Went down to St Marks Florida yesterday to do a bit of fishing. We fished indoor yesterday, came back with a couple red fish and a few speckled sea trout, nothing spectacular, but a decent stringer.
This morning we had planned to go off shore for Red snapper and gag grouper. Unfortunately, this tropical system in the gulf changed our plans. Unwilling to completely give in, we rode back over to st marks and decided to try for reds and trout again.
We rolled into our first stop and bam, my first cast I pulled in a short red. Once of my buddies did the exact same thing on his. We fished that area hard for quite a while after that, to no avail.
We decided to drift out of the shallows looking to pick up some trout. Nothing other than two tiny fish. Just as I thought the day was going to be a complete bust my buddy threw over my line and snagged it, getting tangled in it. As he trying to get untangled my bait got hammered. Thankfully he was able to quickly get it off and the flight was on.
My setup was a medium light rod with a 2000 series spinning reel, so I was a bit overmatched. After several good runs I finally got it up by the boat. I had to get him to swim several circles before we could net him. Of years fishing flats I'd never caught a bonnethead, so it was nice to add it to the list. The hook popped out easy and he was released.
Two casts later I pulled in a stingray, another first I've managed to avoid for years. My buddy kept it, he enjoys eating rays.
In all a fun trip, may have been my last saltwater trip this year. 2024 has been good to be with lots of quality fish so around.
Posted by Intelligent_Art8390