# Wednesday 6-17-09



## Ocean Man (Sep 27, 2007)

My Dad is in town for the week and wanted to go fishing so I took yesterday off to make it happen. Duayne was also off work so he came along to help with the decking duties. Dad wanted to catch a Grouper so we headed off to the same spot we did good at on Saturday. We stopped off at one spot along the way to catch some bait and I managed a couple keeper Triggers to go with about a dozen good baits. We anchored up on the hole and dropped down some baits. Right away a nice Grouper hit Dads live baitand quickly takes him to school. After a little coaching he drops back down and gets another hit, this time the Grouper pulls the hook before he can get him off the bottom. He drops another bait down and is on again, he really had the hot hand. This time he gets the best of the Grouper and we get him in the boat.










At that point I was feeling pretty good, it was still early in the day and I had already accomplished my goal of putting him on a nice Grouper. After a while with no more action we let out some more anchor rope to get onto a new piece of bottom. It wasn't long after that Dad got another good hit and misses the hook-set. I get him to drop it right back down and the Grouper grabs it again. Once again he misses the hook. Dad played keep away with the fish 3 or 4 times before he sticks the hook in him (not his fault, they were just being finicky) and it was game on. After a brief struggle Grouper # 2 pops up.



















Duayne bows up a little after that fish but this is no Grouper, instead the man in the grey suit.



















Not much action after that so we slipped some more rope. This time its Duayne that hooks up and up pops Grouper # 3.










We fished in that area another hour or so with no more luck so we headed to the edge. Fishing there was dreadfully slow. It was even hard to catcha Mingo. While there dad decided to rest on the bean bag for a while. He had left his pole in the rod holder with a big bait up in the water column looking for an AJ. After a while I see it doubled over. It took a while for me to even get it out of the rod holder. I thought the rod holder was going to break. Finally I was able to get it out and the Shark ran under the boat and was dumping drag like crazy. The drag was locked down and I had both thumbs on the spool and still couldn't slow him down. I really thought the rod was going to break. Duayne was about to raise the motor so I could try to get on the right side of the boat but thankfully it broke off. I didn't want any more of that. Shortly after that we moved in closer to one of our Snapper holes and the bite there was dead. Dad had wanted to get back early but opted to try one more spot to look for some Snapper. It was a good decision. The next spot was loaded with Snapper all through the water column within 15 ft of the boat. If we would have had any chum we would have had them on the surface. We didn't catch any Sows but a decent grade 18-20 inches. Once we had our limit we dumped the fish out for the final count/pic.










The fishing was pretty slow but we still managed a good box of fish. 3 Red Grouper, 6 Red Snapper, 2 Triggers and 11 Mingo's. The ride out was very nice pretty much flat but the ride in was not so nice. The waves had picked up and we had to go almost straight into them. Over all it was a good trip, everybody had a good time and caught plenty for a family fish fry.


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

Nice catch. Thats a stud red grouper in that top picture


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## Runned Over (Sep 6, 2008)

Jeez Matt!!!!! Nice job. Couldn't ask for a better Fathers Day gift than a son putting a father on an awesome GROUPER!!!! :bowdown


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## recess (Oct 8, 2007)

beautiful groupers, you got it going on Matt way to catch them up ,and to be able to spend some quality time with your father now thats priceless.

TIM


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## lobsterman (Sep 30, 2007)

nice catch indeed.


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## Pinksnappertrapper (Dec 7, 2007)

congrats on some great fish. Thats a trip your dad will never forget.


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## NaClH2O (Feb 14, 2008)

Thanks for the report, and those are some fine grouper.

Rob


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## reelhappy (Oct 31, 2007)

hey matt if i adopt you will you put me on some of those red grouper? great job great report and pics. and ya spending some time with dad fishing Priceless!!!!!!!!

way to go!

scot


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## Coryphaena (Oct 2, 2007)

Awesome, Matt- those are some fine red grouper. You really know where to find them, that's for sure. :bowdown Congrats to your Dad on getting the upper hand on such nice fish and to you for making it happen for him!


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## nextstep (Jun 27, 2008)

way to go matt!!! dim some good lookin groupers right there. glad your dad was able to boat his target fish.:clap


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## jjam (Dec 9, 2007)

Awesome day you had with your dad Matt! Looks like you got them grouper figured out even on slow days...and you always know where to find them mingos too!:bowdown

I always enjoyyour post! Keep'em coming...

Jimmy


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## wanabe fishing (Sep 28, 2007)

Another great job getting on the fish. You are really setting the bar high for the rest of us. :bowdown


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