So long to 2021
As we roll into a new year, I’d like to thank all of our customers, friends, vendors, and families for all of your help and support for what has been a trying year to say the least. In that note, So long to 2021! Hopefully mother nature will be a bit more kind in 2022. Perhaps goods and tackle will be more readily available. Maybe pandemics won’t be such a hot topic and hopefully we don’t go broke buying fuel. The good news is that we no longer have a hulking, polluting shipwreck to look at every day as the Golden Ray salvage has finally been completed. Hopefully any long term effects from that mess will be as a minimum.
Winter Action
As we say so long to 2021, we were able to end the year with some really good fishing out on the nearshore reefs and beyond. It was nice to have a handful of good weather days to get out there.
Nearshore
The nearshore structure fishing was fantastic the last 2 months of the year. I had some young kid days that we kept them very busy with black sea bass, some small (creek sized) redfish ,with a few weakfish and bluefish in the mix. On other days we caught nice Bull redfish on jigs mostly, red snappers in all sizes, mangrove snapper, and sea bass. There have also been plenty of quality sheepshead, and assorted sized black drum as well. We were fortunate enough to see a North Atlantic right whale (Tripelago) and her calf on two different days in late December. It’s always special to see these animals as there are less than 350 remaining in the world.
We were also able to venture out in the 110+ foot range and had an action packed day on a beautiful ocean. The cobia fishing was outstanding, unfortunately they are closed in our waters this time of year. Red snapper were voracious as usual in all sizes. Amberjacks tightened up every muscle in your body with their high powered fights. Vermillion snapper, almaco jacks, and a host of other bottom dwellers kept the rods bent for the entire day.
Inshore
I wish I could rave about how awesome the inshore bite has been, but it has not been the superb quality of fishing that we have been accustomed to over the years. We have had our share of good days, and scratched out decent numbers and quality most days with plenty of persistence. However, 2021 has not been the year of consistency. The fall trout bite was steady provided there was decent water quality. We rarely catch small trout in the cooler fall months. This year we ran across more small trout than we typically see even in the spring. Perhaps that will mean that we will have a good 2022 spring run. The topwater bite was really good on quite a few occasions. Mirrolure top dog jr’s, and rapala skitterwalks did most of the work, and the quality of the fish landed was excellent. I plan to spend more time slinging plugs next season as it was even productive in the high sun.
It seems that the powers that be are finally noticing the redfish shortage in our waters. Hopefully we will act instead of react in the future on issues like this. We had some good flood tides in the warmer months with decent numbers of fish. A properly placed fly or artificial got the job done most of the time. The low water schools are few and far between as that trend continues. It seems we now cover 10x the water to see 1/10 of the fish on a good day. Time will tell, and hopefully Georgia can work to restore what once was on of the finest redfisheries in the country.
Kids Fishing
On nice days the nearshore reefs and wrecks are where it is at to wear out the little ones. Steady action is the name of the game with quite the variety to boot. March will be here before we know it and whiting fishing will start to heat up. As the water begins to warm, sharks, rays, and other creatures will pile into our coastal waters and sounds to keep everyone busy on those short kids trips. Give us a call and book your trip before it is too late!!!
So long to 2021!