NOAA forecast was 10 knot wind and seas 2 ft or less.
actual conditions?
Wind 15-20
seas 3-5 ft.
conditions too rough?
nah !
left Oniels about an hour after daylight.
had to wait out an impressive but rare daybreak
lightshow Mother Nature had been saving.
Hit the south pier, blacked out the livewell
with Greenies, Pinfish, and Blue Runners and put
the hammer down for the horizon.
Ran 1 hour n nw and took quite a beating
due to rough conditions.
Anchored up on a wreck in 80 ft and started chumming
in hopes of doing a little pre fishing for the Suncoast Southern Kingfish Classic tournament and practice.
Realized after an hour and a half of stubbornly
trying I was A. Too early and B it was waay to
rough for plan A.
At 2 hours of chumming and boredom I decided to do some bottom fishing since I had such a nice well full of bait.
Dropped down a frisky Skyway Pinfish and was immediatly
rewarded with a fat greedy Red Grouper.
About that time the anchor broke free because it was
so windy and rough due to the aproaching front
so I, just decided to let her slowly drift
and see what happened.
The next 30 minutes was non stop short Red Grouper
until suddenly the anchor dug in again and the boat came
to a stop.
Fired down a big Blue Runner that had died in the
live well to try and avoid the smaller
Red Grouper and BAMM !
Big Gag on!
After a couragess battle by a meean and stubborn
Gag of about 10 lbs I iced my second keeper
fish of the day.
This went on for the next 2 hours as the Sun aproached
the horizon it was time to go.
It is amazing how fast time flys
when the fish are biting strong.
fish on folks!
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