The weather was bad all weekend with high winds 20-25kts, and rain and wind on Sunday, Tania and I did not go fishing. I thought I would share a memory of a trip me made last year in February.

On February 6, 2021, Tania and I made it out on the boat. With all the foul weather we have been having during the weekends it has been a while since we last went fishing. We had to cancel the boat yesterday, due to 15-20kt winds. This morning we woke up and Tania looked at the weather and said let’s go fishing. I am so grateful I have a wife who loves to fish as much as I do.

I called up the club and there was a boat available, so we headed down to the marina. We arrived at the dock about 930am, got loaded up and headed out. Tania was extremely happy as we got to see a dolphin inside the marina. Tania loves seeing the wildlife.

With an incoming tide and a North wind, I decided to drift south from South Causeway bridge. The drift failed to produce a bite, so I decided instead of another drift we would go out one of our favorite docks and see if we could get any sheepshead. Shortly after arriving Tania caught a 14-inch mutton snapper. It put up a pretty good fight, unfortunately too short to keep and it wasn’t a targeted species. We stayed at the dock for about 30 minutes. We caught lots of short snapper, but no sheepshead. Tania was really enjoying our trip though as she was catching fish and got to see more dolphins as well as a juvenile green sea turtle, which came up right beside the boat.

I decided to try another area we have caught sheepshead in the past. We arrived there and unfortunately didn’t even get a bite, so we only stayed here for about 15 minutes. Since this area was near the South Causeway bridge, I decided to make another drift as we moved to our next spot. Toward the end of the drift, I made a comment about being surprised we weren’t catching anything drifting while jigging. I said we usually catch something even if it was a catfish. Well, I jinxed myself as I caught a catfish right after my remarks.

The next spot we went to, Tania recommended we go there. I was reluctant as we have never caught sheepshead there, but we went anyways. Once again, we started catching fish right away. We were catching decent size lane snappers and mutton snappers. After about the 10th fish Tania brought in a 14inch sheepshead! She was so excited to have caught a sheepshead as that was what we were targeting. We stayed here until we ran out of bait. We caught a Red Grouper, Mutton Snapper, Lane Snapper, a Yellowtail Snapper, a few Grunts, and the Sheepshead.

One of the grunts was only about 6 inches so I threw it on a circle hook to see if I could catch anything. It didn’t take long for the line to start going. I wasn’t sure if something grabbed the fish or if the fish was just that lively. I let it go a bit longer and then the line went slack. I brought it in, and something almost bit the head off the fish. Since we were out of bait, I just took it off and threw it into the water. Almost as soon as I threw it in a 4 ft ribbon fish grabbed it and jumped out of the water. The fish jumped about three more times before it disappeared. It happened so fast we could not get a picture, but it was cool to see.

This week’s weather is questionable, but I believe fishable at least in the river. Tania and I pray all who make it out have a blessed and safe trip with tight lines and good times!