Well, it has been over a month since my last post. Mainly because there has been pretty good surf and most of my shorebound fishing excursions have ended with the rods getting locked in the cab and the wetsuit getting slapped on. School started up again and I have been busy with that - plus living in Orlando doesn't exactly make me the best saltwater ambassador.

A couple weeks ago I did manage to score a trip offshore with my roommate Paul on his new boat, a 34' Luhrs, the "HectaSea". Our plan was to troll out to a few hundred feet then finish up the day bottom fishing in the deep stuff. There were 7 people on board, but in that big boat it felt empty. Cranked up the tunes and cruised for a couple hours out to the trollin grounds. I spent an hour or so rigging baits and then headed straight to the air-conditioned cabin for a nap. Talk about fishin' in stylee!

Well, after trolling perfectly rigged swimming ballyhoo for about four hours, we decided to give the bottom fishin a try. We had procured a livewell full of blue runners and pinfish which we were eager to drop down on a wreck in 300' of water out of Sebastian. On my first drop with a spinning rod and a metal jig, I hooked up a big fish about 100' off the bottom. This fish fought great on the light rod, peeling off line and pulling me down for all I was worth. After about 15 minutes I finally fought the 50lb amberjack to the boat. We gaffed it for eating and continued fishing.

After that, everybody had their chance with the big AJ's. We used heavier tackle to get some in quicker and light stuff for fun. They sure can put a hurtin on your back, no matter what tackle ya use. We ended up landing 7 or 8 up to 50-60 pounds. Kept 3 for eating. (note: these amberjacks were the first I have ever seen with no worms in the meat. The white flesh was absolutely delicious.)

With everyone who fought a fish in need of a good chiropractor, we opted to try bottom bumping on some shallower reefs in 160 feet. We found some nice structure that we had never fished before and started droppin some baits. Dan drops down his antique rod and reel with 12lb test monofilament and a cruddy old jig tipped with some squid. Suprisingly, he was the first one to hook up to a nice fish, and after about a 20 minute up and down battle with the light line, up pops a 12lb red grouper! That fish got him in and out of the rocks several times, but with a little fine tuning he was outta there and in the cooler.

Next fish I got when I dropped down a live grunt on my spinning rod. Shortly after hitting the bottom my grunt goes all nervous and twitchin. I feel a thud and something starts peeling line off the reel. This is a nice fish, running on the bottom, trying to find a hole. After some coaxing and hard pulling we lip-gaff my biggest red grouper ever, almost 20 pounds!

We caught a few small snapper after that and made our way home. The big boat only goes about 18-20 knots, so it was a nice beer sippin cruise home. Made it back to the dock right as the sun was setting, a great way to end the maiden voyage of the HECTASEA.

Enjoy the pics, I'll enjoy the filets.

Peace, love, fish, and waves,

Matt B

GREAT Catch.  Sounds like a great time.  I fish the west coast of fl so I know the fishing is different.  I will be heading over to the east coast in mid Feb.   What could I expect to catch off the beach.  Melbourne Area?   Can you recomend a place?

Montylfl

If you're not gonna be on a boat, there's two good options I could give ya.

Surf fishing in Feb is really good, and your best bets would be down south in Melbourne Beach or up North around Satellite Beach. The pompano are usually running steady that time of year and theres always some big whiting and blues. Peeled shrimp and sandfleas.

In the river the trout like the cool water so throw some soft plastics while wading and you'll do good on some nice, clean grassflats about thigh-waist deep.

MattB

Hi Matt, Great stuff....

email me when your here!

thanks

Buddha