Need some fish poorn. Someone had to go out on Saturday 2/12/22

CaptainBly

First decent looking day in weeks and I couldn't go.  Come on, lets see some reports.

Kokosing Lover

I was doing some light house painting on Saturday.  Haven't fished since before Xmas, but have been putting the hurt on the shrimp out there.  Not overly photogenic stuff, though.

releasegear

LOL - We went out . Hit 3 spots from 100 - 125. Nothing but ARS and AJs. Had the ARS up to the surface.. Lots of 12-15lbs with a few pushing 18/20. For fun i dropped down to a stradic 4000 and freelined dead sardines back.  Managed 5 almacos and a mango for the yeti

drgibby

I heard the Coast Guard picked up 4 people from a sinking boat 65 miles west of Clearwater on Sunday night. 
No other details.
Anyone heard anything??

Reel-Lucky

Very cool, Mike, you never disappoint.

Jack Hexter

Fished inshore out of the Cotee on Sat.  Couldn't even lose a shrimp.  Nada Zip

Fished Energy Management, the stilt houses and North Channel rocks before calling it a day at 2:30

CaptainBly

you guys clearly aren't into foreplay...but at least someone got out and wet a line.

As for the boaters...they were rescued:  https://www.wfla.com/news/pinellas-county/coast-guard-rescues-4-from-life-raft-near-st-petersburg/

Which is great news and makes me contemplate getting a life raft.

Reel-Lucky

I'm with you Paul, life raft seems like super cheap insurance, kind of a no brainer. I'm in discovery phase.

releasegear

wow good for them. water was cold - was 61 at 125ft.. under 60 for first 15 miles

drgibby

I heard thru the coconut telegraph it was a commercial boat.
no other details

ANUMBER1

4 man raft is 3k plus yearly repack at 2nd year

CaptainBly

Seems worth it to me...

On tampabay.com they had the boat name as Right Stuff.  Not sure if that is a commercial vessel or recs but said they had all the proper equipment to survive.  Video is pretty crazy.  Night airlift.  Fun fun.

CaptJ

Only takes one mishap to appreciate your equipment.

CaptainBly

Are we still talking about boating or did you over think my title?  

Setalana

We're not on the W. Coast (anymore) but we did fish Saturday:

CaptainBly

Nice...

clarosa

I ran a charter and worked from 85-105' targeting rg and the bite was just not there. We worked spot to spot and went through 15-20 spots and only managed 3 keeper rg. Decided to hit a mango spot last for about an hr and the spot was loaded with fish. Lots of huge ARS like Mike said, some over 30" and big enough to eat whole grunts and 8" sand perch. We did get a handful of nice mangs and a bunch of almacos before we had to leave. One of the guys got a tank of a mang at 28" and 8.97lbs on the scale so that was impressive. 

Reel-Lucky

That is an impressive Mango to say the least, true Goozer right there. Nice job, Chris.

releasegear

Nice Chris!!

MaineOffShore

Tried to find some Hogfish Sat, still struggling.  First 8 drops with hogball and shrimp and pulled up 8 of these guys.  Left to try other spots because I read if the gags fire up the hogfish stay away.  Didn't catch much after that.

clarosa

MaineOffShore said:

Tried to find some Hogfish Sat, still struggling.  First 8 drops with hogball and shrimp and pulled up 8 of these guys.  Left to try other spots because I read if the gags fire up the hogfish stay away.  Didn't catch much after that.

Try to find the sand(deeper) part of the ledge if the Gags fire off too much. The Hoggies will usually move there and feed. You will definitely catch a few Gags there too, but not as much. Fire the jig down and try to not move it at all. leave a tiny bit of slack in the line. You'll feel the bite. The more the jig moves on the bottom, the more chance a grunt or grouper will grab it. Best advice I can give my man.

MaineOffShore

Thanks Clarosa..Will definitely try that

Reel-Lucky

the Hog bite is tough to master, subtle. It takes practice, patience, and feel. I still don't have it down, fun challenge.

MaineOffShore

Yeah I get on these kicks where I pick a species I haven't caught and become super obsessed at catching them.