‘I had to get my fix!’ Why a Gulf angler drove 6 hours to fish on Father’s Day Weekend
Angler Geoff Groves loves an adventure.
He’s been known to go on last-minute fishing trips across the state — to the east coast for monster snook or down to the Florida Keys for mahi and tuna — when the fishing is good. If “just send it” had a poster child, it could very well feature a picture of Groves.
“I’m off to catch the endangered American red snapper solo on Father’s Day!” he posted to Facebook at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 17, one day after the Gulf of Mexico red snapper season opened.
But he wasn’t heading west to fish his normal fishing spots out of Tampa Bay. Accompanying his post were two pictures. One showed his small catamaran with a 140 Suzuki engine on a trailer hooked up to his truck ready to tow. The other was a map to Niceville, a town between Panama City and Pensacola in the panhandle of Florida. The estimated time to drive was over 6 hours and covered 360 miles.
Groves, like most offshore anglers who fish the Gulf in Florida, had June 16 circled on the calendar since the recreational red snapper season opening was announced for that day. But as the date came closer, the forecast deteriorated leaving the opening weekend with southwest winds between 10 and 25 miles per hour.
“I think Tuesday when it was 5-foot forecasted here, I decided to go,” Groves explained. “I had to get my fix! That place is gorgeous and the American red snapper there are as plentiful as grunts here.”
He made the drive, arriving Saturday. In the Panhandle, red snapper are known to be caught much shallower than other areas of the Gulf. Legal-sized fish have been caught by anglers kayaking from the beach and inside Choctawhatchee Bay between Niceville and Destin.
But Groves wanted to fish deeper, and with a small weather window in the panhandle set for Sunday he pushed south into the Gulf of Mexico on Father’s Day morning. Light winds greeted him as he ventured to new grounds and began exploring.
“I found a random spot on a break in 105 feet about 17 miles offshore. I caught five or six red snapper then got a keeper. The next drop I got another keeper. It took only about 20 minutes,” Groves said, who had his two fish limit of red snapper.
“I went further to 200 feet, which was about 30 miles. I dropped twice and heard thunder and then I knew the trip was over. I could have gotten a couple real big ones if the weather cooperated.”
When he came back inshore around noon on Sunday, a severe thunderstorm warning was in effect for his area. He packed up and set his six-hour return for home, but the adventure wasn’t done yet.
Around Tallahassee trailer problems had him stuck.
“After four hours of running around Tallahassee looking for studs, I got it fixed,” the always-smiling Groves said. “I made it home at 2 a.m. So worth it!”
