The Florida Fisherman goes deep: Tuesday 3:00 P.M. The Florida Fisherman ll is ready, Captain Bryon is ready, and so are the thirty-two excited anglers who have decided to challenge the big boys of the deep. Tammy has loaded enough food and drinks to feed a small army. Fighting the 'big boys' on their home grounds makes us ever so hungry, no starving on this trip! The gags have been 'eating free' long enough. It's time to pay up! Watch out gags, scamp, and red grouper. Will the grouper be hungry? Let's go see together. As we leave scenic Madeira Beach there is always something exciting to watch.
We will be challenging the big boys for almost twenty hours. Let's hit the bunks. This is going to be all out war. Twelve midnight, time to get up. Mister Bob Antos has come from Hartford Ohio to catch our Florida grouper. Mister Antos is fishing spot number 19, close to my regular spot 23. Can this Northerner from the 'Buckeye State' catch our Southern grouper? Gosh! Mister Antos, we are glad you are on our side:
Mister Tim Fischer joins us, once again, from the great state of Indiana. We are honored that Tim thinks so much of our Florida Fishing. Oh no! Not another red snapper. Hold on, that 'red snapper' has a black spot near its tail, it's a mutton, a beautiful mutton snapper. Tim, way to go sir, way to go. The 'Hoosier' state can be very proud of its native son, I know we are:
Tammy, that sure is a nice mutton. We are fishing South West of John's Pass in 200 feet of water:
Speaking of Tammy, we are starved. Hope our Jersey Girl has a big breakfast for us. You guys are going to love this. How does bacon, eggs, has browns, and Country sausage biscuits & milk gravy sound? Tammy, you are simply too much:
Fishing, by our standards, is pretty slow, but we are catching some of the best fish the Gulf of Mexico has to offer: Mister Floyd Reneay, spot number 45 is working well for you. Talk about a real beauty, look at the size of that African pompano. Congratulations are in order:
Talk about different! Look at that lion fish. That's the second one we have caught within a month. That's not good!
Sun-up, let's push out to 250 feet. Look at the size of that AJ. Next month begins pay-back time:
Tim, fishing spot number 7 is hot for you. Sir, we in the deep South are proud to call you a friend:
Mister Roger Poulin, a Florida Fisherman regular, is taking full advantage of fishing spot number 1. It's gag pay back time:
We are being over-powered, but many battles are won:
Mister Reneay shows us how to catch scamp grouper:
Beautiful deep water scamp grouper, the best of the best:
Let's try springs & pot holes for red grouper. Every stop produces some very nice fish, then nothing. We are constantly on the move:
Mister Alfredas Petreikism, sir that's a real winner:
We are starved. Tammy, what's for dinner? OK! Start with a garden fresh salad, followed by steamed vegetables over wild rice, Salisbury steak and mashed potatoes swimming in brown gravy, and real Texas toast. New Jersey thank you for sending us this chef. No time to talk, let's dig in!
Roger, Sir we are so proud of you. Just think, you fought the big boy and won. He thought he was safe at home in 250 feet of water. Not with Mister Poulin around:
No spot on this one. Hope we get another chance in the Fall:
Well, it's after eight P.M. Wednesday evening, we are a very long ways away from home. We have not caught the amount of fish we were looking for, but we still ended up with a very respectful catch. We won some but lost many major battles. 'Will the grouper be hungry?' Absolutely! 'Let's go see together' again next week.
Let's take a quick look at some real winners, some cold, hard, cash winners:
Check out the short action packed video of our trip. (click on the link)
Bob Harbison Florida Outdoor Writers Association
