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We do Grouper and Snapper runs way offshore in the summer. Best Mid-Gulf fishing is the Middle Grounds and the Elbow (80-100 miles offshore respectively from Pinellas County). Grouper move into shallow water in the winter, we can catch keeper Gags trolling in 25' inside Tampa Bay. Further south off Sarasota, and Naples you don't have to go out as far, but there's not the concentrated reef structure as found in the Middle Grounds. The Gulf will also have Mahi, Cobia, King Mackerel, Snapper of every species, Tuna and others, depending on location and time of year.
Really good to know. Just the info I need. Maybe a bit more research on my part is needed.
Thanks for the tips. Tight lines…
We do Grouper and Snapper runs way offshore in the summer. Best Mid-Gulf fishing is the Middle Grounds and the Elbow (80-100 miles offshore respectively from Pinellas County). Grouper move into shallow water in the winter, we can catch keeper Gags trolling in 25' inside Tampa Bay. Further south off Sarasota, and Naples you don't have to go out as far, but there's not the concentrated reef structure as found in the Middle Grounds. The Gulf will also have Mahi, Cobia, King Mackerel, Snapper of every species, Tuna and others, depending on location and time of year.
All true BUT, everything is bigger and closer to shore on the east coast…
Bruce, if you want to get lost in another good forum, The Hull Truth is the ticket! Good boat and fishing advice updated multiple times a day. Here's the Florida fishing section. https://www.thehulltruth.com/florida-georgia-32/
Me? I'll stick with my year round boating and sailing on the North Carolina coast. At least there are seasons! <grin>
The guy from NH laughs at NC seasons. It's going to be -12 on the overnight tomorrow.
It was 85 yesterday and Sebring. It's going to be cold when i get off rhis olane in 3 hours.
Oh my lord, here's what BoP looked like from the Pfaff car. 24 hours of this, props to them for not just retiring the car in protest.
How could IMSA get it so wrong with so many test sessions ahead of time? Why would they not pivot when it was clear the 992's were losing seconds on the straights?
Just came back from my second trip to the 24. It is a great time for sure. Thinking about doing the Porsche VIP package next year but can’t find a list of what is included for the $1200. Could you let me know what is included?
Really good to know. Just the info I need. Maybe a bit more research on my part is needed.
Thanks for the tips. Tight lines…
I just can't deal with the people West Palm and south, just too damm many of them. Constant congestion, gridlock. Everybody seems pissed off, annoyed, frustrated all the time. Same whether in traffic, in a checkout line, or waiting in a restaurant. Eff' that! Was in Jupiter yesterday and literally had to jump sideways to avoid being run over in Publix parking lot. And cutoff, honked at, and given the Bird all in a 5 mile stretch of Indiantown road. Worth it though as I picked up an in car Speedcom at Wine Country Motorsports and ate Panko crusted fried oyster salad at Food Shack!
Have a place in Port St Lucie since 2012, to me the sweet spot is Stuart to Vero. Still have the weather, 200 ft of water offshore in a mile or less, and when it's blowing go inshore for Snook, Mangrove snapper, etc is pretty good substitute. Less people {although that's relative as all of Fla is crowded} and nicer too.
I just can't deal with the people West Palm and south, just too damm many of them. Constant congestion, gridlock. Everybody seems pissed off, annoyed, frustrated all the time. Same whether in traffic, in a checkout line, or waiting in a restaurant. Eff' that! Was in Jupiter yesterday and literally had to jump sideways to avoid being run over in Publix parking lot. And cutoff, honked at, and given the Bird all in a 5 mile stretch of Indiantown road. Worth it though as I picked up an in car Speedcom at Wine Country Motorsports and ate Panko crusted fried oyster salad at Food Shack!
Have a place in Port St Lucie since 2012, to me the sweet spot is Stuart to Vero. Still have the weather, 200 ft of water offshore in a mile or less, and when it's blowing go inshore for Snook, Mangrove snapper, etc is pretty good substitute. Less people {although that's relative as all of Fla is crowded} and nicer too.
I lived in Ft. Lauderdale for a couple years and while the water was unbelievable, I just could not deal with the local culture and crowds. The ramps were a zoo and the ICW and sandbars were insane but nothing like starting to troll a couple of miles out the inlet (caught my biggest wahoo to date on new years day, a couple of miles off the beach). Also spent some time in Flamingo fishing both sides - the Everglades and Keys.
In my younger years my wife and I made numerous trips to the Keys towing our little 17' Key West. We could stay at mom and pop resorts and keep the boat tied up just outside our room for easy access to the ocean or bay side. Now most of the mom and pop places have been bought up, and replaced with large condos or chain hotels. Traffic is crazy on A1A and you can count on some jagoffs buzzing the flats and channels in their jet skis right next to where you are trying to fish..
That said, I owned a waterfront house in south Texas for a number of years. My kids grew up spending weekends and holidays catching redfish and specks with us in our bay boat, and later poling skiff. We did rent the house out as a vacation rental so after a few years I found myself spending more time on house maintenance and repairs and less time on the water. Hurricane Harvey finally drove in the last nail for me. Our house was very close to ground zero for Harvey and I spent the better part of year getting the house back together so we could use it again as well as rent it out. By that time the kids (all girls) had become teenagers and had no desire to get on the water - just wanted to sit on the couch and spend hours staring and texting on their phones...
The wife did enjoy fishing so downsized to a technical poling skiff and spent most of my time on the water in very shallow water, stalking redfish. Unfortunately this specialization only works under ideal conditions (light wind, clear water, minimal loose seagrass, and clear sunny days) so this did limit my time on the water.
When real estate skyrocketed during Covid we pulled the plug and sold the waterfront house, along with our primary residence and moved to central Florida. No its not waterfront but don't have to deal with any major hurricane damage and now have the ability to fish almost any area in Florida (the west coast is an hour from us and the east coast is about 90 minutes away). We use VRBO to stay all over the FL coast and I love getting back in the truck and driving home without any worry of maintenance or repairs. When you consider how much we paid in mortgage and maintenance, not to mention a few renovations, I think financially we are better off now and have far greater flexibility.
We also attended out first Rolex 24 (and Roar) and will definitely be back next year. We watched the start of the race in the main grandstands, then moved to the infield to spend some time in the Fan Zone and PCA tent and corral. We were able to see a few of my friends from Houston as well as catching up with Leslie. BTW - that Singer in the corral was drool worthy... We finished the night going back to grandstands for a couple hours in the dark and then drove home. Came back in the morning and watched the last two hours from the grandstands. Too bad about the 963s and 911 GTRs but as was mentioned previously, I think there will be adjustments made to get the cars much more competitive going forward. Porsche has too much $ in IMSA to not be sniffing victory lane.
Now I need to end my year long sabbatical and get back to DEs, along with my fishing habit.
Oh my lord, here's what BoP looked like from the Pfaff car. 24 hours of this, props to them for not just retiring the car in protest.
How could IMSA get it so wrong with so many test sessions ahead of time? Why would they not pivot when it was clear the 992's were losing seconds on the straights?
Correct & agree - this was painfully obvious watching the practice, qual and hours of the race coverage. The restricted performance difference was significant, and it was very apparent during the Roar (practice and qualifying). All 7 GT3R's were DFL. I can understand being maybe a second off pace, but it was 2.5 seconds. They had a week to make adjustments before the race but IMSA said they were happy with the BoP. That's what generated the criticism and cynicism.
My Bill Patterson print came today. It's a print of the painting he did in the Rolex Club 1/28/2023 which sold for $11K. The prints were limited to 23 and show the #59 Carrera RSR winning the Daytona 24 overall in 1973 and the debut of the 963 50 years later to the day.
02-01-2023, 09:10 PM
