Decided to brave the 4-6’ seas and head out to some super secret bottom numbers we hit once a year with my father, his buddy from college and Wesley Williams. Left the dock around 5:30 and pulled up to a nice big commercial boat sitting right in the middle MY numbers. What an A$$hole… Made the best of it and and moved about a mile away and put a dent in the trigger, porgie, hind,seabass and B-liner population. Couldn’t find the grouper. Some interesting notes for the day:
40nm off the water looked like pea soup. 55nm off the water was crystal blue.
While fishing, at any given time there were giant blue/pink jellyfish two feet across the bell floating around. Moon jellies?
Also, the entire water column covered in crabs. Same body style as blue crabs but a different color scheme. I bet we saw over a thousand before the day was out.
Do not tell fish stories where the people know you; but particularly, don’t tell them where they know the fish.
I was out on Sunday as well. Yeah I believe they were moon jellies and we also saw a ton of sea nettle jellies. Nice work on the bottom. Sorry to hear about your secret numbers being not so secret… Day was slow for us, tried the bottom for a bit without much luck.
Caught the king on a spro jig on the bottom tipped with gulp. It was probably around 15lbs. Was entirely joking about owning the numbers. Just gives me the chance to go find some more super secret spots. I did not take any pictures of the jellies and crabs. Looking forward to getting back out there once this weather turns to fall… Also, to anyone with knowledge, is there a quick and easy trick to telling the difference between rudderfish and young AJs? We caught a bunch of one or the other and I wasn’t comfortabe with bringing any back…
Do not tell fish stories where the people know you; but particularly, don’t tell them where they know the fish.
We (at least I was) were joking about the cornholing and spot owning also.
Usually when a commercial guy is in the area I’ve come to it makes me feel like I’m in the right place… sorta.
Rudders have white tail tips and are less tall. They are more topedo shaped than other jacks.
Another jack I catch sometimes is what I call an almaco. It doesn’t have much amber color in it, is taller (thinner body depth), and the bar on the top of its head is usually very dark- nearly black.
You will also get lesser jacks when you are in deeper water fishing on the bottom. They look like greater AJ’s except the tail and body depth proportions are different. How far the lips come back under the eyes is different between the lesser and greater jack also.
I know for sure we caught one almaco, and one banded rudderfish. I think the rest are going to continue to be released. I don’t have the necessary equipment to run southern blotting DNA tests on the boat to identify AJ look-alikes. I appreciate the info Phin.
Do not tell fish stories where the people know you; but particularly, don’t tell them where they know the fish.
We (at least I was) were joking about the cornholing and spot owning also.
Usually when a commercial guy is in the area I’ve come to it makes me feel like I’m in the right place… sorta.
Rudders have white tail tips and are less tall. They are more topedo shaped than other jacks.
Another jack I catch sometimes is what I call an almaco. It doesn’t have much amber color in it, is taller (thinner body depth), and the bar on the top of its head is usually very dark- nearly black.
You will also get lesser jacks when you are in deeper water fishing on the bottom. They look like greater AJ’s except the tail and body depth proportions are different. How far the lips come back under the eyes is different between the lesser and greater jack also.
