Talk about a change in weather – at 10 pm Friday , there was a small craft warning up on NOAA but CBOFS showed less then 10 all day. Figured we’d give it a try and hope CBOFS was correct. Got up at 5:00 am and NOAA had dropped small craft warning. Got to Sandy Point at 6:15 am and met fellow TFers NoleAnimal ( Scott ) , Big E ( Evans ) and Blue Lou ( Lou ). While engines warmed up – crew racked the six rigged rods and put the two spares in holders. Only about 6-7 trailers there as sun came up. Headed out and found smooth seas – running SSE to channel edge near # 87 marker. Put the boards over and three lines off each. Swung into an east / west trolling / search pattern and got into the donuts. Trolled about 45 minutes and then got a solid hit. Scott took first fish – it gave him a nice fight.
He soon had the nice fish next to boat and it was landed by hand. Quick photo and the 39 incher was set loose – tail slap at surface threw water on us.
Fish hit a 2 oz chartreuse Spankin’ Striper with green shad – part of 6/2 tandem about 70 feet off board.
We trolled around some bait and snagged a few of the big Menhadden. Had to check lure often for scales on the hook points. Good news – never had any trash or jelly fish. The bait fish were measured just for fun but are about 12 inches long.
CBOFS was correct as it was calm almost all day.
Had a DNR officer come by and check the boat decal and count the rods. New officer I have not seen before – great seeing them out there checking.
Slack current came and we knew it was unlikely to get any bites. Once current started again – we got another hit. Evans reeled in a nice one about 35 inches. It hit a 2 oz white Alien with a clear / aqua colored shad from Marty’s. This is a new color for me – really looks good in the clear water.
Fished until about 2:00 and pulled lines as a gentle breeze picked up. Ran back to Sandy Point and saw 3-4 police cars on east bound bridge. Going past jetty – could see an accident on the bridge.