Back to Grayton Beach Bottom Fish

I have been back from Indian Pass for 10 days now and the culture shock has about wore off. Nothing works to remind me of how Florida used to be than coming from the Forgotten Coast back to SoWal on Labor Day weekend!

My last week at the Pass had the Tarpon bite pretty darn Hot. My daughter Darcy's 180 pounder was the biggest we got but Captain Tim Harvey had one to the boat that was 7 feet and 7 inches and well over 200 pounds. I hated to leave with the fish biting but I had trips booked back in Grayton and had to come back.

I came back to a good Vermillion Snapper bite with quite a few Mahi scattered around, a few Kings and a few Amberjacks. After chasing those species around for a few days it was time to get to chase Red Snappers again for the three-day Labor Day weekend opening.

We had to work pretty hard for 'em the first day but the bite got better (and easier) as the weekend progressed. Yesterday and today it was back to catching Mahi, Scamps and Vermillions along with a nice King and Black Tip this morning. Kinda nice to be able to change up what we are chasing every few days!

As always , a few pics to prove the point.

I never know who is going to end up on the boat. One of my regulars with up and coming Nashville singer/writer Hugh Mitchell with a pair of Tripletails. They had a GREAT day of tarpon fishing even though we didn't land one. Fought one for an hour and had 8 others eat including one Hugh fought for 15 minutes untill it jumped right in front of him (about the 5th jump) and he quit reeling just watching it ... they will make you take notice!

Back to Grayton where this couple caught some big Kings and a bunch of Mahi including one FINE one for that gal.

A bunch more Mahi, Vermillions and a big AJ for this trio on a morning 4 hour trip.

These guys booked me for one of my rare "all day trips" and we fished 7 hrs off Grayton. They caught those Mahi on their Flyrods and then we went on to catch the Big jacks, Kings and Snappers on conventional tackle.

Opening morning for the fall Red Snapper season.

And the afternoon 3 hour trip.

Sundays morning snapper catch.

Sunday afternoon, and yes, the gal caught not only the biggest but also the most.

Labor day morning had that young man in the neon shirt catch that Big Snapper on the end.

the afternoon catch and the last red snapper for 5 days.

The Kings should get better as the water temp starts to drop a few degrees with the (soon to be coming) cool fronts and the Mahi will get a little bigger too. We are still a month or more out from Flounder fishing with consistent luck but I am all ready thinking about chasing those tasty critters.

Just about every rock with any relief on it at all has Triggers stacked on it. I hate we can't keep the big ones until next year. we had some fine ones eat live baits Red Snapper fishing this past weekend! Hopefully this nice weather will hold and we will get a bunch more Snapper weekends in this fall.