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Originally Posted by Chico
Just got back from a week in SW Fla. Managed to get offshore with Capt. Joe Miller on the 17th. Our first stop was in 60' of water where we filled the livewell with baits, we then settled in for the ride out to some deeper water. Our next stop was in about 120 to 140' of water at a hot spot for Amber Jacks that also held some African Pompano in the past. Well, we were not disappointed in that before our baits could hit the bottom two of us were tight on good fish. My first AJ pulled the hook, my buddy landed a VERY nice African Pompano! The other four fishermen on our open boat charter had never been offshore and it was apparent that they were overwhelmed by the power of these AJs. All they could do was hang on to the rods, no thought to cranking the reel!! After losing several AJs we soon started landing African Pomps, one after the other! With a boat limit of two already on ice we tried drifting away from the wreck hoping the AJs would follow and the Africans would stay. It was not to be, the Africans kept attacking the baits, even when we kept them 70' off the bottom! We took off leaving them behind and were soon on top of a red grouper hot spot. The bite was sure and steady with most of the reds in the mid to upper teens, several were close to 20#s!! Afte we had our limit of two red grouper each we moved off and hit several spots known to have mangrove snapper, the bite was slow and each spot would yield several medium sized mangroves before the bite would die off. We did hit a few spots that seem to hold mostly the smaller vermillion snapper and one spot did get us a few lane snapper. All in all a very good offshore day, first time ever I could say the African Pompano were a "problem" as we only came home with one AJ (about 38"fish.) I will post a few pictures tomorrow when I get a chance.
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Great report Chico, missed not getting back down there this year, it was Mexico or Florida. That is something that the Pompanos were all over you, not normally the case at all. Sounds like you had a nice mixed bag at the end, a true Capt Joe Miller style outing.
