Jawbreaker fishing charters recently had the opportunity to go fishing with the “Reel Animals” fishing show hosts, Captain Mike Anderson and Captain Billy Nobles. Also on board were some folks from the Ocean Conservancy, Jeff Barger and Terry Gibson, to observe and educate on the life cycle and habits of the Gag Grouper. The Gag Grouper closure has been a very controversial subject in the Tampa Bay area especially, as we have the largest grouper fishery in the world.
Capt. Mike and Capt. Billy were a hoot. These guys are the”reel deal” as far as I am concerned. With tons of fishing experience to share, and the non-stop wise-cracking that goes along with it, it is no wonder why the “Reel Animal” show's popularity continues to grow. Well, I wasn't exactly sure what the message was supposed to be, but I know what we were there for...to catch Gags! And that's exactly what we did.
I took our crew out to 65 feet of water, just West of St.Pete Beach. The Gag bite was incredible in this depth a week ago so I figured this would be a good place to start. We caught 2 nice Gag Grouper and more Red Grouper than you could shake a stick, or a grouper rod, at! Hmmm..I know they were here just a few days ago. I was beginning to feel like a dope. Lucky for me, I don't give up that easily. On a side note, we did witness a large school of Blackfin Tuna crashing the surface while we were out there. Our offerings of live sardines and hardtails were not enough to fool one of these awesome fish, oh well.
I moved us into the 40 foot range, to a 'honey hole' that I have fished for years, with good results. We literally caught only 1 Gag, 2 short Reds and 1 very big grey snapper a.k.a. Grunt. Oh boy! Keep in mind that we are now fishing mid-afternoon, just 2 days after the brightest full moon ever seen. After a quick move, 2 miles to the North, I found the Gags...and lots of them. In about 20 minutes we caught over 20 Gags, with at least 6 of them in the 'keeper-size' range,...thank God! Check out my new friend, Terry Gibson, with a prime example of a healthy Gag Grouper.(pic above)
In the end, Jawbreaker fishing charters came through and I believe that everyone on board was very happy with the results. Thanks again to TJ Marshall, Jeff Barger, Terry Gibson and the Ocean Conservancy. And a special thanks to Capt. Mike Anderson, Capt. Billy Nobles and the “Reel Animals” fishing team for going out of their way to help promote Jawbreaker fishing charters and the charter fishing industry in the Tampa Bay area. Happy fishing to ya! Capt. Dan