Off Shore report Oct-15 & 16

ran offshore out of Destin to try some bottom fishing first ... found out that the federal waters temporary red snapper season ended on the 14th :mad: .. oh well - no one was really fired up about bottom fishing if we couldn't keep the red snapper and the Grouper bite couldn't hold us so we put out the riggers and trolled for pelagics ... the bite was slow but the weather and water was beautiful ... a very large Wahoo bit the longest line out then proceeded to spool me in a matter of 30 seconds (he would bite the only spinning reel we had out - all others were either 50 or 30 wides with much more line capacity) ... with no strike alarm (and a few bud lights) led to not noticing the strike until half the line was already out, oh well, tie on and try again - not uncommon with wahoo ... second strike was on the starboard rigger and it was so fast that he cut 100 lb flourocarbon leader without tripping the release clip and we were trolling at wahoo speed (about 14-15 mph) ... caught a world record Bonita and could have sworn I was hooked up to a 100 lb Yellowfin ... used the Bonita for cut bait on the second day and found that the fish wanted cut bait instead of live sardines ... once we figured that out (it was a little late because we started trolling early on the second day) we started catching a few fish .... see the pic below, I'm holding the smallest fish (Lane Snapper) but don't laugh - the DNR biologist @ the marina thinks it blows away the Florida state record by a mile ... he said nothing on his records was even close ... small problem- we caught it in Federal waters so I'm not sure how this works - it's being looked into right now ... went on to catch a few Amberjacks and a nice 21 lb Gag Grouper ... the Grouper had 6 other hooks and leaders in his mouth ... I lost 3 others that took me deep into their hole and cut the line on the structure ... second day was a short one as everyone had to drive back ... it was absolutely wonderful to be on the water with such weather
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note - I was not the angler that caught the Lane Snapper - that was a guy named Bob C. to my left

Wow. Awesome stuff. So much cool in that report. First off, congrats on captaining a state record lane snapper. Regardless if the state recognizes it or not, you will forever be remembered on Elite Dawgs as the florida lane snapper state record holder. I thought the grouper w/6 other hooks in his mouth being funny. That was one tough damn fish. The yellowfin fishing in south LA hasn't been so good this year from what I've read so that would have been an awesome catch. Thanks for sharing. Sounds like a great trip with some awesome stories.

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