Last weekend, I returned to my favorite home away from home for a very brief stay in the Santa Rosa area. Joined by a bunch of buddies, we were in town for our annual offshore overnight fishing trip out of Destin. While the trip was not scheduled to leave until Sunday morning, three of us snuck out early and found ourselves crossing the 331 bridge by 5 p.m. on Friday afternoon.
While we were in town, we did a little surf fishing (hell, why not). Fishing was good, but not outstanding. We hit Ed Walline park on Friday night, picking up several nice bluefish, a couple of good-sized ladyfish and a bunch of keeper-sized whiting. Dead shrimp and cut-bait were the tickets to fishing success. While we hoped to run into a bull red, it's still a little early for the bigguns to make their way down the beaches.
On Saturday, three of us rented a kayak and lugged it and way more fishing equipment than we needed several miles (OK, it seemed like miles, maybe it was just a few hundred yards) up the Grayton Beach sand. Finding a spot near a sandbar break, we set up the rods and commenced to fishing. Action was slow, as a slack tide was waiting for us, but we persevered (read: drank a few Yuenglings). Kayak fishing proved to be just a nice boat ride, as we saw little to no action beyond the "breakers" (it was like a lake on Saturday). However, in mid-afternoon, the tide started to move and we picked up a couple of keeper pompano -- both of 'em more than 15 inches at the fork. For me, this was an immense moment, as I've been trying to catch the wily little jacks for the past seven years of vacations to So Wal. But, it was certainly worth the wait, and there was much rejoicing. Dead shrimp -- frozen, purchased from Publix of all places -- fooled the pomps, but I caught a few weird little fish on my 8-wt fly-rod (needlefish, lizardfish, leatherjacks and a few little jack crevalles).
Late in the day, we noticed what we thought was a large dolphin -- or dolphins -- cruising the outside edge of the first sandbar. But, when the mammal raised its head to blow, we saw the deep black, very blunt front end of a pilot whale. Very, very cool. Granted, we had drank a couple, but two other probably sober guys near by confirmed the sighting. Apparently, the shortfin variety of this whale frequents the Gulf, but I have never seen one. And, I had no idea they would get this close. Too bad we weren't out in the kayak ... that could have been a heckuva photo op. Has anybody else seen these whales before? Anybody see one last Saturday? Please tell me it wasn't the Yeunglings.
On Sunday -- actually, Monday morning ... it's a long story -- we headed offshore for our overnight deep sea fishing trip. What a blast. We caught the crap out of amberjack, almaco jacks, mingo snappers (vermillion snappers), white snappers (knobbed porgy), wahoo, blackfin tuna and a gazillion silky sharks. The only shortcoming was we didn't catch many grouper, meaning I had to make a quick stop to the fish market before going home on Tuesday. But, we had a tremendous trip, nonetheless. While out about 70 miles on Monday afternoon, our boat was buzzed three times by the No. 2 plane of the Blue Angels. Very cool ... and the absolute worst way to be awakened from a quick nap. An Angel flying by at Mach speed about 200 yards above the boat is absolutely the loudest thing you've ever heard. I went from R.E.M. sleep to near heart attack almost instantly. But, after racing outside the cabin to the aft deck, I caught the rest of the show. Man, that was amazing.
We got back to the docks at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, hung out for a few hours as the deckhands cleaned our fish, then sorted the catch (we had 12 fishermen on the boat). A quick return to the rented beach house, an even quicker shower, and we were headed back home.
It was too quick a trip, but it was certainly worth it. As my wife and I are in the midst of saving up for a house, it looks like our annual vacation to Seagrove may be skipped this year. While that's certainly disapointing, I'm glad I got the chance to drop in this week. Hopefully, I'll be back sometime very soon.
While we were in town, we did a little surf fishing (hell, why not). Fishing was good, but not outstanding. We hit Ed Walline park on Friday night, picking up several nice bluefish, a couple of good-sized ladyfish and a bunch of keeper-sized whiting. Dead shrimp and cut-bait were the tickets to fishing success. While we hoped to run into a bull red, it's still a little early for the bigguns to make their way down the beaches.
On Saturday, three of us rented a kayak and lugged it and way more fishing equipment than we needed several miles (OK, it seemed like miles, maybe it was just a few hundred yards) up the Grayton Beach sand. Finding a spot near a sandbar break, we set up the rods and commenced to fishing. Action was slow, as a slack tide was waiting for us, but we persevered (read: drank a few Yuenglings). Kayak fishing proved to be just a nice boat ride, as we saw little to no action beyond the "breakers" (it was like a lake on Saturday). However, in mid-afternoon, the tide started to move and we picked up a couple of keeper pompano -- both of 'em more than 15 inches at the fork. For me, this was an immense moment, as I've been trying to catch the wily little jacks for the past seven years of vacations to So Wal. But, it was certainly worth the wait, and there was much rejoicing. Dead shrimp -- frozen, purchased from Publix of all places -- fooled the pomps, but I caught a few weird little fish on my 8-wt fly-rod (needlefish, lizardfish, leatherjacks and a few little jack crevalles).
Late in the day, we noticed what we thought was a large dolphin -- or dolphins -- cruising the outside edge of the first sandbar. But, when the mammal raised its head to blow, we saw the deep black, very blunt front end of a pilot whale. Very, very cool. Granted, we had drank a couple, but two other probably sober guys near by confirmed the sighting. Apparently, the shortfin variety of this whale frequents the Gulf, but I have never seen one. And, I had no idea they would get this close. Too bad we weren't out in the kayak ... that could have been a heckuva photo op. Has anybody else seen these whales before? Anybody see one last Saturday? Please tell me it wasn't the Yeunglings.
On Sunday -- actually, Monday morning ... it's a long story -- we headed offshore for our overnight deep sea fishing trip. What a blast. We caught the crap out of amberjack, almaco jacks, mingo snappers (vermillion snappers), white snappers (knobbed porgy), wahoo, blackfin tuna and a gazillion silky sharks. The only shortcoming was we didn't catch many grouper, meaning I had to make a quick stop to the fish market before going home on Tuesday. But, we had a tremendous trip, nonetheless. While out about 70 miles on Monday afternoon, our boat was buzzed three times by the No. 2 plane of the Blue Angels. Very cool ... and the absolute worst way to be awakened from a quick nap. An Angel flying by at Mach speed about 200 yards above the boat is absolutely the loudest thing you've ever heard. I went from R.E.M. sleep to near heart attack almost instantly. But, after racing outside the cabin to the aft deck, I caught the rest of the show. Man, that was amazing.
We got back to the docks at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, hung out for a few hours as the deckhands cleaned our fish, then sorted the catch (we had 12 fishermen on the boat). A quick return to the rented beach house, an even quicker shower, and we were headed back home.
It was too quick a trip, but it was certainly worth it. As my wife and I are in the midst of saving up for a house, it looks like our annual vacation to Seagrove may be skipped this year. While that's certainly disapointing, I'm glad I got the chance to drop in this week. Hopefully, I'll be back sometime very soon.
(You know I am kidding, right?)