The beach has been just beautiful and there is hardly anyone in town who doesn't live here. I finished up my boat and tackle projects mid-afternoon today and went down and sat on the beach for an hour.
Boy! No wonder everybody comes here on vacation, that was nice!
While I have been rebuilding reels and working on the boat the past couple days I did run offshore four days in a row on some very beautiful weather days.
Yesterday morning it was almost cool at daylight! The days are getting shorter and it won't be long before all the big Fall fish runs start. I saw the first schools of mullet in the surf today!
Right after my last report I got to take a family scallopin' over at St Joe Bay and then spend a couple days doing it myself.
The weather was overcast which kinda hurts the visibility but there were plenty of scallops.
The annual migration of the tourist families back North has happened with the onset of a new school year. The beaches are empty and as much as everyone who lives here enjoys having the visitors it sure is nice to have "our" beach back to ourselves! I got to take 4 days off and went over to Indian Pass and St Joe bay for a break. The Scallopin' was great and I had a blast swimming in the Bay 3 days in a row and eating some Fine fresh Scallop dinners.
After running as hard as as possible for three months, the phone has quieted down and my reservation book has lots of empty spots.Today is the first pretty day I can remember where I don't have a charter. A little break in the action is a good thing even for a hardcore like me.
With Red Snappers off limits, we have been trolling for Kings quite a bit and have had a pleasant surprise the past few days.
The cobias have decided to do a summer rerun! Now, we are not seeing fish migrating down the sandbar but are finding them holding up close in wrecks and rocks.
Yesterday was the last day of the shortest Red Snapper season ever, with more and bigger fish around than anyone can ever remember.
Just got back to Seagrove from 9 days at Indian Pass. I got to run 6 Tarpon trips and we put 5 to the boat and jumped off one more. The biggest fish was about 165 pounds and the smallest about 100 pounds. There seem to be plenty of fish but they have not really "ganged up" any where. Spending the time to run and look for a feed seems to be the best option this year.
I wish I had lots of great fish stories to tell but the Surf just finally went down last night from the 2 back to back low pressure systems we had in the Gulf. The first, Hurricane Alex got some media attention, the second got ignored by the press but kicked up bigger surf than Alex.
After a long stretch of great conditions, this is the third day I've had to cancel my trips. Tropical Storm Alex may be on it's way to Mexico, but the surf generated by the storm is hitting the shore here.
I know it's been a couple of weeks since I wrote but I have been working 14-15 hours a day, running 2 trips every day and cleaning fish for hours.
To say that fishing has been easy is putting it mildly. LOTS of big Red Snappers (had a 20-pound fish today).
Plenty of Kings with a lot in the 25 to 40 pound range. A few groupers around, plenty of Amberines and even a few cobia coming through.
