Thanksgiving week, I was booked all week but only got the last 3 days in. The first part of the week it was blowin' 25-30 out of the North and the last 3 days it has been Chamber of Commerce weather.
Beautiful weather but only so -so catchin'. Since red snapper are closed we naturally caught some GREAT ones that we had to release. The only species that seems to around in big numbers are the Vermillion Snappers. While not near as big as reds they are excellent table fare and are great kid fish. Since this was a family week with the Holiday I had some very happy junior anglers that caught lots of fish that went to the table.
There are some triggers around but not in the numbers I'm used to this time of year. Today we had 9, yesterday we had 18. Respectable counts with everything else in the box but I'm used to being able to limit out this time of the year. The new size limits have a little to do with it, we are throwing back as many or more than we are keeping. But even so they are a lot more scattered than usual.
No amberines up in close ( within 8 miles of the beach). Usually this time of year that is my bread and butter "hard puller". Wear the anglers down and put a bunch of fish in the box. They were starting to show a few weeks ago but seem to have moved elsewear.
There are some groupers around but once again not in great numbers. We had 3 nice gags and a scamp with quite few throw backs yesterday but my folks had been before and knew the drill. Todays folks had never been before - had several shots but none made the boat. Two days ago we kept one nice gag and threw back a few shorts with several great bites missed. When they are hot everybody gets 'em. When you only get a few shots a day you have to be good ( or really lucky!)
The fish seem to be moving around with the water temp dropping a little quicker than usual this year. All my trips were 4 hours so I did not have the time to run out deep and look farther offshore. I imagine that all the trigs and amberines that were in 75 ft of water are now in 100'. I just have not had the chance to look.
I have spent most of the past 2 weeks working on the new boat. I will probably have to keep my play fishing to a minimum this winter so the new ride will be ready for march. I would much rather be fishin' than grindin' fiberglass but it looks like the grinder fits my hand again tommorrow!
Capt Larry Pentel