I went out with Barfly on his 25' Wellcraft open fisherman looking for grouper this weekend. We didn't have any numbers, just a map that showed the off shore wrecks and a few of the more prominant ledges.

We headed out about 30mi and fished a couple of spots between 60 and 75 feet. We didn't have any problem catching fish... but only brought home one keeper. A bunch of short reds and a couple of short gags... a few squirrels a couple of lizards and the biggest ramora we'd ever seen. The funny thing was that we didn't catch any grunts. We kinda figured that they'd be pretty prevalant once we got on some grouper but didn't catch a one.

The highlight of the trip had to be marking the spots. John had one of those fancy dumbell looking things with a crank (as opposed to a bleach jug). Well.... he told me to toss it.... and I tossed it. It was the last chance we had to mark anything as I wasn't aware that there was a release that should have been hit so it would spool. The water clarity was amazing though... I bet we saw that marker go down about 40' or so.

Overall it was a great day on the water... a light chop all day and it warmed up nicely. It's nice to know that we could find our own spots, with a little direction, and didn't have to be beholding to all of our "friends" who weren't giving up theirs. (cough... Monty, cough... Jack) And we each got a couple of sandwhiches out of the deal.

Thanks John for a great day! We're gonna be doing some scouting in state waters over the next few weeks. I'm actually looking forward to it... thinking that we can do the same (find our own spots) a little closer to shore and in my boat. (smiley here)