BakersPeppers
Banned
Yesterday morning around 7:45 am, at the Gandy Bridge boat ramp in Tampa, FL, 2 guys looking to catch a few fish met up with a local guide by the name of Capt. John Gordon (CaptainJohnGordon@gmail.com). These two guys are me (Dale) and Pepper Joe! 
Our captain had a livewell packed FULL of fresh caught Whitebait (Sardines, greenbacks, pilchards...) that he was out catching at first light around 6am. We slowly motored out of the no wake zone and then Capt. John hammered down on the throttle of his brand new 22' Ranger flats boat and we were off!!
Our first stop was across the bay on the St.Pete side. We fished a near shore mangrove line with some rock structure along the shore just below the water. Captain John began to take dip nets full of the live bait and chuck it at the shoreline area. We then got some of those same baits on a hook and in the water they went! Almost instantly I had a nice snook peeling drag and jumping coming towards the boat! Then right after that Joe has a fish on too! A nice sized legal Mangrove snapper, so in the ice box it went... The Snook is strictly a catch and release Florida protected game fish, so they all go back! At this spot we caught about 5 more Snook and a few more keeper snapper. Then we moved locations...
The next stop was at a dock in a residential canal area. Again, like the first stop, our captain "chummed" the area we were going to fish with live netfulls of whitebait. They water almost instantly blew up with boils from feeding Snook....NICE SIZED PICTURE WORTHY ONES These are the things that make good ol' Florida boys like myself get all excited like a kid in a candy store!! I literally LIVE for these kinds of fishing spots! We couldnt get baits into the water fast enough! I was instantly what we call "Zing Popped!" This is what occurs when a really nice sized fish under structure (docks, bridges, etc.) just INHALES your live bait, then before u can blink your drag goes "ziiiiing" and then the line goes "POP!" Wrapped you up around a post or something under the water and BOOM, time to tie up a new rig! A few moments later Joe was surprised by a NICE size Spanish Mackerel eating his bait and within 2 seconds the fish was under the boat and going the other way! It was a nice fight Joe said to me and in the box it went too! We couldn't get the Snook to chew after that but Joe did also catch a good sized Yellow Jack that fought very strong before we left for another spot!
When we arrived at this next location there was a shoreline similar to the first location, but this time there was a tree hanging out over the water just a few feet off the waters surface...under the surface was shade and FISH!! Same opening chum of live bait...lines in..and smack! Fish on! The Snook are here too!! They were side by side in that shade with much bigger snapper than we had caught all day! We caught a limit of snapper within 15 minutes!! Right in that moment, Joe said "fish on", and in the boat came one of the biggest Flounder i have ever seen!! With that limit of snapper and the Flounder, we then moved again to target another species we hadnt seen any of all day....Spotted Sea Trout!!
We arrived at a nice grass flat with pot holes of sand areas where the trout like to ambush prey! Chum and lines in! All we were able to catch here were a few more Yellow Jacks! The day was filled with ACTION, and it was coming to an end. Back to the boat ramp we went, as our captain had PLENTY of fish to clean up for us!
That's the end of the fishing day, and our captain handed us our fillets...In my truck we went, on our way back to Joes condo, where Penny had us a VERY nice lunch prepared! Thanks again Penny, those black tomatoes on the sandwiches were OUTSTANDING! Great day of fishing with Pepper Joe and he and Penny are excellent hosts! Thanks guys, and yes Joe, we are ON for that fishing trip in December we talked about!
Dale Baker Jr
www.BakersPeppers.com
Our captain had a livewell packed FULL of fresh caught Whitebait (Sardines, greenbacks, pilchards...) that he was out catching at first light around 6am. We slowly motored out of the no wake zone and then Capt. John hammered down on the throttle of his brand new 22' Ranger flats boat and we were off!! Our first stop was across the bay on the St.Pete side. We fished a near shore mangrove line with some rock structure along the shore just below the water. Captain John began to take dip nets full of the live bait and chuck it at the shoreline area. We then got some of those same baits on a hook and in the water they went! Almost instantly I had a nice snook peeling drag and jumping coming towards the boat! Then right after that Joe has a fish on too! A nice sized legal Mangrove snapper, so in the ice box it went... The Snook is strictly a catch and release Florida protected game fish, so they all go back! At this spot we caught about 5 more Snook and a few more keeper snapper. Then we moved locations...
The next stop was at a dock in a residential canal area. Again, like the first stop, our captain "chummed" the area we were going to fish with live netfulls of whitebait. They water almost instantly blew up with boils from feeding Snook....NICE SIZED PICTURE WORTHY ONES
These are the things that make good ol' Florida boys like myself get all excited like a kid in a candy store!! I literally LIVE for these kinds of fishing spots! We couldnt get baits into the water fast enough! I was instantly what we call "Zing Popped!" This is what occurs when a really nice sized fish under structure (docks, bridges, etc.) just INHALES your live bait, then before u can blink your drag goes "ziiiiing" and then the line goes "POP!" Wrapped you up around a post or something under the water and BOOM, time to tie up a new rig! A few moments later Joe was surprised by a NICE size Spanish Mackerel eating his bait and within 2 seconds the fish was under the boat and going the other way! It was a nice fight Joe said to me and in the box it went too! We couldn't get the Snook to chew after that but Joe did also catch a good sized Yellow Jack that fought very strong before we left for another spot!When we arrived at this next location there was a shoreline similar to the first location, but this time there was a tree hanging out over the water just a few feet off the waters surface...under the surface was shade and FISH!!
Same opening chum of live bait...lines in..and smack! Fish on! The Snook are here too!! They were side by side in that shade with much bigger snapper than we had caught all day! We caught a limit of snapper within 15 minutes!! Right in that moment, Joe said "fish on", and in the boat came one of the biggest Flounder i have ever seen!! With that limit of snapper and the Flounder, we then moved again to target another species we hadnt seen any of all day....Spotted Sea Trout!! We arrived at a nice grass flat with pot holes of sand areas where the trout like to ambush prey! Chum and lines in!
All we were able to catch here were a few more Yellow Jacks! The day was filled with ACTION, and it was coming to an end. Back to the boat ramp we went, as our captain had PLENTY of fish to clean up for us! That's the end of the fishing day, and our captain handed us our fillets...In my truck we went, on our way back to Joes condo, where Penny had us a VERY nice lunch prepared! Thanks again Penny, those black tomatoes on the sandwiches were OUTSTANDING!
Great day of fishing with Pepper Joe and he and Penny are excellent hosts! Thanks guys, and yes Joe, we are ON for that fishing trip in December we talked about! Dale Baker Jr
www.BakersPeppers.com
