I'm sad to say, today was the last day of the 2013 gag grouper season for our area and was it ever great. Just about every charter produced limits of quality keeper gags and throughout the five months of the open season, only a very few short fish were caught. As many of you know, shallow water grouper is one of my passions and I take a lot of pride to produce for all of you great clients. I seldom go past the 25ft range and trolling is my favorite method to target them, with casting plugs and bottom fishing following. With the new limits, fuel prices and fewer anglers on the water, the gag grouper stocks have rebounded very, very well. I don't know what the 2014 gag grouper season will bring, but when the dates are posted, I'll let you all know. To end the season, my wife and I did another fun day and we caught some quality fish in 7ft range casting plugs. F18 Rapala's were the magic lures and we get to enjoy some fresh grouper in the coming weeks. I thank each of you that fished with me this season and look forward to next years memories... Capt. Dan
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It has been a tradition the last couple years for my wife and I to have a couple fun days at the end of the grouper season and put a couple fillets in the freezer for the family. Tomorrow is the last day of the 2013 gag grouper season and with today''s great catch, it's sad to see it end. Well, today was chilly to say the least, but the gags were on fire. Becky and I left from Pete's Pier just after 8am and fished the shallow rocks. We threw plugs on just a couple spots and by 9:15am we had our four fish limit. We caught and released a few others trolling, just to check out a couple areas for tomorrow and called it a day. Always fun to see the Mrs.'s get almost pulled in the water, but she does a fine job turning them. Here's Becky with a nice pair of Crystal River shallow water grouper.. Capt. Dan
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The fog was offshore today folks and it was here to stay. From just West of Shell Island on out, we were in it. However, I had the Buttermore family on board and it didn't slow us down (just the boat ride). Today's charter began jigging up an excellent limit of trout on MirrOlure Lil' Johns and the action was steady. The guys reached their fifteen fish limit and we were off to the grouper grounds. The grouper bite took a little while to get going, but we rotated several locations and six beautiful gags eventually came on board. The silver mullet color was the magic plug for us today and I can't thank you all enough for the great time. Congratulations on a terrific catch and I look forward to our next charter... Capt. Dan
Finally, a decent weather day to get a day of work in. I've cancelled almost a week of charters due to the conditions, but today we were able to get a good one in. I had the pleasure of having the Worthington family on board and the guys did great on the trout. We were loaded with glow DOA cal shad tail jigs and bourbon colored MirrOlure Lil' Johns and the trout were on. The team put 18 keepers on ice and we also caught and released over 20 red fish. All the reds were small, but fun none the same. A keeper grouper made it's way in to the box for the ride home and we called it a day. Thank you all for the great day and congratulations on a fine catch... Capt. Dan