Flounder and Crabs, March 14th -17th

Although forced perspective is at work in this photo, this blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) was indeed a  huge crab.  (Photo by John Dougherty, used with permission.)

      Once again, I am posting something a little late, but this time it is not my fault.  After looking at some of my blog stats I noticed that posts with good pictures get many more hits, so I waited until my friend sent pictures before I started writing.  What follows is just a brief report for each night.  As usual, I hope this information helps but don't ask me where I was.  My friend John is more protective of his spots than I am and my fish are still in his freezer.  If I post something too specific, he might just eat them all.

March 14 - Destin

      John and I headed towards Destin on a falling tide to work some areas near the pass.  Although falling tide is not my favorite tide to work in the spring, it is still better than no tide.  We arrived around 9:30 and I noticed a lot of shrimp and bait, a good sign. By about 9:45 I had already spotted my first flounder bedded down near some seagrass.  It was not a perfect headshot, but I still got him.  About 15 minutes later I got another on a steep sand slope.  After a few more hundred feet of wading, John spooked one.  We never got it, but it looked pretty big.  I found one more in a pretty barren sand stretch near some bait.  On the way back to our cars, we didn't see much.  Right before we got back to the car, I found one more that was also on a steep sand slope in pretty deep water.  I gigged him right in the head.  Our light was still shining bright, but the water was pretty low.
      We decided to try a spot that I used to rod and reel fish and see if it was good for gigging.  After a short drive, we arrived and saw some people fishing near the structure I wanted to work.  We had already encountered some courteous giggers that gave us our space, so we passed on the favor to the fishermen.  We quickly learned that the rest of the area was barren sand with not much life.  With John still eager to get a fish, we decided to try one more location.
      After driving around for nearly 45 minutes searching for a legal place to park, we finally found one.  With our frustration behind us, we started wading in hopes of finding more fish.  The water was not moving at all.  It was low tide.  According to my previous posts about gigging, we weren't likely to see much.  Still, we pressed on.  Finally the light grew dim and we turned back.  There would be no fish for John.  As we turned our gaze from the water towards where we thought the Jeep should be, we realized that a thick blanket of fog rolled in.  We actually ended up passing the car and having to backtrack.  We were both exhausted.  Why had we not left after getting those four fish and noticing that we weren't seeing much?  I guess excessive optimism, but that is always better than excessive pessimism.

March 16 - Somewhere within a 100 mile radius of Pensacola (John's Spot)

Our haul from Friday night.  (Photo by John Dougherty, used with permission.)

      John was ready for a fish.  He had missed his chance  on Wednesday and both of his had been busy working all day.  The water was calm, we conveniently happened to have our gear in our cars and we finished work a little early.  This night just felt perfect.  We had a small issue finding a parking place near "John's spot", but we did extensive planning before leaving and our backup plan worked great.  We hit the water just after high tide.  In no time at all John found a fish.  He was juggling some gear and told me to get it before it spooked.  I happily obliged and had a perfect shot.  This was the start of our perfect team effort.  The fish seemed to be everywhere; near pilings, grass, stumps and debris.  At times one of us would have a fish and before we could get it off we would spot another.  The blue crabs were also prowling the waters, but not as abundantly as the flounder.  At one point, John missed our spooked a fish (I can't remember which) but we followed its trail of silt and quickly located it.  He did not escape.  In just two hours, we gigged 12 decent flounder (most between 15"-17") and caught 4 big blue crabs.  We briefly considered staying out longer but then remembered our lesson from the previous outing.  We decided it was best to end the night on a high note.  We had not seen a fish for the last 25 minutes, so we figured they must have moved deeper and headed home happy and early.  What a night!

March 17 - Somewhere also within a 100 mile radius of Pensacola (but not the same as above)

Some of our crabs from St. Patrick's Day.  (Photo by John Dougherty, used with permission.)

       Sure, it was St. Patrick's day but partying can wait.  When the fishing is good, not much except for exhaustion can stop me and John from going.  We tried another locations with similar features to the location we went the night before.  This time we got on the water right at dark.  We didn't get a single fish.  We saw some undersize ones though.  Still, the night was a success!  The blue crabs were out and in much more abundance than the night before.  We got a lot.  I won't say we didn't have to work though.  We must have walked 4 miles or so.  Even though our memories of aimless wanderings through Destin were not quite as strong tonight, we still decided to quit while we were ahead.  It was another great night.  Sadly, it was the last time I went out!  I need to go again soon.