had already caught two shorts right next to me. Nelson was getting steady action while I was just sitting there, so I decided to put the Man O' War in the rod holder and join him. I baited up the 15 to 40 EXT matched to an Ahab Size 12 spooled with 80lb Fins Braid and Eagle Claw 3/0 Tuna hook. Nelson and I traded off getting shorts until!!! The Man O' War Cape Fear bent a quater of the way down. Nelson yelled "that's a keeper." He knew it would take quite a large fish to bend that rod even a little. The grouper made a run for his hole and I put the throttle to him to get him away from the rocks. About 2 minutes later a fat gag surfaces at the top. He was well over 30 inches and pretty big for the waters we were fishing.
In conclusion, fishing was tough but with enough work we managed to get a couple of nice ones in the boat. Grouper are available when you find them but sometimes they are quite hard to keep out of the rocks. The Tarpon are really starting to move in but I haven't tried to catch any in awhile but have heard good reports.
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
