So as some of you may have picked up on, I'm in the Florida panhandle right now. Fishing has been tough. Apparently they've received way more rain than usual so nearshore is really dirty. We've been able to get offshore twice and I've trolled about 8 hours total with only 3 Spanish to show for it (wife caught two, daughter caught the other). Trolled rapalas and cigar minnows on duster rigs.
Then the rain started and we were holed up for three straight days!

Yesterday, we went to the marsh and did pretty good. Caught about 20 fish with 4 being small trout and one being a 20" red.
My 7 yo son actually caught 12 himself including 2 stingrays and a really big gafftop. live shrimp were worthless. Caught the trout on mud minnows then my son caught a lady fish and the rest of the fish including the red were caught on cut lady fish.

Today I had a small window in the weather and hooked up with something big in the pass on a new penny colored paddle tail. It drug me about 20 yards against the current before getting in the rocks and breaking me off. I couldn't turn it. Broke my heart. It had to have been a bull red or a jack crevalle.

We'll be back at it tomorrow!

Fun times!!!

Pictures!

Sounds like fun!

Went offshore again two mornings ago and got into the middle of thousands of feeding bonita. Was the craziest thing. I could catch them every cast and they fight awesome. Caught as many as I wanted the tried for shark with one but no takers.
Did have a dolphin steal a few Bonita from me. That was pretty cool since they were trash fish. One came up and got my fish within a foot of the kayak.

This morning we went to the marsh again and caught 2 redfish, 4 trout, 3 stingrays, and some gafftop.

Got out for about an hour and a half this evening on the downcurrent side of a bay bridge and it was non stop action. We were about 15 yards south of the bridge right behind a piling. Caught gaftop, red grouper, small snapper (red colored but not sure what kind), bunch of big pinfish, a gray fish that looked like a drum but had a hump on its back, some other colorful reef fish of some sort, and a lady fish.

We then cut the ladyfish up and put about an 8" chunk including the head out and within 10 minutes I hooked up with something HUGE. I unhooked from the anchor and it pulled me about 20 yards south and then turned and headed straight back to the bridge pulling drag the whole time. I couldn't slow it down at all using 20lb braid with 125lb leader on Penn battle 2 reel. I tried to palm the reel to turn the fish away from the bridge and broke my damn line! I almost cried.

Then my wife dropped about a 2 inch piece of lady fish and hooked up with another big fish that pulled drag for about 10 seconds before the 30lb fluoro leader cut off. Sickening.

Going one more time before we head home. Hope we can get another ladyfish!

Pics to come. Dropped my phone in the gulf so all pics are on my wife's.

Pics in photo forum