Flounderpounder

I was fortunate to be invited back for a refresher course at "Grouper Grad School"! When I showed up at the house, to my surprise there was our stalwart moderator Wade (Downtime)! After an extended hospital "visit", and months at home recuperating, he was ready (and VERY eager) to finally get back on the water!!!!! You should have seen his smiles!!!!!!! He didn't even fish, he was more than happy to just be out there again. But he did gaff just about every fish that came over the rail. We were calling him "Captain Hook". Welcome back Wade, so glad to see you well enough to enjoy again your love for the water!

As for the report: with Gene and regular crew member Cliff, and guest Skip (LastCast) we hit the pass just after 1st light and headed south for the deep stuff....60 miles or so. It was a little chilly at first, but warmed up pretty quickly. By noon or so we were down to our tee shirts! It cooled off again by the end of the day, especially as we got back to the colder near shore water. Water conditions all day were superb....nearly slick! The fish were there, but not exactly on fire. We had to work to fill the box, and get another limit of grouper! We fished spots from about 600 to almost 800'. Man, those electric reels are a treat!

It was a really mixed bag! A bunch of snowies (of course), quite a few yellow edge, several blueline tile, 3 or 4 golden tile, 3 or 4BEAUTIFUL long tail sea bass, a scamp or 2, and a moray eel! We alsoboated a couplewhite snapper, that we chunked up for bait. One tiny shark (I forget the name) with amazing light blue eyes also came up. Thetastiest bait of the day seemed to be squid. Cliff was definately the Groupermaster of the day, as well as handling the lion share of crew duties! The "working hard for a fish award" goes to Gene, who jigged up a snowy from about 700' on fairly light spinning gear!!!!!!!!!!! That happened as part of a "triple" with both Skip and Cliff also hooked up at the same time as Gene!

I think both Gene and Cliff took a pic of the catch, and I'm sure they will add a pic to the post, and correct any errors I may have made on the report. It was a full, long day, but it sure seemed to fly by! Thanks again guys for the great hospitality, and the refresher course: I'm SLOWLY starting to catch on alittle bit.

lobsterman

Wade Welcome back to the wild blue yonder, and congrats to the Team Recess for being the grouper masters.

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Fiver

great report, and that is a nice variety of fish....snowy, yellowedge, golden tile, and long tailed bass all in the same day is pretty dang awesome. I know I was wishing I wasn't working yesterday, and I'm sure Tim and Rob concur! Great to hear that Wade got some water flowing over those gills.

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Team Recess

NaClH2O

Wade glad you got to get back out on the water. Sounds like yall had a great time along with some great conditions. Catching the fish is just a bonus.

Team Recess

Rob

Captain Jake Adams

Sounds like another great day, I'm looking forward to the pictures as always. It's great to hear Wade is back on the water where he belongs!

ironman172

Me too!!!:clap...great to hear Wade was able to get out!!!! that is the best therapy going:clap

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Bill
...........................................RETIRED ......

Heller High Water

Great post and welcome back old salt!

PURPLE HAZE

Tom Good post. I too also had a good time fishing with everyone. It was good also to have Skip, Wade, You and Cliff aboard. The weather was something out of a dream. Here's a picture of the catch. Till next time. Gene

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TEAM RECESS

User6882

glad yall had a good trip.. we were out for 2 days and worked our asses off and managed 2 grouper.. the weather was absolutely beautiful but we just couldnt seem to find the fish

cobe killer

great post tom, it was a pleasure fishing with you,skip and wade(biggest smiles of the day).i sure wish that i would not have forgotten the camera in my truck. it was an absolutely beautiful day for pics. wade was at the point when ever we were moving, soaking up the salt air and watching for debris in the water. i really enjoyed talking with wade. a lot of great stories to hear from him from turtles to blue marlin. the fish were a little tight lipped but it was a great day. the only pic wasof the fish, which gene already posted. sorrt, i'll try not to forget the camera again.

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TEAM RECESS