FISHING REPORT
Florida Central West Coast
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BRADENTON - OFFSHORE & INSHORE
(July-August, 2002)
OFFSHORE Great Jumping Gehosaphats,
we finally have seen some Red Grouper in numbers on the hard bottom not too distant. We were running 30 plus miles, and still not finding
a lot of red grouper in the 20 plus size. It has been tough fishing for some time, some days you found them and some days it seemed
like the had left the earth, but in July they finally came in and we are pleasantly
pleased. You still have to catch about 10 undersized to get a keeper, but we have brought up some 28 to 30 inch hogs also. The Mangrove
Snapper took a little breather, and are back pretty heavy. We are now catching Mangrove on every trip.
KINGFISH have not left entirely!
Although we don't catch as many as we do during season, we are catching some whopper smokers. Last week we caught five, and all were in
the 30 plus pound range accept one, it was a 48 pound Trophy Smoker, which the customer mounted. This year's King season had been
all screwed up timewise, but it's great to see some Trophy's hanging around yet.
The little fish have changed somewhat. We are seeing a lot more Blue Porgys and in good size, but where we were catching a lot of Lane
Snapper, the catch numbers have gone down some. The Key West Snapper catch is still good and some very big ones. The numbers are
down some, but I believe it's because mostly we have been concentrating on catching bigger fish. But for those of you who want to fish for
them, I'm sure you will have a good catch.
We are still catching a stray Cobia or two. It seems they are just wandering around offshore, instead of hanging on the wrecks, we have had
quite a lot of big ones (40+ pounders) just wander right up to the boat on drifts or anchored on small coral reefs. This has happened before
once in awhile, but not as much as this year.
All the signs point to a great fall and winter this year. The seasons have been crazy this year, but the bait is hanging deeper instead of on
the surface, and it is spread out all over the coral reefs. I believe the bait will stay longer in this pattern, and the fall and winter should bring
some great surpirsing fishing in our area. Get ready for some stunning trips.
Bent rods and screaming reels, see ya on the water.
Captain RW
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Copyright 1996, 2002 by RW And Associates. All rights Reserved.