Thursday was the last time we were able to make it out before Hurricane Katrina came through. The forecast was for nice weather until Friday morning, and we tried to get in one trip. When we left, there was barely a puff of wind, and by the time we got back after cutting our time from a full day to three-quarters it was blowing 20 mph-plus. But the grouper were chewing in anticipation of nasty weather. We had five blacks and two reds and numerous mangrove snappers in 80 feet.
The Red Tide is continuing to take a toll on the sea turtles. It is common to see a turtle sunning on the surface, then dive as soon as it senses an approaching boat. The Red Tide has weakened them to where they are having a difficult time diving and getting out of the way. Also, numerous dead turtles are being blown together along weed lines and can cause problems for props or hulls if hit at speed.
Bait is still difficult to find offshore and was dying in the livewell Thursday. A more positive note was a school of small-fry whitebait seen Sunday swimming in the marina at Gulfport. Hopefully this latest bout of nasty seas will break up the Red Tide, and things will start to get back to normal.
