Capt. Philip Watson
October is here and we can finally start to think about fall fishing! The bait will start moving back in our area, which should get our Pelagic bite going again. So, don’t forget those flat lines while fishing on your grouper bottom.
This summer the Red Grouper fishing has been amazing. Most 8-hour trips are bringing home limits as well as some 6-hour trips too. For me, the smaller baits have been the ticket especially around the full moons. Bigger chunks of squid and cut squirrel fish have been really getting them fired up. The other trick is to get the vermilion and lane snappers eating before dropping down your grouper baits. They are usually the first to bite, but their activity makes the grouper curious.
This months highlighted trip goes to the Brock Crew. This group of four anglers really put on a clinic with us last month. The day started out a little rainy offshore, so we kept it close at first and worked on knocking Goliath grouper off their Bucket List. Branson was up first with the handline and it didn’t take long before he managed to wrestle one up in the 200lb class. Afterwards, he and his dad double teamed one up in the 150lb class.
Once we had enough messing with giants, we went to go catch dinner. This is where the star of the show, TJ, comes in. He was a Grouper Maniac; his biggest fish came up measuring 30” caught on a chicken rig with 30lb leader. He caught more than half of our limit one right after another. We made quick work of grouper fishing and finished with our limit, plus a mixture of lane and vermillion snapper.
With dinner in the box we set out to find Branson a barracuda for a wall mount. We hit 2 wrecks with no luck, not even a bite, so I made the call to head towards home and make a final stop for a Hail Mary. We made a couple rounds with our handmade Cuda tubes and finally got a blow up. Branson’s first barracuda was 40” which he was totally happy about! We started one more round around the wreck and immediately our tube got smoked. TJ and Branson tag teamed the next barracuda measuring at 55’.
All in all, it was a great trip with what hopefully will be a lifelong memory. Fishing has been great, please get in contact with us if you would like to go offshore. Its only going to get better.
Just Kickin Back Charters
941-226-1100
Anna Maria Island Offshore Fishing