Deep Sea Charter Fishing

Captain Randy Craft
Courteous & Experienced
U.S.C.G. Licensed

LATEST FISHING REPORT
BY CAPTAIN RANDY CRAFT

Fishing Report of 5-19-03
Apalachicola, St. George Island to St. Marks, Florida -- Offshore

 

We have been pretty busy since my last report taking groups of great folks in search of hungry, hard fighting fish in our beautiful area of the Gulf. It is a Ton-O-Fun, and with the super nice weather we’re having it will just keep getting better.

And, our grouper, for the most part, seem more interested in our offerings. We have also had some good catches of red and black snapper and nice size, hard fighting amberjack to augment the day’s fun.

On occasion, the grouper have been going back to their snooty ways and when that happens we go after more O. T. O. fish. Amberjack, cobia, king and Spanish mackerel make up a goodly portion of this private grouping of specie. They all have been doing their part to assure our clients a great day on the water.

Mahi have started to show up in advance of the Sargasso weed and we look forward to adding those guys to our catch in the weeks and months to come. The more Sargasso we have come into our area the heavier the concentration of those tasty, hard fighting, fish we will have.

On the 12th we had the pleasure of taking the Ray family from up around Nashville, GA. offshore again this year. Howard, Gregg, Clinton, Clint, Mitch and Mitchall (8) made up this fine crew. It was a good thing the guys brought Mitchall along this year. He caught the first two keeper grouper of the day on our first stop. That little fellow is a cracker jack and had no qualms in setting the standard for his older kin.

A fine tally of 12 grouper to 17#, 3 snapper to 6# and a limit of 6 amberjack to 28# made for great photos back at the dock at days end.

Marshal, Judy and Matt Litchtenstein along with their friends Mandy and Bert Love and Jon Grostin from up around Roswell, GA. fished with us on the 13th.

And, though the grouper didn’t want to cooperate with us on that day, these fine folks had a great time and exceptionally tough fights with our amberjack. The crew was tired, but grinning with their excellent catch of a limit of 6 big ole’ amberjack to 32#, 2 grouper to 12#, and a gaggle of tasty black sea bass and ruby lips at the end of the day.

On the 15th I had the pleasure, though a lot of work, in putting together a 4 boat group charter for Earl Griner and 24 of his employees with the insurance company he heads from up in Atlanta. The Terminator, run by Capt. Reid Hicks, The Blue Gill, with Capt. Doug Curtley, The Lil’ Teake, with Capt. Jayson Knapp and DEBO TOO with myself and my lady Debo as crew, participated in this all day fun fest.

Man, did we have a blast! It was great, friendly competition between all the boats and crews and at days end the total catch was near 600# of great fish and 25 smiling, but tired faces. The catch of grouper, amberjack, snapper, shark and black sea bass was pretty evenly distributed amongst all the boats.

It was a super fun day that I feel Earl and his folks will repeat with us next year.

Joe Gilboy brought his buds, Dennis Smith, Lane Lucas, Paul Forrester, Richard Parsons all from the Tallahassee, FL. area and Scott Riley from Birmingham, Al. to fish with us on the 16th. They are a great bunch of guys who have fished with us before.

We had a beautiful day, calm seas and fickle fish. Yep, it was tough fishin’, but we still managed to entice 8 good grouper to 14# and a gaggle of black sea bass and rubys to make the trip back to Tallahassee for some special dinners in their honor.

On the 17th we had the Wall gang fish with us again after a year and a half wait. Lee, John, Daniel and Clate Wall along with their bud, Daniel Spivey all from up around McDonough, GA. were scheduled to fish with us on three different occasions during the last 18 months. On all three occasions Mother Nature prevented our taking them fishing.

We had great weather on Saturday and again, snooty fish. It’s a little frustrating to see them stacked up like cord wood under the boat with nary a one willing to open their mouths. But, that is fishing and the Wall boys understand. We ended the day with 4 grouper to 12# and 4 good amberjack to 28#. Our fine crew is looking forward to taking another crack at em' in the fall.

Our long time client, Dr. Ron Carney, his son, Grant and their friends Steve and Travis McCoy, Wayne Johnson and Joie Grant all from up around the Thomasville, GA. area fished with us yesterday. We were greeted with a little rougher sea conditions than NOAA had predicted as we cleared the east pass. Still very fishable though.

I am pleased to say that our fishy friends may be getting into their normal feeding habits. We had good heavy bites on most all the stops we made throughout the day. We had an increase in the number of live baits taken by our grouper and were just plain out manned by several bubbas during the day on both dead and live baits. 15 near bubba red and gag grouper to 18# did make the mistake of getting too far from their hidey hole while taking our baits. Those fish and a good mess of black sea bass made for a nice catch and good photos filled with smiles back at the dock.

Take those kids fishing!

&

Catch Em Up!