# Offshore report 6/18 with an interesting catch



## BIG O (Mar 24, 2008)

NOAA was right on the money again, had a client in town who asked me to take him fishing checked weather tue night Calling for seas 1-2 wind variable NE 5-10. Arrived at the island around 6.15 to find winds NE at 20 knots, marina had a 1 foot chop. Decided to go any way and told my client if he felt any discomfort we would come back in. Hit a couple of numbers but the fish were not there, decided to hit a rig about 20 miles out, and the fish were there. Had our limit of endangered A.R.Snapper in the 7-12 lbs range in no time. Caught 1 nice mangrove in the 4 lbs range 1/2 a dozen or so vermillion lost 2 kings but managed to stick one in 18-20 lbs range aswell as 4-5 grouper that were 1/2 inch short.Here is the neat thing we are in 105 foot of water 20 or so miles out and we end up catching on squid 5 slot red's in the 24 -25 inch category. This one was new to me. Once before I came across a massive school of Big Bull reds 4 miles out feeding on Menhaden, and had a ball for about 45 min following the school and catching them on light tackle and clark spoons, most in the 25 to 30 lbs range. But never on the bottom in 105 foot of water. i will post some pictures as soon as my client send them to me, we were back at the docks by noon and had a real nice day. Chime in if anyone has had any experances like the reds on the bottom would love to know if this happens often.

Big O


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## Tippin Slow (Nov 21, 2007)

We got into them pretty thick about a week ago. Trevor winched 3 up in about 10 minutes. Im thinking they were in 85 ft and biting pin fish.


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## MulatMayor (Sep 28, 2007)

I can only agree more that they missed the forecast. I was at 46 miles out and got beat up pretty bad.


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## finsandhorns (Oct 15, 2007)

not for sure might wan't to check but last i heard it was illegal to keep red fish caught in federal waters. just passing info , don't wan't any one in trouble , over regulations that change so much it's just so hard to keep up with.


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## Travis Gill (Oct 6, 2007)

We caught a few bulls over in Venice in 160-200ft of water and even caught two nice slots at the same time on a two drop rig.


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## Ranger Rick (Sep 29, 2007)

FYI, 

Red Drum cannot be harvested in federal waters.

Not that anyone said they kept any of them, just wanted to let people know the regulation. Here's the link to the federal regulations: http://www.gulfcouncil.org/Beta/GMFMCWeb/downloads/recbrochure2008web.pdf

Federal waters start at 9 miles out in the Gulf (3 miles in the Atlantic).

PS. Nice report and great to get the kids out on the water!


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## BIG O (Mar 24, 2008)

Great observation Rick, no we deflated there bladders and released them, regardless of the fact that 2 did not make it and are table fair for sharks.we had a nice slug of fish, I was just submitting a report of our catch, along with some thing that I had not seen before and thought it was an interesting catch.

Tight Lines


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## WW2 (Sep 28, 2007)

I have caught reds on the bottom at 3 barges, tex and lib.


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## Getsome (Sep 28, 2007)

> *Ranger Rick (6/20/2008)*FYI,
> 
> Red Drum cannot be harvested in federal waters.
> 
> ...




Thanks for sharing this Rick, I didn't know you could not keep Reds in Fed waters. All the ones we have caught in Fed waters were allways 30 - 50 lbs so they were way out of the slot.


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## fishin' fool (Apr 25, 2008)

Thanks a lot for the info on the fed regs. The thing I love most about this forum is that someone is always willing to jump in and offer what they know. 

I am relatively knew to Florida fishing and always carry the state regs with me and try to keep up on the fed regs.There havebeen many times that I called my wife to check the internet for the most recent regs after catching an unexpected dinner guest...


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## reelthrill (Oct 3, 2007)

> *BIG O (6/20/2008)*NOAA was right on the money again, had a client in town who asked me to take him fishing checked weather tue night Calling for seas 1-2 wind variable NE 5-10. Arrived at the island around 6.15 to find winds NE at 20 knots, marina had a 1 foot chop. Decided to go any way and told my client if he felt any discomfort we would come back in. Hit a couple of numbers but the fish were not there, decided to hit a rig about 20 miles out, and the fish were there. Had our limit of endangered A.R.Snapper in the 7-12 lbs range in no time. Caught 1 nice mangrove in the 4 lbs range 1/2 a dozen or so vermillion lost 2 kings but managed to stick one in 18-20 lbs range aswell as 4-5 grouper that were 1/2 inch short.Here is the neat thing we are in 105 foot of water 20 or so miles out and we end up catching on squid 5 slot red's in the 24 -25 inch category. This one was new to me. Once before I came across a massive school of Big Bull reds 4 miles out feeding on Menhaden, and had a ball for about 45 min following the school and catching them on light tackle and clark spoons, most in the 25 to 30 lbs range. But never on the bottom in 105 foot of water. i will post some pictures as soon as my client send them to me, we were back at the docks by noon and had a real nice day. Chime in if anyone has had any experances like the reds on the bottom would love to know if this happens often.
> 
> We have caught slot reds on wrecks and some of the oil rigs that are 20 or more miles off shore.
> 
> Big O


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