# Anybody fish out of Mexico Beach/Port St. Joe?



## gahawker (Mar 3, 2008)

My wife and I and our 16 year old grandson went down to Valdosta to our son's house Friday night. We spent the night with him and left at 4 AM for Mexico Beach pulling his 29" Fountain boat. We decided to put in at Port St. Joe because he was afraid the inlet at Mexico Beach might be sanded in. We went out about 4 or 5 miles and fished for grouper. The weather was excellent with 1 -2 ft. seas. We never found a grouper that was keeper size, but we were looking for bait fish and found what we thought was a big school of them. We dropped our bait rigs and started catching 5 - 6 inch groupers as fast as we could pull them in on our bait rigs. I believe we could have filled  our cooler if we had stayed on them but of course that size is not legal. We fished all day in about 70' of water around several structure and never caught another grouper of any size. We caught several nice Red Snapper, but had to release them as the season is out. We wound up the day with several legal size Black Bass and that was it. 
We went out Sunday morning and trolled for grouper until  about 11:00 but we were completely skunked. I hate to think what those few little Black Bass cost per pound! We did have a good family time though and you can't put a price on that.
Looking forward to going back after April 21 when Grouper and Snapper seasons will both be back in in Federal waters.   My son had some good catches on both last year about 50 miles offshore.

Larry


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## FiveDollarDawg (Mar 3, 2008)

Sounds like you had a great day on the water with the family.  This time of year, you'll have better luck catching keeper grouper out of Carrabelle.  I'll fish the Alligator Pt / Carrabelle area in the late Fall & Winter and fish out of Mexico Beach from April until late Summer /early Fall.  April 21 should be a good weekend to fish with the full moon.  Good Luck!


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## XTREME HUNTER (Mar 3, 2008)

Sounds like you had fun at least.

FYI, Snapper Season in Federal Waters opens June 1st (I think)


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## FiveDollarDawg (Mar 4, 2008)

XTREME HUNTER said:


> FYI, Snapper Season in Federal Waters opens June 1st (I think)



That is correct. These are the new Federal & State red snapper regulations for 2008 as I understand it:

April 15 - October 31 - Red Snapper season in Florida state gulf waters - limit 2 per person (dropped from 4 fish to 2 fish per person per day)
June 1 - September 30 - Red Snapper season in Federal gulf waters - limit 2 per person

For the 2008 season, total of 2 red snapper per person per day, minimum 16" length  .  Also, you must have a venting tool, dehooking device on board and use circle hooks for reef fishing.   

http://myfwc.com/whatsnew/08/statewide/News_08_X_SnapperRegs.htm


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## MudDucker (Mar 4, 2008)

Most folks are fishing off of Dog Island this time of year.  The waters you were in get more productive in the late spring and summer.


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## maker4life (Mar 4, 2008)

We had a pretty good trip out of Mexico Beach the second week of Feb . It was before the federal waters closed and we caught all of our fish in about 190' of water about fifty miles out .


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## How2fish (Mar 4, 2008)

Fished out of Mex beach for years on the "Finest Kind" with Capt Doyle Gaylor..to this day the best bottom fisherman I have ever gone with...we always did well when we could get out of the canal .....


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## gahawker (Mar 4, 2008)

Thanks, all of you for the advice and setting me straight on the snapper season. I guess I looked at old regs.

Larry


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## Lane Morrell (Mar 4, 2008)

I think they have just dredged the canal a couple of weeks ago.  My BIL has a boat down there.  We have been out once this year and we came home with some decent grouper.  As Maker4life stated in a previous post, we didn't wear'm out, but we had a great time.


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