EYEDROP WINS THE DAY!
Well, what started off as a failed trip to Venice Louisiana turned into a successful trip out of Jupiter, FL.
Initially the plan was to head to Venice to fish 3 days for an assortment of bottom species along with any pelagics we came across, but Mother Nature decided to put a hold on that. With the whole Gulf of Mexico basically blown out for the week fishing was looking less and less likely. That was until Jorge reached out to me and informed me of a grouper bite they had over the weekend and suggested I come down to fish during the week. Not only was the grouper bite solid leading up to the trip, but the east coast also gives me a great opportunity to catch a quality Golden Tilefish. Since I was supposed to be on vacation for the Venice trip anyways I decided to make the drive from Gainesville down to Jupiter to do some Slow Pitch Jigging with the boys (Jorge, Rob, Ricky) for the day.
We departed around 6 am and made our way out to the tile grounds to grab a quick limit before heading for the grouper. We got to the first spot and started a drift and it wasn't long before Jorge was hooked up on his first drop with a 700g EYEDROP, literally only 30 seconds lol. After a decent fight up came the first tile of the day. Not long after Ricky sends down another Eyedrop and he hooks up to land his first Golden Tile, which was awesome to see.
Rob and I stuck it out with standard jigs, but it just wasn't happening for us, as we both had a small fish come off after hookup, but that was about it. Ricky ended up picking up another Tile on the Eyedrop before we decided to move a bit shallower.
In the next area we had a good show of bait on the screen, but we just didn't get the quick bite like the first spot. Maybe after about 10 minutes of jigging I come tight with a solid fish and I was excited because I knew it was going to be a quality tile. Once it showed itself that assumption was correct. Up came a very solid Golden that went 18lbs on the scale, which is a best for myself so far. Mission accomplished for the day as far as I was concerned.
After that we decided it was time to chase some grouper, but on our way we spotted a homemade raft that was abandoned and when we pulled up it was full of life! Mahi, Tripletail, Jacks, and Runners. Jorge put on the new JYG PRO RYP and hooked up on a Mahi instantly! He gets it to the boat and every cast after that he was hooked up. We were able to pick up one tripletail, but the jacks wouldn't let us get bait to any of the larger tails.
I dropped a jig down about 300' and got hit and it shredded the Kevlar, so we knew it was a wahoo. Ricky dropped a jig down and hooked up instantly landing a smaller wahoo. He got that one loose and dropped again and hooked up and landed another wahoo on the jig. Not bad going 2 for 2 on wahoo on the jig with no wire. After messing around there for a while it was time to head for the grouper again without getting distracted.
We pull over the spot and it's lit up, which is always great to see. We start our drift and immediately Rob is hooked up on the New WYLD. After a decent fight here comes a beautiful snowy grouper that was all lit up.
The fish weren't too active on the jig and they just seemed very lethargic, so Jorge decided to put the Eyedrop back on. We make another drift and Jorge hooks up and lands another gorgeous Snowy. At this time I can't buy a bite from a grouper, but I was able to put a Tuna in the boat which is always a nice bycatch. At this time it's getting late in the day, but we make a short move for another drift to try and boat a few more grouper.
Jorge drops down a lighter Eyedrop and it's not long before he's hooked up to a Stud! We clear the lines and just allow Jorge to have all the room and leeway with the boat. The fish is non stop digging and it's a solid back and forth for at least 25 minutes, but in the end Jorge prevailed and up comes a 28lb Yellowedge Grouper!!
If that's not impressive enough not only did he land it with 8lb braid, but just the day before he landed a 32lb Yellowedge on the same setup but on a Pink-Glow DEEP 300G. Just a ridiculous couple of days of fishing for him and I couldn't be happier for him.
All in all a great trip with some quality and tasty fish landed.
Enjoy the read 👍
