We knew seas were going to be rough, but a week of poor offshore conditions, and a weeks vacation for my guest from Canada coming to an end made us decide to rough it. My two guests are used to fishing on the Great Lakes, so they were not concerned with high seas. They just wanted to catch fish! We left Port Canaveral at 6:30 am, and made our way out to Pelican Flats in 3-4' choppy seas. We anchored up and started catching right away. We ran more anchor line than normal with the seas building, and our swing was not keeping us over our mark, but the fish still took the bait. Large Triggerfish were the first catch. We caught a good number of legal Triggers, but only kept 7 large ones. Sea Bass were not as numerous this trip as recent trips, but 10 good ones were kept. The Atlantic Sharpnose Shark were at the reef, and my guest really wanted the fight more than the catch, and these Sharks always put up a good fight for their size. We caught many, and kept our limit of 3. We caught 6 nice Red Snapper, with 4 that would have been keepers from 20 to 27" in length, and the 2 others at 17 and 18". My mouth was watering at the sight of them, though it quickly turned to a sour taste with the fish going back into the water. I can only imagine how quickly their numbers will multiply, like in the Gulf, to the point where they become a nuisance! Several Vermillion Snapper were also caught and released. With us being the only boat out, until a lone party boat showed up, the birds were around the boat like vultures! This made our keeping flatlines out a problem, with a few birds diving deep into the water to get out bait. We pulled anchor at 3:00 pm with sea's now close to 6' and made the return to Port.
It will be nice to have seas back to 2 foot again, and do fishing without having to prop yourself against the side of the boat to keep balanced while fishing.
Captain Henry
"Wile E. Coyote"
ACME Ventures Fishing
www.ACME-Ventures-Fishing.com
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