# Coming on Down!



## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

*FL Middle Grounds Fish Report 13-16 Feb*

I will be going down to the Tampa Bay area, 
leaving this Friday am, and getting on a 
34-hr offshore fishing trip with Hubbard's
Marina in Medeira (sp?) Beach Florida. 
I have never been to Florida so this should
be an interesting trip. I also have a half
day inshore sheepshead/red fish/trout 
charter lined up. I will post reports when I 
get back.


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## FL FISHERMAN (Sep 30, 2002)

Good Luck! Enjoy the weather while you can.


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## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

Thanks! I really needed this trip. Hopefully
I will have some nice pictures and fillets
to bring back.


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## FL FISHERMAN (Sep 30, 2002)

Axon and I were thinking of taking the same trip last year but he ended up being sent to Korea so might be trying it this winter depending on how you do. How did you hear about the trips? Mike has more information on a few other offshore trips like that down there. Might have to find em and look at em again.


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## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

FL FISHERMAN, 

I have been doing some research on Florida Fishing Boards
and some of the other "big" boards that have a dedicated
bottom fishing group. ( I will PM you the links, you probably
already have them). There were two or three clear favorites
that rised to the top. Here are the links for those:

http://www.vikingfleet.com/new/schedules.asp?TT=Fishing
http://www.hubbardsmarina.com/main.htm


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## Kozlow (Oct 25, 2002)

Good Luck to ya and enjoy what we have to offer . Post when you return Talapia .


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## sandcasting (Jan 25, 2003)

talapia--
i'm assuming that you are heading out to the middle grounds to bring home some grouper and snapper. live pinfish. get live pinfish, the boat should already have frozen sardines. i'm pretty sure that if you call ahead they will reserve up to 3 or 4 dozen for you. you can also call ahead to reserve a live bait well on the boat and a bunk for some zzzzzzzzz. the middle grounds are a special reproductive area for many species, reserved for commercial fisherman. hubbards has been in the middle grounds game for a long time, possibly three generations, and everything i've heard is good. best of luck. good luck inshore too, tampa bay is a tremendous fishery. if you have some extra time i can attempt to give some local direction. be sure to post some results, this board needs more west coast input. i'll try to pass on, whatever goes through my ears the rest of the week.


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## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

sandcasting, 

Thanks for watching out for me! I currently have an order
for 6 dozen pinfish with Hubbard's. (My wife is coming 
with me, she loves to fish and does not get seasick!)
Yes, this is a Middle Grounds trip. I will post a very detailed report. Thanks again.


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## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

*FL Middle Grounds Trip-34-hr Hubbard's*

Just got back into DC last night from my 
34-hr offshore bottom fishing trip out
of Hubbard's Marina In Mediera Beach FL.


Here is my fishing report:

Well we (the wife and I) decided to take the risk and fly into
Tampa and go on the Hubbard's 34-hr trip despite the awful
weather prediction. 

OFFSHORE WATERS FORECAST FOR THE GULF OF MEXICO

GMZ086-111530- 
E GULF BETWEEN 81W AND 85W
330 AM CST WED FEB 11 2004


FRI
WIND N TO NE 10 TO 15 KT. SEAS 2 TO 4 FT.
(Riding out to Middle Grounds)

SAT
N OF FRONT WIND NE TO E 15 TO 20 KT. SEAS 4 TO 6 FT. S OF 
FRONT WIND SE TO S 15 TO 20 KT. SEAS 3 TO 5 FT.
(Fishing Time)jawdrop: 

SUN
N OF FRONT WIND NW TO N 15 TO 20 KT. SEAS BUILDING 5 TO 7 
FT LATE. S OF FRONT WIND S TO SW 15 TO 20 KT. SEAS 4 TO 6 FT. 
WIDELY SCATTERED SHOWERS OR TSTMS ALONG FRONT.
(Riding back from Middle Grounds)


We got into Tampa at 10 am Friday
got provisioned for our trip, checked into 
our hotel, etc, etc. We finally made it into 
Hubbard's Marina at 6pm looking like your cookie
cutter tourist with all of our extra crap poking 
out everywhere and a lost look on our faces. 
It was starting to get dark and the weather
was warm! Perfect! Met up with 
a friend from the Florida Saltwater Fisherman
Board for some last minute chit chat and bait.
Time to board. The boat is a 75 foot catamaran, 
the stern could easily hold 12 people with room
to spare. It has two levels which are filled with
bunks the lower level has the galley and the 
upper level bow section is where the Capt
was situated. Ok found our bunks and got 
settled in for the ride out..Weather is great soo 
far. Capt wakes us up at @ 3 or 4 am, and 
off I go into the pitch black to catch....get hit in the
face with hot humid air, loving it! drop down with
a dead sardine...nothing...on the first drop. But it 
gave us a chance to get our sea legs and wake up. 
stayed there for a little while and then the Capt 
moved to another spot....dropped down...nothing...
wait... the guys at the stern 
(I was in the bow, did not want to be in the way
of the regulars who knew what they were doing)
were catching some red/pink looking fish on squid. 
Switched from dead sardines to small chuncks of squid 
and had a blast catching vermillian snapper.
Just as the bite is going....

To be continued....(got to get some work done)


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## FL FISHERMAN (Sep 30, 2002)

man that is wrong! LOL so far so good I see. I bet you did well


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## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

Continued:


Just as the bite is going crazy, it starts to rain, then pour. The funny things was that the seas layed right down as the rains came, I had rain gear on so I stayed out and fished along with two or three other guys. Caught about another 10 vermillian snapper in 30 min and then the Capt says we are going to a wreck. Rode for about an hour and then stopped. I peaked my head out of the door and the sun was shinning, and the seas were flat! So much for the afternoon forecast of doom!
Everybody drops down live pinfish, and nothing happens, I put on one of my special baits that one of the board members told me about and get a solid hit in about two minutes, I did everything wrong -- jerked back before cranking in the line, did not apply massive pressure to get him off the wreck...this thing from the deep was pulling line off my locked down 6/0 like nothing! I would hold on for dear life for about 15 seconds which seemed like forever and then crank like crazy for about 10 or 15 cranks, despite my bad technique I still managed to land my first keeper AJ! (Got to love us newbies!) It ran about 29 pounds. 
My arm is starting to get a little sore about now...put on another one of those special bait and lower it down...wham another hard strike, I jerk back and the mate "red" yells crank the line in first! you have got to crank it!...


Back to work....I will be back!


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## Anthony (Jul 3, 2002)

Man you are killing me. Great report so far Henry. Why don't you type the rest of the report in Microsoft word then copy and paste when you are done. That way you don't keep us in suspense  .


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## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

continued:


I crank down about 2 or 3 times praying to 
feel some solid resistance...the line comes 
tight and then the rod bows over into a big 
upside down U! I do the hold-on-and crank-dance 
for about 5 minutes using my arms and elbows 
which are past the point of being on fire, they are 
turning into jelly! I was at the point of desperation
so I leaned the middle of the rod down on the rail 
and used it for support. (Saw plenty of guys a lot 
bigger than me using this method) "Red" see's 
what is going on by this point and runs over...I am 
dying! I crank about 3 or 4 times and then just try
to get a bit of wind between cranks. 'Red" is 
shouting encourgements to me the whole time, My 
right thumb is raw from rubbing against the side of 
the reel, and my rib cage is turning purple from the 
butt of the rod being lodged into it...suddenly he says
"I can see something"....and then runs off to grab the 
gaff, which was a little odd since he had been grabbing 
the leader for all of the other fish and just swinging 
them over the rail. I look down into the water and 
my eyes focus on this huge grouper! This is the true 
prize of one of these fishing trips for the locals, it is 
what they all fish for. "Red" sticks him on the first 
attempt and then its picture time. (I will post them 
tommorow, I pick them up tonight) It is a big black 
grouper. My arms, back, and legs are shot by this 
point, but I found myself thowing another special 
bait down for the 240 feet trip to the wreck...you 
never know when the bite will die for good.

I will try to finish up this report this afternoon, and post
the pictures tommorow. (Hope they turn out good!).


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## Anthony (Jul 3, 2002)

Man that's great!!! How much did that bad boy weigh? Guess you'll never feel the same about tautog and seabass again  .


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## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

Anthony, I guess that the best way to describe the pain
would be saying that it feels like you have been catching
seabass like crazy for about an hour or two and your arm
is getting the real serious burn,and you are huffing
and puffing well imagine feeling like that after the first 
fish, and that is just the start of the bite plus 
each fish is between 120 - 240 feet down so you are 
trying to drag it all the way up, meanwhile the
mate is screaming at you (in a nice way) to crank as fast
as you can because they do not want you to loose it in the
wrecks or reefs plus the average size of these fish are between 10 - 25 pounds and the AJ's fight like bluefish on steroids and never-ever give up fighting, even when they are at the top!

Yeah, it was my best bottom trip ever. Smile.
Still got more than 1/3 of the report coming...


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## FL FISHERMAN (Sep 30, 2002)

Scweeet! I knew it was going to be a good trip. Waiting for the next puzzle piece.


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## cocoflea (Aug 1, 2002)

Nice job I love reading your report despite the interuptions please post the photos soon


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## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

continued:

True to form, I get a solid hit and pay the
price...We battle for about ten minutes, and 
yes, I did use the rail from the get-go, There 
is no Shame at this point, you are just trying 
to get the fish up! "Red" and the other
mate Tim have been sharing time between 
the stern and the bow (there were only 20
some people on board due to the bad weather 
forecast! Got to love that!) "Red" preatty 
much hovers around me during this period since
there are only a few of us on the bow, and my 
newbie luck has me hooked up almost constantly. 
I bring up another keeper black grouper and it 
is a keeper in the 15 pound range! Man I am 
rolling. During this whole period my wife has 
not really been as lucky as me (partly her own 
fault for not wanting to switch over from
squid...she was having a blast on the vermillion 
and she was kind of scared to catch an AJ since 
she could see the hurting they were putting 
on the guys around her! I finally convinced her 
to switch and she got hooked up with an AJ, 
she did great (she still had strength in her arms) 
and got the AJ in the boat, it was about an inch 
too short and went back in. That was it for her 
on the AJ's, one was enough. I went to the stern 
once the bite died down, and there were AJ's 
scattered all over. But there was not a single 
grouper back there, apparently the bow was 
over the magic patch and nobody else caught 
any groupers. My total count for the trip was 3 
keeper blacks, 2 1/2 keeper AJ's (one a day 
limit, we were allowed two each for this mult-day 
trip, and one that my wife pulled in from the 
halfway up point just to give her some pullage) 
Plus to round it off me and my wife put a hurting 
on those tasty little vermillion snappers with
a nice stringer of about 25 to 30. We made one 
more drop but the area was swarming with 
dolphins and they scared all of the fish away. 
Had some dinner, the galley makes food to order, 
not that microwave crap, they actually have a full 
time cook on board. After dinner you climb in 
your bunk and crash. The Capt will wake you up 
by announcing that you are close to shore and to 
start packing up. Cannot wait to go back in again. 

Once again thanks for everyone who provided 
information, every bit was used and appreciated.


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## FL FISHERMAN (Sep 30, 2002)

Great report! Glad you got into some nice fish. Can't wait for the pics. Looks like I am going to have to get on one this upcoming winter too!


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## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

FL FISHERMAN, they said this trip was really slow and
that the March - May time frame should be off-the-hook!
I am going to try to get down there in mid to end
of March time frame. (If the wife will let me...smile)


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## sandcasting (Jan 25, 2003)

talapia it sounds like you had a superb trip out to the middle grounds. congrats on the aj's and big black groupers. grouper filets and fried grouper nuggets are a major part of my diet since moving here to southwest forida. did you get hubbards to cook any of the catch once the boat got back to john's pass? i'm interested to know how much time you spent fishing during the trip, as opposed to motoring to and from the various wrecks. did you get to try any inshore fishing for trout, snook, reds, or the tricky sheephead? thanks for the middle grounds report. anxious for the big smiles and fish in the photos.


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## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

sandcasting, 

We did not spend too much time searching. We made
4 drops with the second drop accounting for 90 percent of
the vermillion snapper and not much else. And the third 
drop was where all the AJ's and Grouper were caught. The 
1st and 4th drops were a bust. The average time 
between moves was about 30 min. I did have an inshore
charter on Monday the 16th and will post a report tommorow.


We did not have any fish cooked up awhile we were 
down there, as soon as they were filled we had them
packed up tight and put on ice for the return trip. 

We did have blackened grouper for dinner one night...
incredible


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## FL FISHERMAN (Sep 30, 2002)

Hey Talapia, how much did the fishing trip actually run you and did you get a package deal with the flights. You can pm me if you don't want to put it on here. Also was fishing your only reason to fly down there?? Man I wish I was home


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## Kozlow (Oct 25, 2002)

Thanks for the Great Report Talapia . Can not wait to see the PICS of BL Grouper's and those smiles which will be from ear to ear I'm sure . Glad you had a great time .


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## Kozlow (Oct 25, 2002)

Forgot to ask ya what about this special 
bait you were using ????


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## Fatback (Aug 6, 2003)

Great report.......SWEEET trip.......yea let us know about that secret bait?


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## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

I am going to try to post the pics this morning, it
is my first time so I hope that it works. I may 
have to call upon some of my more experienced
brethren for an assist. 

P.S. The secret bait was not that big of a secret, 
It was a fish called a "squirrell" (sp) fish. But it
was the only thing the grouper would bite on!
And would actually turn the AJ's off the pinfish.
Strange huh? Too bad I only had about 12 of them
and the AJ's (keepers and throwbacks) took care
of most of them before the grouper could get to
them!


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## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

FL FISHERMAN, 

The basic price is around $200 for the 34-hr trip, add on
the meal plan (all you can eat and drink) for $25, plus 
live bait and a livewell, heavy weight AJ/Grouper rod
rental (not great, but good enough and beats trying to
drag one down) for another $15 and it will end up costing
you around $250 range. Air Tran had the best deals and
the prices are all over the place, you have to just go to
their web site and try to find the best deal based on
when you can travel. Yes, I flew down to go fishing,
this trip and an inshore charter. Well worth it. There is
a bit of risk though, the weather made it touch and go
for a while there, and you are out-of-luck if you fly in
and it goes south on you.


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## cocoflea (Aug 1, 2002)

Nice report My other half has to go down there for work now I have a reason to go with her while she is working I will be fishing


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## FL FISHERMAN (Sep 30, 2002)

Thanks Talapia! Looking forward to those pics.


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## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

I have started to post some of the pics in the 
new gallery, there are six right now, I have 
about 4 or 5 more to go. The quality is not 
great, but when the fish are biting, it is hard 
to get someone to take a quality picture for you.
The other pictures came out a little dark so a 
friend is trying to lighten them up a little bit
for me before I post them. I used a disposable
camera and the person taking the picture did 
not hit the flash button.


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## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

Posted the last few pictures. Did the best we
could to lighten them up. Hope you
enjoy. Thanks again.


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## Kozlow (Oct 25, 2002)

Thanks for the PICS . Gonna have to head west one of these days .


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## FL FISHERMAN (Sep 30, 2002)

Yeah very nice pics. I definitly wanna see one of them trips when it is not supposedly "slow"


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## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

I love it down in Florida, I am going to try to work
an assignment down that way they have a load
of Air Force bases. On my next trip down I will
try the Viking Fleet's 44-hr trip, 34-hrs is nice, 
so 44-hrs must be even better!


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## Anthony (Jul 3, 2002)

How did you do on your inshore trip? Just dying to read some reports since I won't be able to go fish for at least 3 weeks.


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## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

I probably will not be able to do it this morning, 
too busy at work today, and I want to do it
right.


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