Wanaflatsfish Posted February 24, 2019 Report Share Posted February 24, 2019 Weather "looked good" until we hit the water....the "man" called for 5-10 from the SE - well, it was more like 15-20 in the morning... We stopped at one spot we "thought would be interesting on the way South" and found reds, snook, trout and ladies for da chunking...... Made our way through the inner bights with the tide falling and was heading south...we came out of the back and when wammmmmhooooo....white caps everywhere....we fished a few spots around Jack Daniels but the water was rushing out...it was way to rough to run all the way South so we diverted and headed back to Chevalier and Houston Bays..... Found this nice snook along with 10 or so other rats at a spot which had some nice moving water and out of the wind..... The little rats were as plentiful in the back as the front these days.....can't wait for next year....... You can see the color differences between the back and front on the reds and snook.... After figuring the tide was going to be coming in a bit slower due to the early morning East wind...we headed out about 130 pm to the front.....WRONG THE WIND SHIFTED AND IT WAS BLOWING SOUTH AND SENT IN AT LEAST 2 FEET OF ADDITIONAL WATER....HIGH WAS 4 PM, BY 2PM, IT WAS TOTALLY OVER THE MANGROVES....UGGGH. Still found a few more reds and snook, one nice drum to take home and fiddled around at about 2-3 more spots....then called it a day... We used mostly live shrimp, using both Poppin corks and jig and straight jigs, tipped with a live shrimp, weedless and bumping over the bottom, rod high, about 1 foot at a time....we hit some of the ladies and a few reds on gulp shrimp and swimming mullet (white), and a few on the DOA shrimp......Overall about 4-5 snook, 15-20 rat reds...but, who was counting.....one trout, lots of ladies and one giant sail cat by DonH.....we were so excited we thought it was a big red....but, was a giant sail cat Overall run 54-55 miles....the MA17, ate the chop like a champ and for the life of me, I can't figure out why MBG will not bring back this hull...for those of us that do not poll, it's an amazing 17' platform....every trip, both DonH and I find ourselves saying...wow !!!....a bit of quartering seas, two taps on the trim tabs and no spray, dead on into the chop - full down tabs, slow it downs and you are crushing a chop, flat water....trim it up and you are running WOT @ 35-37 mph....fast enough for me....... We arrived back alive, not too much damage to the "skeg" running through the Houston on the low - thanks to the FMT chip....one nice bump on the Wilderness when the tide was blowing out....but, overall....great day on the water.... Until next Saturday when once again, the negative tide at Chokoloskee begins at 0600.....let the fun begin DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coto Posted February 25, 2019 Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 Excellent Dino. Can’t wait till all these rat reds and snook get bigger. I too was out on Saturday both my son and I slammed snook, reds, and some of the biggest trout I’ve caught in a while 9 out the 15 were over 20”. I also brought home a little dinner which I had to backyard fillet since they will not build a new cleaning station at flamingo and they don’t want you filleting at the boat and throwing the carcass in the water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coto Posted February 25, 2019 Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 Oh yeah and the wind was kicking for sure! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanaflatsfish Posted February 25, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 12 hours ago, Coto said: Oh yeah and the wind was kicking for sure! Looks like you fished outside in Flamingo or did you run to the Shark to get out of the wind? BTW, I always backyard filet....I never use a public cleaning station....way too much bacteria build...I do carry a 24x30" cutting board if I have to clean and use my own clean station....I don't even like to use the water at public ramps for cleaning. DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coto Posted February 25, 2019 Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 Fished the coast south from Shark River. Florida bay was nasty did not even cross my mind to hit there even though some nice reds have been caught at Palm Key. When you get to the ramp at 6AM and the wind is already blowing you know your in for a bumpy ride by the afternoon. I always take the Joe River on the way back if it is nasty. My boat can easily handle Whitewater Bay when it's nasty but the Joe is way more comfortable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanaflatsfish Posted February 25, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 2 hours ago, Coto said: I always take the Joe River on the way back if it is nasty. My boat can easily handle Whitewater Bay when it's nasty but the Joe is way more comfortable. I do the same.....I love Flamingo, but, the ride is way way to long to and from...We leave at 0430 - hit Don's for bait about 545....out by 6, then Dion's for chicken....it's always a cluster there with boats and people backed up...so, you leave Dion's by 630 and then you at the park by 645 and another 45 minutes to enter the park and are at least 730 in the water...20 in of the main canal...then 45 min to the shark....it's almost 4 hours. DonH and i were talking, by the time you take your boat off the ramp, ride the park and get to ROBERT IS HERE...i'm nearly home from Choko....i make Outdoors Resorts to my house in 82 minutes....of course, it's always longer since DonH wants to stop for his Icecream bar We left the house on Last trip at 0500...at Island Cafe by 630....bait babe for shrimp by 0645....out by 0700 and on the water by 0730 (2.5 hours and heading out the S curve) and we had slammed the boat by 0815 as we fished a few spots out of Choko on the way south DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donh Posted February 25, 2019 Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 And then I get home at about 9 pm, but I don’t have to clean the boat😄 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coto Posted February 25, 2019 Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 No argument it does make for a very long day. I used to fish down there quiet a bit more but as of late my desire to go through all the effort has dwindled. To be honest I have been leaning towards getting a smaller skiff and go back to bonefishing in Biscayne Bay. It is an hour less to get to Homestead Bayfront Park and there is always the plus of cooling off at the end of the day at the sand bar while drinking a beer.😁 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flatsdoctor Posted February 26, 2019 Report Share Posted February 26, 2019 Nice day D&D !! i should start fishing Choco i haven’t been there in over 10 or 15 years onky fished there twice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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