An afternoon fishing trip on the Gulf of Mexico

Fishing a 4-hour trip in the afternoon, in the heat of summer, can be tough. Can be...today was different in the Gulf of Mexico. We got a really cool group of guys on our boat for a 5-boat corporate fishing charter. These guys were quick learners. After putting about 20 Spanish mackerel in the box, catching and releasing 4 Barracuda and losing a nice Bull shark(after a 20 minute fight) we decided to head into Tampa Bay and finish the trip with a little bit of trolling for Grouper.

 Trolling in the summer-time is not always productive for Grouper, but this year seems to be a bit different. Oh, and I had a good tip from another local charter captain, its good to have friends like that! Anyway, we put the first 3 fish to hit our plugs/spoons in the fish box...Wow! I think I may have been more excited than my charter, but hey, I just love it when a plan comes together. We only had enough time to do about three more passes, without getting one more hit! Oh well , back to the dock with fish to clean and another great fishing trip with new peeps.

 All fish caught today were on artificials, except the shark, it ate a mackerel that ate an artificial. Sometimes hardware rules! Happy fishing to ya! Capt.Dan