Three young men from Michigan fished with us on Tuesday, Nov. 24. I actually felt it was too rough to fish-we had a left-over swell from the north and a good 3' chop coming from the ENE all of which made for an uncomfortable troll, But we caught several fish in John's Pass channel which is always a good omen, then went to Mad Beach Reef where we trolled up about a half-dozen nice Spanish mackerel. We also hooked in to a "daily double" of Bonita, but both were lost, one early in the fight and the other next to the boat. As the bite slowed, we went to Treasure Island Reef and immediately hooked a nice Bonita which bled all over the boat. We added another half-dozen or so Spanish to our box. Since the weather was making a couple of the boys a bit queasy, we decided to troll the beach for a last shot. A few smaller fish were by Blind Pass, but we had what we wanted; some nice fish and great memories!

We had a great time catching plenty of nice Spanish mackerel, bonita and barracuda. We fished the likely spots (art. reefs) and came away with third place overall. Everyone had fun.

Bill and his family had signed up for a 6-hour trip, but the weather forecast was calling for 60% chance of rain throughout the day. In fact, I loaded ice and bait on board in the rain. I called Bill at 0645 and asked him if he still wanted to go. He said "let's try it", so off we went. We trolled Madeira Beach Art. reef and caught a few Spanish Mackerel, then went to Treasure Island Art reef and really caught nothing. The rain was expected to move in and the wind was up so I had to decide whether to head farther out in search of better fishing or head to the beach and plan on the rain. We headed out to Kenny's secret wreck and caught a few more bigger Spanish, and then to South County Art reef with poor results. So, we headed for the beach and trolled along there in 12 ft. Surprisingly, this was the best fishing we had all day. We hot the dock with a dozen decent Spanish in the box. I had hoped for a Bonita of barracuda, but nothing developed. And we missed almost all of the rain! I probably would have had a bit more aggressive fishing plan, except I was expecting it to rain all morning, but it never did!

After a trip to the yard for a new bottom, M/V Gone Coastal was back in action on Saturday. Scott and his friends had a great day. We started out catching a few nice Spanish Mackerel in the John's Pass channel, then went to the Medeira Beach Art. reef and hooked up with some nice Bonita which gave the guys a great fight. We moved over to the Treasure Island Art. reef as things slowed down at Mad Bch. We pulled in plenty of Spanish at TI, letting many go to fight another day. Everyone had an excellent time.

On June 24, we were out on Madeira Beach Reef, trolling for hope (since Spanish mackerel have been scarce) and came up with a real fighting Bonita. Lots of fun. Then, we went to the bottom and caught many small reef fish--a couple of too-small red grouper, yellowtail snapper, grunts and porgies. All things considered (like the heat), we had a good day on the Gulf. Call us for your reservations today!

On Dec. 30, the Burdett and Kester families were out on M/V Gone Coastal for a fishing adventure. We hauled in three nice king mackerel, a big hogfish, several mangrove snapper, Spanish mackerel, red grouper (too small), gag grouper, a Bonita and a whole lot of white grunts. We kept enough for a variety at the dinner table and let the rest go to fight another day. A great time was had by all.