Oooh Barracuda

If you ever wanted to catch a Barracuda in the Gulf waters off St.Pete beach, now is the time. We had the chance to take some familiar faces out on a 4-hour fishing charter this Labor day. Scott, James and Bill were just looking to get out on the boat and spend some quality time with friends...oh, and maybe catch a fish or two. Fishing the South County reef just two days earlier with constant action gave me a good place to start.

We headed West and enjoyed a beautiful, and cool, cloud covered Gulf of Mexico. This past Labor day weekend provided some excellent weather for fishing. We arrived at the spot and started catching mackerel and blue runners right away. Some of the Spanish mackerel were in the 2-3 pound range and the smaller ones we quickly deployed for the Barracudas. Our first big strike came within minutes of putting one of these large baits out. Scott fought the fish after it peeled about 150 yards of line off the reel, and after about a ten minute battle...it came unhooked. My guess...big Kingfish.

Well, after we lost two more fish, Bill finally brought a 15 pound Barracuda to the boat. After that, James brought a 25 pound 'cuda' boatside. Check out James(above pic) with his first-ever Barracuda and new office mate-James decided to capture the moment with a quality fish mount from Gray's taxidermy. Hopefully he will think of Jawbreaker fishing charters everytime he looks up at that beautiful fish hanging on the wall. Great jod dude!

Bottom fishing was a bit slower than I expected. We did manage to get some Porgies and snappers, but the grouper were not as cooperative. The big ones kept winning and we kept tying leaders. I guess they will be there the next time. Our friends seemed to have enjoyed another great fishing trip on the Jawbreaker and we look forward to seeing these guys again. Thanks again Scott, you guys rock! Until the next time...Happy fishing to ya! Capt. Dan