# Saturday 8/22 trip elbow/spur



## panhandlephinsphan (Aug 25, 2008)

Made it back as the sun tucked itself away for the night. I know this is a crazy statement- but that was a good trip. All I caught was a barracuda - which I would NOT permit into the boat so I wrestled with him at the side of the boat for ten minutes to get the hook out of his mouth successfully. I was only in about 150ft of water so a barracuda or Bonita was what I was most likely expecting. Blake caught the Bonita about the same time I caught the cuda 

I was by myself on my boat (thanks, ‘Rona) and a buddy of mine Blake was on his with two of his friends. We trolled similar areas with different lures. He played with some sub surface lures for hoos and some ballyhoo. I ran my usual spread of surface skirted lures no ballyhoo. I guess for the experiment to work better we need to actually be in areas with FISH. 🙂

I did verify two things on the trip though:

The charts don’t lie. They are not fake news. 🙂 if they show the water conditions suck then most likely the water conditions suck. 

Secondly we verified that the recently deployed FADS by Okaloosa county really do exist (at least two of them). I actually hooked one with my long line on my second pass so it is physically there and not just a hologram. It took me 30 minutes to get my lure back but I did. There are no fish at the FADS yet BTW. 

Overall we fished the edge by the nipple, down to the elbow and the shelf to the west of that to only find green water and water hyacinth instead of sargassum. Blake and his crew talked me into punching through some dark clouds and rain showers to go check out the fads at the spur (Fish Attracting Devices) so we did. Oddly enough, the area we left started having some pop up showers and we watched a waterspout for a bit in the distance. The water was a little better near the spur but never got better than clean green but never blue (as the charts showed) I still saw water hyacinth even at the spur. 

It was good to get out to one of my happy places and already looking forward to the next


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## NautiCat (Mar 20, 2020)

I tried ignoring the charts once, had the Wahoo itch and went for the edge to nipple anyways, you're right if they show water conditions suck they're gonna suck haha. Needless to say I still have the itch and haven't busted that cherry yet 

Glad you were able to work with a buddy boat and try various options, will have to keep in touch so I can add to your experiment  We've been trying sub-surface lures on the inside and skirts on the outside so far with no luck, likely just bad timing with conditions.

Looking forward to the first opportunity after these storms to get out there, i'll be watching the charts to see if blue water gets pushed in. I'm hearing grouper might get pushed in as well.

Thanks for the report!


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## iJabo (Jul 6, 2013)

I'm wanting to make a trip out to the FADs once they have had time to bring some fish in, (and pending good water out there...)


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## Walton County (Aug 23, 2016)

Weather break coming this weekend. I am sure the water will be nasty but we are gonna go.


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## NautiCat (Mar 20, 2020)

Walton County said:


> Weather break coming this weekend. I am sure the water will be nasty but we are gonna go.


I am also considering heading out Friday.


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## panhandlephinsphan (Aug 25, 2008)

I am out for the next 4 weekends......


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## ColemanOGwynn (Apr 2, 2015)

Next time, keep the Cuda....Cuda strips are one of the best baits for deep dropping and snapper fishing. Just saying....


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## panhandlephinsphan (Aug 25, 2008)

You are absolutely right- cuda and Bonita and any other trash fish should e kept for free bait for other purposes. good point.


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