The fishing was so good last weekend, Captian Jerry decided to do it again.As our group of 14 fishermen began showing up at the Viking dock and loading their gear in preparation for our offshore trip, Capt. George cooked up and served complimentary Hamburgers & Hot Dogs as part of our “meet and greet” program. What a nice way to start to a trip! By 6:45pm Capt. Jerry started the engines and the Gulfstar pulled away from the dock and we were on our way to the fishing grounds. We arrived in the Elbow area around 2:30 am and Capt. Jerry settled on a nice piece of bottom. Within minutes a nice steady pick of 3-7lb. Mangrove Snappers developed. Soon after that quite a few rigs were being cut off by toothy King Mackerel. Some anglers re-rigged and put wire on their rigs and caught some nice King’s to 20lbs. After the King’s became too hungry and were eating everything in site we moved onto the next spot. That spot also produced a nice steady pick of Mango’s, Red Groupers of various sizes, and Gag groupers that were released due to the closed season. After day break, we continued to hit spot after spot and caught some Red Groupers to 12lbs along with the finest kind of Scamp Grouper to 7lbs. One drop in particular saw many anglers catch multiple very large Scamps. Also mixed in the catch were Porgies, Bee-liners, Bar Jacks, Yellow Tail Snappers, and Amberjacks. A few Mutton Snappers also hit the deck. One Mutton hit the scales at 21lbs. WOW! On route to one spot Capt. Jerry ran over a very large “fish reading” and once we anchored the American Red Snappers were very hungry. They were all vented and released. Sure looks like it’s going to be a great RedSnapperseasonwhichopens June 1st! After a delicious Roast Beef dinner at sunset, we moved back to the Mango grounds to set up for the night bite. The Mango’s didn’t disappoint anyone either. While it got a little windy around midnight and the fishing conditions were challenging, the Mango’s continued to provide plenty of action. These were large fish to almost 10lbs. We also had another visit from the pesky King Mackerel which provided loads of fun for those who fished for them. All and all, the fishing was very good and we would like to thank our anglers and friends for joining us. Take a look at some of the pictures from the trip.

(pics to follow)