Post Florida Fix (12/22)

[Latimeria]

Looked at the marine weather reports when I got home to see a winter mess is heading our way.  I still wasn't going to fish since I had a bunch of things to do and unpack, but it was a small Wednesday Window, and I woke up in the morning and got the boat ready.

I had no idea what I was going to do, but figured it would be the usual.  I was definitely going to hit the rockfish before the closure also.

Got down to the ramp late and headed out.  I caught a dozen 12" assorted bass, but there was very little on the fish finder.  I still had a bunch to do at home, so decided to go deep and leave the shallow water rocks alone for when rockfish season does close.

I hit my 160' spot for one sole sculpin...  The fish finder was empty and I couldn't even get bit on squid strips!  Not even little things stealing my bait.



I moved out to my 200' spots and more or less of the same thing.  I started to question if I should head deeper or go inside and end the day in the shallows.  At least I picked up a little Starry.



I decided to head to 300' areas that Squatch and I caught some huge reds a few years back.  Man, nothing again, but finally found a literally 20' round patch of rock with biting fish!  All good grade fish!



Back to back Reds and got my limit of 5 quality cod.



Caught a nice Starry in the mix also.



I had a whopper of a hit and  thought it was going to be a really big red, but turned out to be a Really big Copper!



It wasn't fast and furious, but I wouldn't have caught so many if it wasn't for my Spot Lock



I moved a little bit to get more bites, but lost the magic circle and got nothing.  I decided to move to a 250' spot that Squatch and I did well on, but there was a boat planted right on it.  After a quick check of my waypoints, I found another mound a few hundred yards away.  This is where I got my limits.



I also caught a Whitefish, I mean Skrilla Candy, before I got a decent thump!  I for sure thought it was a really big red as it fought the entire way up and just felt heavy.  To my surprise, a Legal Lingcod!  Wow!  Nice way to fill my quota and end the day!



Well, I got back in time to clean the boat and get some things around the house done, but the fish are packed in ice and need to get cleaned today.  They are already bled out, but time seems to be moving faster these days. 

Well thanks for reading and Happy Holidays everyone!

[sasquatch]

Nice.

[Tim524]

Nice solo trip, glad you found them and you beat the storm

[skrilla]

Nice work!

[jrodda]

Nice array of freezer fillers, and that lingcod looks vivid.

[vdisney]

Glad you got out Tom, those are some of my favorite eating fish............ Merry Christmas

[BenCantrell]

Wow, that's an awesome end of year freezer filling session! Nice work!