My son and I went out fishing with my dad yesterday. Headed out of Stump Pass (Englewood) around 6:30 with a southeast wind and 2-3 foot seas. Had planned to go 22 miles or so out to some grouper holes, but by the time we got to the 7 mile area seas were more like 3-4 feet, so we decided not to beat ourselves up too bad. So we started at a spot about 10 miles out, and had a bit of luck. I put the first fish in the box with a nice porgy. Caught several nice Key West grunts, a couple of them over 15 inches. I caught 2 keeper triggerfish just over 14 inches, and we must have caught and released 20 red grouper that were 12-18 inches.
We moved back to several spots in the 7-mile range, an caught a few more grunts, some more porgies, and I landed the biggest triggerfish we've ever caught in this area. He was just over 17 inches, and on the Daiwa 1600 with med heavy rod he gave me a good tussle. Shortly after, my dad hung the prize catch of the day, a hog snapper. Him and my son had been teasing me about never catching one, since just about everybody else in our family has caught at least one, and almost all of them from one of our 7-mile spots. Then about 5 minutes later, I landed a 22-inch gag grouper. We caught and released a few more small reds and a couple of small gags, and it was getting close to 2PM, when we planned to head in. Then we got a few hard hits using pinfish, but kept getting broke off. Suddenly my son hooked something, and it was off to the races. It made a few short runs, he'd gain some on it, and it would go again. Finally he landed a 3 foot sand shark, which we released. That was his first shark, and probably one of the hardest fights on rod and reel he's had yet. He got a real kick out of it.
Overall we ended up with a good mess of fish - 16 grunts, 3 triggers, a hogfish, a gag, and 3 porgies. Only got one picture of the cooler of fish, and you can see a gallon ziploc with some grunt fillets already in it.
Hogfish are quite tasty. I've pulled in a few down near the 7-mile bridge over the years. I have to say, that between them and yellowtails, that's one awesome dinner on the grill.
Sounds like a great day spent with family to me! Congrats on a nice trip. :toast
Porgies fry up mighty nice too. They have very white fillets.
Great catch! I had never eaten Trigger till I got to Destin, they are OK, not my favorite, but people around here love them. Of course this is a strange group as Fort Walton Beach has a mullet festival each year, they eat them...uuuugggh, I am from Texas and the only thing mullet is good for is BAIT.
