It's that time of year again, and along with the holiday season, lots of people from up North are flocking to beautiful St.Pete Beach, in sunny Florida. That's what Ron Mathews did. He brought his family, Eric, Kelly and Reed, from the hills of Tennesee to go on a fishing charter in the Gulf of Mexico. And fishing we did!
The weather conditions were perfect, light winds out of the East made for a comfortable ride out to 40 feet of water. The Gag grouper are pretty much on their return to the deeper offshore waters where they go when the water temps dip into the 50's nearshore. However, there are still fish in some of the smaller shallow-water cracks in the ocean floor. Kelly was definetly "angler of the day", but take a look at the monster Gag that Reed caught on Tuesday's charter. This fish ate a tiny piece of Octopus no bigger than an acorn! Go figure.
The fishing did seem to be affected by the full moon from the night before. Luckily, we got out early and experienced a decent bite for the first 2 hours. After that....nothing, notta...like someone just turned a switch and the fish stopped biting. Even switching spots delivered the same results. Usually these bottom dwellers feed at night during the full-moon phase and tend to get 'lock-jaw' during the daylight hours. As much as I like to fish, I am glad that this was only a 4-hour trip....the timing was just right.
All-in-all, another great fishing trip on the Jawbreaker. We fooled several nice Gag grouper and a couple dozen snapper into the fish box, and the Mathews' were happy! The latter being our number one goal here at Jawbreaker fishing charters. The next time you are in the Tampa Bay area, or just want to get out for some quality family time with your kids, call Jawbreaker fishing charters...we guarantee a great time! Happy fishing to ya, Capt.Dan