Thread: Bayport 11/18 and Clermont 11/19- Salt and Fresh Report

The gulf forecast for Saturday was excellent so the boysand I headed westward to ply the waters of the gulf for nature’s bounty. Asadvertised it was flat calm, so we ran out stopping in 15 fow and picking up a Spanishmackerel on a plug, headed out to 25-30 fow where we put out some large plugswhich kept getting mauled by lizardfish that were about the same size as theplug. I looked back at the rod when it broke its standard cadence likely from aprobable lizardfish strike. I begrudgingly make my way back to reel in thelizard fish and reset the line, but as soon as I picked up the rod BAM linestarts peeling off the reel. Grouper On. It felt like the lizardfish hit theplug and the grouper ate the lizardfish, typically when grouper hits a plug onthe troll they haul butt immediately. Either way I brought him up and into thewaiting net, 31” gag. My sons got the assist on the net job. Got tired ofclearing lizardfish off the lines, so I put 1 out on top for kingfish, 15minutes later a small explosion occurs behind the boat and the reel begins tosing, fish on. This time it’s a 10ish lb kingfish, gaff him throw him in thebox. Kept trolling plugs, picked up another grouper 29” and hooked another kingthat hit a plug. What that king lacked in size he made up for in luck. He wasfouled hooked and I pulled the hooks about 30 feet from the boat. Kepttrolling, caught 3 additional undersized gag grouper which were released. Endedthe day with a lovely braid tangle, decided that was a good stopping point. Thehour long run in was spent dodging crab pots and enjoying the seemingly endlesslake. Put in an honest day 5:30am-6pm.
No sense in taking the boat cover off for only 1 day offishing so round 2 begins.
Sunday was abit more relaxed, hit the local Chain to seeif we could build off last weeks dismal performance. Got fishing around 8am,ran all artificials, let the boys do some catching. Much better than last tripprobably around 20-30 fish, 7 around 12”, the boys measured then releasedeverything, have enough fish after Saturday. Still abit slower than last yearso far. Skies turned grey and we headed back to the dock around noon. The waveswere bigger in the lake on Sunday then 25 miles offshore on Saturday.

Good looking boys! Looks like you all had a big time.


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