Lots of Fish, Few Folks

I have been able to run the past 5 days in varying conditions, from downright perfect to sloppy. Today passed the "sloppy" mark and made it to rough so I have an unexpected day off.

After a banner spring run the cobias slowed way down for a few days. There are still some around and I imagine the big SE push of wind and water we have today will bring at least one more run through. I managed to find a pretty good bite of Kings the 1st day the cobias slowed so we had a great time with then in between bottom fishing. The next day I went and looked for 'em again and they had moved on- oh well, we still caught a bunch of fish. The Groupers seem to have started moving in or else regained their appetite. Either way we have had a lot more grouper bites lately and some good catches (especially for 4 hour trips) as well. LOTS of "just" undersized groupers as well. I call that job security !

A Cobia at the Boat

And In the Boat ! My angler quickly decided they pulled harder than Pompano !

4 Kings and a Wild Card !

Some FINE Grouper Dinners

A few more Groupers we managed to catch between LOTS of Snappers.

The oil spill remains a media feeding frenzy. Lots of talk about it but no sign it's anywhere near. The beaches are white, the water clear and the air warm. Lots of "preparation" going on with official looking trucks and crews wearing hard hats driving around but the wind and tides are still pushing it away from us. I have spoken with captains on bigger boats running all day trips and they have been 65 miles offshore with no sign of anything unusual. While it could still impact us in the future if they don't get the flow plugged we look good in the short term with the current weather patterns. The beach should remain snow white for the foreseeable future- just fewer folks on it 'cause of all the hype.

The pompano, while not hot and heavy, have shown up with all the regulars catching a few fish. The heavy rains of a week ago opened up all the dune lakes and flushed a bunch of flounders out into the surf as well. If you can't get on a boat, just get to the beach and catch something !

Capt Larry Pentel