Naples fishing report December 31, 2009

[capt.keithswalton]

I wish I had some awesome pics as I usually do for these reports, but no such luck today. Myself, my brother's Father-n-Law (Don) and a friend of mine, Ken headed out of Gordon's Pass for a day of grouper fishing and possibly some snaps. The Gulf was cooperating and it was a great day to be on the water, but the bite was off. We managed to only catch about 6 small red grouper. Every time I go to this spot (about 20 miles WSW of Gordon pass we limit out on big reds. Usually over half of them are 27 and 28 inchers. We tried every jig I had, squid and chunks, but they were either not biting or not there. I moved around all over the area and it was the same thing. We kept catching these tiny lane snaps on these huge jigs...not sure what that was all about either. So, we decided to target them, and we caught a lot of them, but they were just so small.

I decided to try some chum balling on the Power Hitter, about 9.5 miles WNW of Gordon for some mangoves, and only managed 4 keepers. I put a blue runner out to try and catch one of the big cudas or hopefully a king. I did not put a float on him and he managed to swim down and get eaten by a small goliath, which we released at the surface. Not sure what the problem was, I know the moon was shinning brightly all night and there was the front that just passed and one on the way. If anyone could shed some lite on that, it would be great.

It was a great day to be out on the water and my brother's Father-n-Law had a great time as we did catch a lot of fish, just nothing noteworthy. I really wanted him to catch one of those big red grouper. Oh, and to top the day off, I lost my anchor on the Power Hitter. I was certain I was setting off the wreck as I have done many, many times before, but must have snagged a small piece...so that sucked.

[Gruntking]

I wish I had some awesome pics as I usually do for these reports, but no such luck today. Myself, my brother's Father-n-Law (Don) and a friend of mine, Ken headed out of Gordon's Pass for a day of grouper fishing and possibly some snaps. The Gulf was cooperating and it was a great day to be on the water, but the bite was off. We managed to only catch about 6 small red grouper. Every time I go to this spot (about 20 miles WSW of Gordon pass we limit out on big reds. Usually over half of them are 27 and 28 inchers. We tried every jig I had, squid and chunks, but they were either not biting or not there. I moved around all over the area and it was the same thing. We kept catching these tiny lane snaps on these huge jigs...not sure what that was all about either. So, we decided to target them, and we caught a lot of them, but they were just so small.

I decided to try some chum balling on the Power Hitter, about 9.5 miles WNW of Gordon for some mangoves, and only managed 4 keepers. I put a blue runner out to try and catch one of the big cudas or hopefully a king. I did not put a float on him and he managed to swim down and get eaten by a small goliath, which we released at the surface. Not sure what the problem was, I know the moon was shinning brightly all night and there was the front that just passed and one on the way. If anyone could shed some lite on that, it would be great.

It was a great day to be out on the water and my brother's Father-n-Law had a great time as we did catch a lot of fish, just nothing noteworthy. I really wanted him to catch one of those big red grouper. Oh, and to top the day off, I lost my anchor on the Power Hitter. I was certain I was setting off the wreck as I have done many, many times before, but must have snagged a small piece...so that sucked.

Sounds like a case of full moon fever. Never know what that moon will do to the fish. It was a big bright moon. Also a blue moon.......double whammy! At least you had a great day to be out.

[YankeeCapts]

Thanks for sharing.

Greg