Fishing

It's early winter at the beach, one of the best times of the year to live here. No lines at the grocery, no traffic on 30A, still some really nice days at the beach and... the Flounders are thick!

With this being the "slow time" my trips have dropped off from twice a day every day to just a couple a week. I spend most of my time dealing with all the real world stuff like rebuilding boats and tackle, trying to cram in a years worth of put off doctor visits, house chores that get put off, renewing dozens of fishing permits etc.

Well the seasons are finally changing, the surf is up and I am on the hill doing boat chores. We have had a long run of good weather and fairly warm temps. I got to run trips in the Gulf for 8 out of 10 days at the end of November this year.

Most years I get booked every day around Thanksgiving but only get to run half of my trips due to weather. Red Snappers are closed now till sometime next year (probably in May) and we can finally start targeting some other critters!

It was absolutely beautiful here at the beach yesterday and today but the folks over on the East Coast are dealing with Hurricane Mathew. The storm has us getting a pretty stiff NE wind which makes it slick calm on the beach but pretty bouncy offshore. In another 2 weeks I'd take my folks out to chase Flounders and Kings right up on the beach but right now our only species are the Kings up in close and my folks decided they didn't want to just troll for a whole trip. Fine with me as it gives me a chance to catch up and write a report !

It's a wonderful time to be at the beach! The last big crush of visitors from Labor Day weekend is over, there are no lines at the restaurants, Red Snapper season is open on the weekends and there are lots of other fish to catch during the week.

The fall Red Snapper season opened up for four days over Labor Day weekend with lots of folks getting good catches on the days calm enough to go. The remains of Hurricane Hermine had the Gulf a little rough for a couple days but all in all we got off easy, it didn't even rain here!

Walton County Coastal Dune Lake Advisory Board is hosting Coastal Dune Lake Day at Grayton Beach State Park on Saturday, September 17 from 10:00 am til 4:00 pm. The community is invited to come out for a day long celebration of South Walton area coastal dune lakes on the shores of Western Lake in Grayton Beach.

I know, it's been a long time since I wrote a fishin' report. My camera died right before I left for Indian Pass almost a month ago where I have no real computer access. I ordered another camera and was able to salvage a couple of my last photos from Grayton as well as take a few over at the pass. I made it back home to Seagrove yesterday and am back in the groove.

It's been busy here at the beach ! The long week of the 4th of July had lots & lots of folks here and fortunately for me, a bunch of 'em are fishers. Red Snappers have been the main target for the past couple weeks but there have been lots of Kings, a few Groupers, scads Of Vermillions, some Amberines and even a few Cobia caught by my anglers.

It's that time of the year when I have no time for anything but fishin'!

The weather is great, the fish are biting and there are lots of folks that want to go on the water. I am up at 3:30, on the beach at 5, finishing up around 7 and in bed by 8:30.

It's been a while since I wrote a report but this is still gonna be kinda thin on words... I have been running the "other" boat with the federal permit so I can fish my folks past the 9 fence when the fish decide that's where we need to be.

Red Snappers opened up this past weekend for a steady six-week run, after only being open on weekends (state waters) for the first part of May. We have had some spectacular catches but the Snappers are not as thick up in close as usual for this time of year.