Decided to take the run offshore saturday.

Baja280

Friday night had the big debate on if Saturday was going to hold out before the front came through last night. Weatherman was calling for 15kts then diminishing then rising again to 20kt. So it seemed a like a toss up, especially with winds coming out of the east, which is usually ok for the first 7-10 miles then it gets nasty. Back and forth, yes were going, no lets wait, finally screw it im going. Thank god we decided to go. Bait was tough in the morning, no pins, no threads, no greenies but plenty of frozen. Headed out of bean pt. sabiki'd up some blue runners and a couple pins. Solid threes on the way out to 55ft. Went to a wreck and caught about 4-5 Ajs not long after arrival. One was a toad for 55ft of water, at a solid 25lbs. Then of course the out of season gags had to show their faces. Even had one follow up a bucktail tipped with a thread up 10ft below the boat and watched him slam my jig. Weather is laying down, headed out to series of #s in 80-90ft. Ended up limiting out on red groupers, with one scamp in the mix. No snappers No porgies just red grouper with one nice gag that we couldn't keep. Weather laid down lovely, made quick time on the way in 35mph all the way. Had some shrimp left decided to stop at a shallow wreck, boated 4 nicccce flounder and lost 3 at the boat. Thank god we went, because it turned out to be one helluva day.

CaptainBly

Nice job. We opted for a booze cruise with the extended family. Went down the beach for the last couple miles and it was just gorgeous....

GASeminole

Nice! I have some folks coming into town in mid and late -January and hope to be able get them offshore for some AJ/RG action,, weather permitting

We stayed in the bay yesterday and caught a bunch of mangroves

Baja280

how big were the mangs?? I thinkg they spawned already and the big boy headed way offshore. Only problem with aj's is you basically have to be over a wreck or high relief to catch em. And they do respond very well to LOTS of chum, they get in a feeding war like mahi, , then you can catch em on anything, top waters, swimbaits, plugs. It Is awesome

GASeminole

Not very big...the ones we kept were 12"-13", but we were using light tackle so we had fun and made enough meat for a couple dinners. Fried some up last night for tacos and will blacken the rest up tonight with some cheese grits.

Cant wait to get offshore again and really bring home some meat like you did! I havent left the pass since August, was hunting hard from Sept - Dec, and when I was in town it was snotty. Now I am refocusing on fishing!

Mango Man

Good job Baja. Sounds like an awesome day. :fishing

Snaphappy

Sounds like a fun day. Hey what's the deal with grouper after the first are they leaving them open like it was dicussed or are they closed until April?

Fintastic.Inc

Gags are closed till July. Rg will be open till the end of Jan in all depths, then will close outside of 120 ft for feb and march.

Snaphappy

Fintastic.Inc wrote: »

Gags are closed till July. Rg will be open till the end of Jan in all depths, then will close outside of 120 ft for feb and march.

So you can keep a rg caught in 119 ft? So spots in the middle grounds shallower than 120ft are good to go for red grouper ?Or is their a longitude (or latitude) line you must be East (or North) of? They make this **** so confusing.

Baja280

it is usually federal vs. state water regulations. Federal waters begin 9 miles off the coast I believe.:huh

Fintastic.Inc

If you are inside of 120 ft then you are good. No lat/long line.

Fintastic.Inc

You want confusion? Thy this
Season: 2/1 - 3/31 closed season for shallow water grouper when fishing beyond the 20 fathom break. Note: 1/1 - 4/30 closure of "The Edges" 40 fathom contour, a 390 nautical square mile region northwest of Steamboat Lumps. Boundaries: NW=28°51’N, 85° 16’W; NE=28°51’N, 85° 04’W; SW=28°14’N, 84° 54’W; SE=28° 14’N, 84° 42’W

releasegear

nice job - we ended up staying in close saturday - caught gags and macks..may try tomorrow

Al_hms

If you don't mind sharing, what was the rig you used for the flounder?

Baja280

live shrimp on the bottom

Al_hms

thanks

_norm

The Gulf federal regulations specify that Red, Black, Yellowfin, Scamp, and Yellowmouth Grouper are closed 2/1 - 3/31 when fishing beyond the 20-fathom break (see map). All groupers except Gags are open year-round in FL state waters. Gags are open July 1 - Dec. 3 in FL state waters, and July 1 - TBD in federal.
Federal regulations
State regulations
--Norm

JoshW

More confusion- I just received this from FWC today:

Reminder: Gulf grouper recreational season will not close Feb. 1

This is a reminder that the Feb. 1 through March 31 closure that would have affected several species of grouper in Gulf state waters has been removed and will not occur as it has in previous years. This closure was removed at the September 2013 meeting of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).
A similar closure was also removed in federal waters shoreward of the 20 fathom line, or about 120 feet (excluding waters off Monroe County). To learn more about the federal closure, visit the NOAA Fisheries Southeast Regional Office at Sero.NMFS.NOAA.gov and click on “Fisheries,” “Gulf Fisheries,” “Reef Fish” and “Gag and Shallow-water Grouper Framework – Recreational Season.”
The closure would have applied to the following species: black, red, yellowfin, scamp, yellowmouth, rock hind and red hind.
The closure did not apply to gag grouper, which has its own season and opens April 1 through June 30 in state waters off Franklin, Wakulla, Taylor and Jefferson counties; and from July 1 through Dec. 3 in all other state waters of the Gulf (excluding Monroe County, which is managed under the Atlantic season).
More information regarding Gulf grouper fishing regulations is available online at MyFWC.com/Fishing by clicking on “Saltwater Fishing,” “Recreational Regulations” and “Gulf Grouper.”

AquaRooster

JoshW wrote: »

More confusion- I just received this from FWC today:

Reminder: Gulf grouper recreational season will not close Feb. 1

This is a reminder that the Feb. 1 through March 31 closure that would have affected several species of grouper in Gulf state waters has been removed and will not occur as it has in previous years. This closure was removed at the September 2013 meeting of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).
A similar closure was also removed in federal waters shoreward of the 20 fathom line, or about 120 feet (excluding waters off Monroe County). To learn more about the federal closure, visit the NOAA Fisheries Southeast Regional Office at Sero.NMFS.NOAA.gov and click on “Fisheries,” “Gulf Fisheries,” “Reef Fish” and “Gag and Shallow-water Grouper Framework – Recreational Season.”
The closure would have applied to the following species: black, red, yellowfin, scamp, yellowmouth, rock hind and red hind.
The closure did not apply to gag grouper, which has its own season and opens April 1 through June 30 in state waters off Franklin, Wakulla, Taylor and Jefferson counties; and from July 1 through Dec. 3 in all other state waters of the Gulf (excluding Monroe County, which is managed under the Atlantic season).
More information regarding Gulf grouper fishing regulations is available online at MyFWC.com/Fishing by clicking on “Saltwater Fishing,” “Recreational Regulations” and “Gulf Grouper.”

What's all the confusion about? Seems pretty straight forward to me--they're open inside the 20 fathom break.

Baja280

Not gags. Gags are still closed on their own special Regulation. But all other grouper are open INSIDE 20 fathoms