Post by goindeep on Sept 10, 2009 3:05:09 GMT -5
Made an impromtu decision at about 6pm to head to the pier to see if I could catch something...anything. It was my first trip to the pier in 3 months.
Got there about 7:30, couldnt find any bait anywhere. Managed to get 2 pinfish, 4 grunts, and one threadfin. My 2 favorite spots were taken so I ended up at 153 for a couple hours. Freelined a pinfish and used the threadfin as bottom cut bait. Had hits on the threadie but couldnt get a hookset. Luckily, I took along a baggie of frozen greenbacks I had in my freezer from spring. The bodies were too soft so I had to use the heads and only the heads. First fish, a 12 or so inch gag. Then a decent ladyfish, then a 12 inch mango snapper.
While I was fishing and catching those fish, I saw 2 things Ive never seen before at the pier:
1) an intense lightning storm after dark that was totally contained in a big thunderhead cloud/storm that looked to be around Bradenton/ Southern Anna Maria Island. It was a non stop light show for over an hour. I mean constant flashes and bolts, lighting up the entire storm. Wicked cool. I got some video from my phone but its terrible quality.
2) Someone must have went overboard into the drink somewhere between the pier and Anna Maria cause there was a coast guard helicopter flying over and all around the pier and water at really low altitude, like 50 feet from the water, and no less than 4 law enforcement and rescue boats. The chopper made probably 50 passes back and forth looking for something in the water with a search light. The boats were also all over the place, making sweeping passes, back and forth, all the way to the other side of the bay. The search lasted well over 2 hours. Not sure what happened or if they found who they were looking for.
Anyway back to fishing. I finally noticed about 10pm that one of my spots was open, so I moved there. 30 seconds after first bait in, 12 inch mango landed. Then for the next 2 hours it was non stop action. Every bait I put in the water got hit hard immediately, no more than 30 seconds of hitting bottom. Unfortunately, with soft bait, I missed most of the hits, bringing up an empty hook. I did manage 3 more short grouper to 18 inches, lost one big fish when a knot failed (I had to re-tie in a hurry after a law enforcement search boat came hauling ass 50 feet off the pier and stripped half my line off my reel
), and lost another decent fish when my leader broke from rubbing structure. Ended up with 3 more keeper snapper, all 12-13 inches except the final one, which was about 11 inches. I didnt see anyone else catching anything, maybe it was because they couldnt find any greenbacks ;D
Overall, a great and interesting night on the pier, it felt good to get back out there, and it felt really good catching a bunch of fish and limiting on mangos. I left about midnight and was home by 1am.
Got there about 7:30, couldnt find any bait anywhere. Managed to get 2 pinfish, 4 grunts, and one threadfin. My 2 favorite spots were taken so I ended up at 153 for a couple hours. Freelined a pinfish and used the threadfin as bottom cut bait. Had hits on the threadie but couldnt get a hookset. Luckily, I took along a baggie of frozen greenbacks I had in my freezer from spring. The bodies were too soft so I had to use the heads and only the heads. First fish, a 12 or so inch gag. Then a decent ladyfish, then a 12 inch mango snapper.
While I was fishing and catching those fish, I saw 2 things Ive never seen before at the pier:
1) an intense lightning storm after dark that was totally contained in a big thunderhead cloud/storm that looked to be around Bradenton/ Southern Anna Maria Island. It was a non stop light show for over an hour. I mean constant flashes and bolts, lighting up the entire storm. Wicked cool. I got some video from my phone but its terrible quality.
2) Someone must have went overboard into the drink somewhere between the pier and Anna Maria cause there was a coast guard helicopter flying over and all around the pier and water at really low altitude, like 50 feet from the water, and no less than 4 law enforcement and rescue boats. The chopper made probably 50 passes back and forth looking for something in the water with a search light. The boats were also all over the place, making sweeping passes, back and forth, all the way to the other side of the bay. The search lasted well over 2 hours. Not sure what happened or if they found who they were looking for.
Anyway back to fishing. I finally noticed about 10pm that one of my spots was open, so I moved there. 30 seconds after first bait in, 12 inch mango landed. Then for the next 2 hours it was non stop action. Every bait I put in the water got hit hard immediately, no more than 30 seconds of hitting bottom. Unfortunately, with soft bait, I missed most of the hits, bringing up an empty hook. I did manage 3 more short grouper to 18 inches, lost one big fish when a knot failed (I had to re-tie in a hurry after a law enforcement search boat came hauling ass 50 feet off the pier and stripped half my line off my reel
), and lost another decent fish when my leader broke from rubbing structure. Ended up with 3 more keeper snapper, all 12-13 inches except the final one, which was about 11 inches. I didnt see anyone else catching anything, maybe it was because they couldnt find any greenbacks ;DOverall, a great and interesting night on the pier, it felt good to get back out there, and it felt really good catching a bunch of fish and limiting on mangos. I left about midnight and was home by 1am.
