I woke up early Saturday and took the boys with me to gather around 75 pin fish for the trip. Got the boat loaded up with ice, bait, and chum and headed out at 3pm to about 45 miles outside of boca grande to some beautiful blue water stopping only briefly to take in 15 or so squirrel fish. Looked around some numbers and found the perfect bottom (wreck) to set up for the snapper bite, but still wanted to get a few grouper in so headed a few miles to a spot that holds them from time to time. We were lucky and after 4-5 drifts bouncing squirrels on the bottom we had our limit of reds mostly around the 23 inch range. Once we were full up on grouper it was time to get set up for the night. Anchored up just as the sun was lost to the horizon and started to chum, as well as toss the light stick in. did not take long till the baitfish were thick, but we never did get any large schools of big fish within visual range. Put the lines out and started hooking up to nice yellowtails and the race was on. For the first few hours we were victorious against the monsters, but our luck soon changed. About midnight the big boys started to awake, and the challenge was on. As soon as we were hooked up we reeled like our lives depended on it, the first few cranks feeling confident that we may have a shot at THIS one, but our luck would soon change as what started out as a 3-5lb snapper turned into a fish that is as big as the bottom. Finally gave up around 2:30 after losing 8-10 fish, and our tackle to the goliaths and headed in. Tally for the trip was 6 red grouper, and 21 yellowtail snapper.
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