"Head West, young man"

[chumhead]

lol....Capt Jim has been suggesting fishing the hard, live bottom to the west of the Panama City Pass for a while, but I have not really wanted to invest in a longer run not really knowing where to go. Well, after his fishing trip with Beckcl, I got a really good fishing report...(unfortunately, work reared its ugly head yet again and I was not able to tag along).

Next thing I know, Dave comes down from N.C. and spends a little time at Panama City Beach, and low and behold.....I have a day off! So we headed in the direction of where Chris and Capt Jim had fished. We got close and started seeing some nice shows on the sonar and stopped to make a few drifts.....

My camera batteries were dead, so Dave will have to step up in a day or two when he gets back home to fill in with some pics, but I do have a couple of cellphone shots to share....

First is the cooler shot...we easily got our limit and were culling red snapper out of the livewell and upgrading as the day went on. Here is our 3 person limit....
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e66/chumhead/Image137.jpg

Dave was hittin' em hard with Roscoe jigs while I was using cut bait. Here are my two biggest....didn't get 'em on a scale, but they measured 29.5 and 28 inches, my biggest yet!
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e66/chumhead/Image138.jpg

Looking forward to Dave getting home and posting up the pics from his camera. He and his son went out a couple of days later and got another limit of red snapper similar to these.

I only hope the weather will will cooperate Sunday for another trip before the season closes again.

chumhead

[MartyJ16]

Chum you kill me!!*thumbsup**thumbsup*

[Island Man]

I was wunnering where dave got off to ;D

[CFISHN]

That Gulf is a awesome fishing hole *rod**017*

[Beckcl]

Good report Craig!

I hate I missed you while I was down.

I am glad I didn't give you and Dave a bum steer to the live bottom fishing grounds......looks like those numbers got you to the fish!

You guys did great on the Snapper. I hope you are able to give them one more run this weekend.

I would have loved a trip with you and Dave, and I should have buddy boated out with you guys when I had the chance. I guess I was just worn down from fishing, friends, family and all the running around earlier in the week. I am hopefull that we will get the chance to all go again.

I posted a report and photos from fishing the days before your trip in case you missed it:

http://www.carolinaskiffowner.com/showthread.php?15820-PC-report-7-2-7-3

I am looking forward to Dave's report and photos as well.

I will be headed back when Gag opens in September....mark your calendar!

[Dave]

Thanks for the report Chum *thumbsup*

What a trip... and what a blast we had in PC on vacation this year, our first of many years to come, I hope. To hear that those are the largest red snapper that you've caught, considering you live in red snapper heaven, is an honor for me that I was with you when they came aboard. Thanks for all your kind and generous guidance and assistance in helping us to enjoy our vacation, my friend *Cheers*

Chris, we never quite got all the way out to your numbers, but like you instructed, we throttled back at about the 95' mark and started searching, finding all our fish in one of two general spots, in 97-100 feet of water. On our first drift area, (where chum caught his largest snapper), my son hung into a fish that was pounced on by one of a pod of porpoises... keep us busy for 20 minutes, until the dolphin finally pulled the snapper from the hook ;D... wouldn't have believed it had I not seen it... porpoise taking fish doesn't happen in my part of the ocean rotflmao With the pod remaining on scene, we headed for another spot where we mostly struck out and then our third and final spot, chum put the final 3 large snapper in the skiff

We all caught fish steady on, all but one or two legal size, and held out until 1315, ending the day with our limit of 6 fish, measuring (in inches) 29-1/2, 28, 24-1/2, 24, 20, 18-1/2. The run back in was an easy, fuel conserving 40 minute ride, at about 4200 RPM's turning the 150 Yamaha powered 238 DLV.

Here are a couple more pics to add to this fine day of fishing... and looking forward to our next trip to the Gulf Coast and another opportunity to fish with my CSO buddies!

With my son (Dave) looking on, I believe this was the largest snapper of the day.
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc188/djerhart/01CraigChumheadw-29inchRedSnapper7Jul1102.jpg

When we got back to the ramp, I asked Chum to hold up the four largest fish.
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc188/djerhart/05CraigChumheadw-4LargeRSnaper7Jul11.jpg