AFW

By Jason
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Saturday, June 10, 2006

Today would be our maiden fishing voyage after  I rebuilt the powerhead  which failed in January (click here for the powerhead rebuild blog).  The powerhead held up great!

Anyway, on to the fishing report.  We picked up a dozen shrimp, which were mostly tiny and left land approx. 8:45am.  Our first stop was at an island at the western end of the slow zone at Shell Point.  We saw someone there catching a redfish so we gave it a try.  No luck.

Next stop would be just off of the Sanibel Causeway for bait.  The bait was so abundant we have never seen it like this before.  There were pods surrounding us.  Problem was that I am unable to throw a cast net properly (I have never taken the time to really learn this).   I have to study this video to learn how to throw the cast net.   Very frustrating when you can barely throw the net, and you get 3,2, or no baitfish per cast.  Nonetheless, after an hour or so of this we had a decent amount of bait in the bait well (maybe 50 pieces).

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12:25pm

Next stop would be Sanibel Causeway Span C for some depth (20 ft), but the bridge construction must have been scaring the fish away (uh huh).  This is where I picked up my first Cockroach Of The Sea:

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2:35pm

Next we were going to head for Buck Key but stopped at York Island first.  It was slow going at first, like for TWO HOURS.  Finally, Karla picked up this monster Catfish:

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4:42pm

Things really began to pick up when I landed this nice little snapper:

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5:06pm

Immediately after that Karla hooked up an awesome spotted sea trout:

 
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5:07pm

20 inch total length to be exact.  

We were caught up in our catches so much that I did not realize we stopped drifting because we were a ground.  Tide was outgoing so it was a mad rush to do what we could to get us moving.  I was out in 1 foot of water and my feet sunk at least 4 inches into the muck.  It was pretty difficult but we finally got to deeper water (foot and a half). 

Later Karla caught a lady fish:

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6:43pm

Then I hooked up this cute manta ray:

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6:53pm

Amber caught a young catfish:

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7:00pm

Later, Karla hooked a blue clawed crab.  Good size one too.  Just as she was raising the line to swing it over to the boat the crab broke free.  Luckily I had just positioned the hand net underneath and caught it!

Soon the rains came, and did it pour.  Minimal lightning though, thank goodness.  We tied up at someone's dock in St. James City and waited it out for about 15 minutes.

We then headed south of York Island (never did make it to Buck Key), around the channel and drifted west.  

There was a rustle in the water, and soon it was evident that Karla hooked a shark that looked to be about 2 foot maybe 5 lbs.  Just as I was lifting her line to get it on our front deck, he broke free.  He bounced off the deck and landed in the water, with hook.

Karla used a different pole while I fixed up the hookless one, and soon after her leader was completely severed. There was some wild activity out there.

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8:23pm

We headed back toward Sanibel Causeway Span C and tried our luck for a while.  Nothing.

We arrived back at the dock about 10:30pm, exhausted, as a good fishing trip should make you feel.

• Wind: from the east

• Seas: moderate chop

• Precipitation: none

• Water Temperature: 88F

• Distance Traveled (mi): 38mi

• Hours out: 14

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