Master Baiter

Yesterday I went fishing on the Gulf of Mexico. It was a trip that I had been looking forward to all week long. Our target, the Grouper. If you haven't had the opportunity to eat a real, authentic grouper sandwich, you don't know what you're missing. Unless you have had one while visiting Florida, you've probably not had the chance to sample one of these tasty treats. Laws protecting the fish have even made grouper tough to get here in Florida. Because of the high cost of the fish, most restaurants offer a cheaper imitation. Amberjack and Kingfish are also fun to catch, and they have been biting. But when I set sail offshore, my goal is a blackened grouper sandwich on a kaiser roll with fresh lettuce and tomato (Que Jimmy Buffet song).
The little man on his first fishing trip back in September

The first step to fishing offshore is to catch some bait fish. Some may consider this a tedious task, however I find great enjoyment in it. I love the food chain, I catch the small fish and use them later to catch the big fish. When catching bait fish, you can use a cast net, but that can be messy and also is a pain in the ass. Just set a fishing pole up with a sabiki rig, and cast it out with a little squid. Cast after cast you can catch bait fish for your live well. The sabiki rig has 2 hooks, so occasionally I catch what I call a doubler, or a Mcgriddle (two for two). After catching 3 dozen or so bait fish, it's time to head out to deeper waters.

Nothing but blue water and blue sky

Yesterday was the perfect day, low 80's with little or no wind. The water was like glass. Even the moon and stars were aligned (the lunar schedule effects fishing). Being a Friday the well-known hot spots for fish were not over-crowded. Everything was perfect. After an awesome day on the water, it was time to head home to family with supper.

I was welcomed home with this sweet drawing by Mommy and the little man.

Yes, Daddy's home and he's got supper!

Angelo makes the best pie in town!

What I have failed to tell you was that the trip was marred with problems. A friend of ours was going to take me out, but he bailed. He bailed because he fished all day Thursday, and was dead tired. Tired, because they caught 12 keeper Grouper, 4 Amberjacks, and a couple Kingfish. So we took Dave's boat out. His boat is not an off shore boat, but we had intentions of trying to go out far enough to get into some fish. That was until we realized we had no gas in the boat (we were already on the water). Apparently someone sifened gas out of the tank at the storage lot. We fished inshore for a little, and I could talk to you about the one that got away, but o well. All I can say is that a bad day fishing beats a great day at work. I am looking forward to actually getting out into the Gulf in the near future.

Cheers and Hail