YIPES...STRIPES!

The Acute Angler Gainesville Offshore Fishing Club

February 2006

Volume 39, Number 2

WHO’S WHO AT GOFC

PRESIDENT:

TOMMY THOMPSON

VICE-

PRESIDENT:

JAY PEACOCK

SECRETARY:

BERNIE FOWLER

TREASURER:

BRIAN KIEL

The mission of the Gainesville Offshore Fishing Club is to promote and support recrea-

tional saltwater fishing in the Big Bend area; to provide educational and recreational

experiences for its members of all ages; and, to promote responsible conservation of

saltwater resources.

Upcoming Events

• February Meeting 2/28

• Oyster Roast TBA

• Sheepshead Shootout 3/4

(Weather Date: 3/11)

Inside this issue:

FEBRUARY MEETING INFO

2

RUSTEMIER’S ADVENTURE!

6

INSHORE REPORT 5

OFFSHORE REPORT 6

Hopefully by the time you read this news-

letter, the weather will have finally chilled

down and the sheepshead will have taken

their spawning to the next step around

local reefs and rock piles.

Allen Turner, GOFC Tournament Chairman,

has assured us that March 4 will be the

perfect day for the 2006 Sheepshead

Shootout (And if it’s a bad-weather day,

we’ll reschedule for March 11!).

To fish this tournament, you must enter in

advance and you may fish in any GOFC

club waters (from Homosassa to the Fen-

holloway). Entry forms will be available

on the GOFC website (www.gofc.us) by

2/15 and at the February meeting on the

28th. The entry fee will be $15 per adult

GOFC member, $20 for non-members fish-

ing aboard a vessel with a GOFC member

as Captain. There’s no charge for kids

under 16 to enter.

Cash prizes will be based on a share of

the entry fees, and will be given for the

largest sheepshead in the Mens’, Womens’

and Kids’ categories.

We also have two additional prizes this

year. A special prize will be awarded to

the kid with the smallest (by weight, but

still above the legal length) legal sheep-

shead with the most stripes. You’ll need

to weigh the fish, measure its length and

then count the total number of black

stripes on both sides to make your kid’s

entry.

Another prize being offered this year is a

BillyStiX inshore SpiralStiX baitcasting

rod, compliments of Billy McDaniel. This

prize will be given to the largest sheep-

shead that exceeds the weight of last

year’s Shootout winner at 9.00#. This is

quite a prize, so start looking for lunker

spots soon!

Complete rules and entry forms will be

available at both the meeting and the

website. Should you have any questions,

please contact Allen Turner at (352) 682-

1003 for answers and clarification.

GOFC Oyster Roast

We’re still ironing out the details for the Annual GOFC Oyster

Roast. Plans are to have it at Ed and Sheila Crapo’s home in

Micanopy in late February or early March. All involved have crazy

schedules but we’re working diligently to set the date. When it

happens, be on the ready to fill up on raw, roasted and fried oys-

ters—and the fixin’s. And...if you haven't yet paid your dues, re-

member that this is a Members’ Only function.

More info soon in your email inbox!

Page 2 The Acute Angler

IMPORTANT GOFC CONTACTS

WEBSITE: www.gofc.us

WEBMASTER: Jay Peacock,

info@gofc.us

GOFC MAILING ADDRESS:

4300 NW 23rd Avenue

Suite 123

Gainesville, FL 32606

MAGAZINE EDITOR:

Charlie Courtney

chas@ufl.edu

NEWSLETTER EDITOR:

Jay Peacock

peacojj@shands.ufl.edu

FEBRUARY MEETING

7PM, FEBRUARY 28TH

GIRLS’ CLUB

Capt. BRIAN SMITH, one the best

offshore guides in our area, will

address the club at our next

meeting.

For those of you unimpressed

with Bernie’s Offshore Reports,

you’ll be able to get information

right from the ‘captain’s mouth’!

Brian puts on a great program, so

don’t miss it.

Free pizza and dollar soft drinks

available before the meeting.

Billy’s got some great door prizes

and raffle items, too!

SEE YOU THEN!

WHEN YOU’RE ENJOYING

THAT FREE PIZZA AT OUR

MONTHLY MEETINGS, REMEM-

BER IT’S COMPLIMENTS OF

FREDDIE WEHBE AND ALL THE

LOCAL DOMINO’S STORES.

THANK YOU, FREDDIE!

Volume 39, Number 2 Page 3

DUES are DUE!

Mail your $40 Family Dues Today!

GOFC 4300 NW 23rd Avenue, Suite 123 Gainesville, FL 32606

I got to go out of Cedar Key recently on my boat, FISHSLAYER, with Sanford Boye, to whom I have owed a fishing trip for over a year, and Chris Drogemuller an Australian friend of Sanford’s .It was the first time taking these guys out on my boat, and we fortunately had an unsea-sonably beautiful winter day. The forecast was for temperatures in the lower 80 de-grees, seas 2 feet , winds 10 knots, and sunny. We fished out as far as 60 feet and it was glassy!

The plan was to first stop at one of my spots in 55ft, that had produced 2 weeks earlier, and troll for grouper. We had a nice run out about 8:00 am, but only man-aged one small legal gag and a couple of shorts while trolling red/white stretch 30’s. We then moved out to 60ft and trolled stretches and drifted sardines/cut bait, over a couple more spots producing only a few short gags/red grouper. Then Sanford put us on one of his spots where he had trolled up a keeper gag the previous week and our luck started to change. It was now afternoon and the water temp had come up to 62 degrees, with an early mov-ing tide, and Sanford demonstrated his

jigging with spinning gear method for find-ing live bottom. After Sanford started the action by bringing in several 23-25 inch gags on 15# spinning gear, we anchored over some hard bottom and dropped dead bait with heavier 50-60# conventional grouper tackle. That was when I got to teach Sanford and Chris my “bend over” method of grouper fishing. (Now clean up your minds and pay attention.) When grunts and black sea bass are popping the cut baits, I like to put my grouper rig, 50# line, 100# leader, with a circle hook, in the rod holder, and wait for the positive “bend over” sign. Chris and Sanford being “J hook” fishermen were getting anxious when my rod tip would pop with small hits. After they trashed talked me for ignoring these small bites, I asked them to leave me alone unless the rob bends all the WAY over. The idea was to work a jig on a medium spinning rod while letting the big rod and circle hook due their work. Within minutes I got a severe “bend over sign”, and after a little effort getting the rod out of the holder, I hauled in a 10.5 lb gag grou-per, the big fish of the day! Enough said. That fish of the day feeling lasted only a few more minutes, since Chris quickly

followed with an 11 lb gag. His ended up being the day’s big gag, and made it a G’day for Chris. We added a third keeper gag bottom fishing that spot and decided it was time to make the long smooth run in. The fish box count included; 8 gags, sev-eral black sea bass, and a few large grunts scattered throughout the ice.

It’s always fun to fish with people who can

show you some of their techniques, and

with whom you can share yours—

especially if they take you to some of their

favorite spots!

Page 4 The Acute Angler

Mark Rustemier’s ‘BEND OVER’ Fishing Method Impresses Boye and Drogemuller!

Volume 39, Number 2 Page 5

I’m just about tired of catching reds and

trout. Tough life, you say, but it’s the

truth. It’s been pretty much nonstop

great fishing on the flats around Stein-

hatchee and Keaton and up the creeks

around Suwannee since October and I

don’t know how many photos I have of

Rick Davidson holding big fish (two’s

enough!).

So, as to an inshore report, trout are bit-

ing on the flats everywhere, particularly

on warm afternoons. This is not the time

of day to fish early in the morning. Sus-

pending lures (Mirrolure Catch 2000’s and

Catch 5’s work well) and if it gets really

warm, get out the topwater plugs (Top

Pups and Top Dogs). Reds are on the bars

during the warmth of the days, but are

also loading up in the creeks. Try deep

holes on moving tides and use 1/4 or 1/2

oz. gold Johnson Spoons. In either of

these situations you might also try Berkley

Gulp Shrimp or the ‘real thing’.

If it gets cold (and it should by the middle

of February), don’t rule out a trip the hot

water discharge at the Crystal River En-

ergy Center or a trip to Waccasassa,

Steinhatchee or Suwannee to fish the riv-

ers and deep creeks for trout. 3/8 oz jig-

heads with whole live shrimp work well in

the discharge while a trolled or slowly re-

trieved Mirrolure TT deep runner is a sure

bet in the rivers. For more specific infor-

mation, you might want to read my arti-

cles in the January and February issues of

Florida Sportsman. I’m not tooting my

horn, but there’s more detail there about

the hot water discharge and the creeks

around Suwannee than I have room for in

this column.

As for me, I’m hoping for a cold spell in

NC so I can do some striper fishing at

Cape Hatteras. I’m also going to scout

around here for some winning fish for the

Sheepshead Shootout and maybe even

learn a new fishing area like the Suncoast

Keys and Ozello.

Have fun, stay safe (and warm!).

INSHORE REPORT by: Tommy Thompson

Remember the old western Rawhide? How

about Rowdy Yates? Wasn’t that part played by

Clint Eastwood? ‘Course he wasn’t famous back

then. Well, on to the subject matter of this

dissertation.

Back when I was writing the offshore report I

often mentioned trolling for Kings and grou-

per. I shared a few tidbits that I had learned

through trial and error as well as some I picked

up from other anglers. Some of this information

I have presented before so just ignore that

part. Since I now have the luxury of only being

reasonable for notes at the GOFC Board meet-

ings I thought I would share some trolling knowledge with the membership. Maybe some

new members will benefit and hopefully you old

geezers will learn something new too.

Of course as with any manner of catching fish

the species will dictate the method best suited to

accomplish your goal, that is to catch said fish.

So, I will start with what I feel I know best and

that’s trolling for grouper.

In the old days the Rapala trolled on a down rigger was the “in thing” for grouper troll-

ing. Some wise old anglers even pulled heavy

jigs on down riggers and both these methods

work well. I remember boats bristling with Ra-

palas headed offshore a few years ago. How-

ever the introduction of the “stretch” type lure

was a major step in the demise of many grou-

per in the Gulf. I don’t have figures to support

this but my observation is that more grouper

have been caught on stretch lures than any other trolled lure period. That’s a serious state-

ment folks but I think it’s true. I can’t remem-

ber how long the stretch has been on the mar-

ket, maybe 10-12 years? Think about this, do

you know any serious recreational grouper an-

gler who doesn’t own a stretch lure? Me neither.

So, let’s agree that we will for the most part be

trolling stretch lures of some brand or

other. Let’s agree too that we will use some lures that run 25 feet plus or minus and some

that will run 30 feet plus or minus. There are

lures on the market that are advertised to run at

depths exceeding 50 feet but I have never used

one so I can’t speak to their ability. Water

depths for each set of lures I hope are oblivious.

(If not see the club president for help.) So the

next most important factor in our lure selection

is color.

There are as many thoughts on color selection as there are colors. The best advice I can give

someone is to use the color that you have

confidence in. For me this color is red and

white. Why? I have no reason other than I feel

good using it. I don’t think that color in and of

its self causes a fish to strike. I believe that

color selection is important for the visibility it

offers in certain water clarity. For example if the

water is stained it might be a good idea to use a brighter colored lure, again some prefer a darker

color in darker water. So you can see the di-

lemma caused by the many opinions regarding

lure colors. Back to my previous statement; use

what you feel good using and see what happens.

So you have purchased some lures and you are

ready, right? Wrong. You still have some very

important if not the most important trolling is-

sues to work out. For example, what size line is best suited for the species of fish you are af-

ter? How much line do I let out behind the

boat? How should I set my drag, etc. I believe

that you can pull a properly set up stretch lure

by a grouper that’s willing to feed and get the

strike regardless of your lure color. That’s just

my opinion and like, well every one has one.I have used mono and braided line and I like

braded line best. The reason is this, it’s smaller

allowing the lure to run deeper and I can get

more on a reel. Line size is another problem, if I

could use 10 pound line when grouper trolling I

would. So it depends on how brave you are as

to what size line you should use, I can’t tell you

more on this subject. If using smaller line and

risking the loss of a big grouper works for you

then you know what you need to do. Addition-ally, I use a short piece of wire leader when

Kings are around. Much like color selection this

is an individual choice.

How fast we gonna troll’ Captain? Most lipped

lures have been designed to run best (true) at a

certain range of speeds. Manufactures include

information about trolling speeds in the packag-

ing and you should pay attention to this. Trust

me on this, if your lure looks like a rubber ducky when trolled you ain’t gonna catch any grou-

per. Now, you might get a King that’s a little

whacky interested but we are targeting grou-

per. Generally speaking stretch lures work well

between 4 and 5 knots. My personal preference

is 4 knots, again that works for me. There are

times when a little slower or a little faster works

better, depends on what works on any given

day. The bite will be different on different days

so it’s important to be flexible and to experi-

ment.

So thus far we have decided what lure color we

want to use, line size and speed. Let’s now

consider how far back we want our lure to be

when trolled. Distance to a certain point

equates to the depth a lure will run when

trolled. After a certain point your line will cause

friction that will actually cause “lift” (diminished

return). Lift is not good when trying to get your lure down where the grouper lives. When trolling

in water less than say 60 feet I like to have my

lure around 150 feet behind the boat. I have

not been successful trolling stretch lures in water

over 65 feet deep but I am working on

that. When I do troll at 60 feet or more I place

my lure at 175-180 feet behind the boat. If the

occasion arises to troll at 35 feet I use a smaller

lure at 150 or the larger lure at 100 feet and

adjust depending on whether or not my lure is

bumping the bottom.

A properly running lure is very important! How

do you know when your lure is running cor-

rectly? Well here are a couple of point-

ers. Some anglers use a soft or fast taper rod

for trolling and that’s my preference too and I

want some backbone about mid way down the

blank. A good indicator as to how you lure is

running is the vibration you can see in your rod tip, even heaver rods will shake some when a

stretch lure is running as it should. Weeds and

small fish (sea bass and lizard fish for example)

will cause your lure to not run as it should yet

don’t apply enough pressure to sound your

clicker. Vibration causes sound waves and

sound waves cause strikes, if your lure is not

running properly it is not emitting sound. This

requires that you slow the boat, reel the lure in and clean it off. Caution is required in this ma-

neuver as the lure has a tendency to “pop” out

of the water close to the boat. Sometimes this

can be aggravating when a lot of weeds and

grass are present but it must be done if you are

going to catch any fish. There are times when

your rod tip will not vibrate and your lure is

clean. You have a poorly manufactured lure and

you must take it off and use another one. This happens and if you keep the box it can be ex-

changed. I have experienced pulling lures that

run sideways to the direction of your troll, this

ain’t good. If your shock leader and wire (when

used) are in good order then this lure too is

defective. I have taken lures out of the box and

they ran sideways. You can try to adjust them, I

have and this did not work for me. QC is not on

the top of the manufactures list it seems.

We have covered a lot of ground or rather water, color, line size, speed and distance of the trolled

lure. There is but one more area that I can

address with you and that is the troll set up. It

is not possible to set up your spread of lures

correctly if you are to close to the waypoint you

want to troll over. Blind trolling is a great way

to find new waypoints but if your are seeking

productivity (that is fish in the box) you should

troll areas you know are productive. If you have a live bottom formation marked and you wish to

troll over it be sure to allow your self plenty of

space to get your spread running straight before

you get to the waypoint. I will often start my

troll pattern at a 10th of a mile away to insure

my lines are straight before arrival. If you get

the spread over the spot correctly and don’t get

a knock down give yourself plenty of room for

the turn and repeat the pass from another direc-

tion. I recently made 3 passes over a rock be-fore a hit, that fish weighed 21+ pounds. If you

know the spot holds fish keep trying for a while

if your first passes are not productive. Then

again there are times when the grouper just

won’t hit and I don’t have any answers for that

problem. I went back to a spot where I caught

some really nice grouper within 5 days and could

not catch anything but shorts. I know the grou-

per were there, the larger fish just would not take a trolled lure or bottom bait that

day. That’s fishing.

Well, I said I only had one more item to share

but I was wrong. Drag settings are important

too. I set my drag up to just hold the line on

the reel at troll speed, maybe this is too light but

I can visualize reeling in a lure after a massive

hit with just a groupers face on the hooks. If

you consider the force of the impact when the

lure is taken by a grouper you will start to un-derstand my point. If you are trolling at 4 knots

east to west and a grouper hits running from

north to south the impact is rather large and our

hooks, line and the fish are all impacted by this

event. I have caught some nice grouper trolling

and there have been times when once the boat

was slowed (not stopped) I increased my drag

pressure. I made the drag increase because I

felt the fish was real strong and was trying to avoid being “rocked” up which thus far has

worked for me.

I have shared some real life trolling issues with

you. There is no substitute for experience and

the only way to get experience is by getting

offshore and trolling. Hopefully this discussion

will shorten your learning curve and allow you to

make your fish box smell bad, after all that’s

what it’s all about. A word of caution; be very careful with the large treble hooks on trolling

lures. I have first hand experience on how badly

these hooks can hurt.

Trollin, Trollin, Trollin….Another Offshore Report by: Bernie Fowler

Volume 39, Number 2 Page 7

4300 NW 23rd Avenue

Suite 123

Gainesville, FL 32606

www.gofc.us