The Fishing Day wasn't over yet

I didn't get back to the RV until after 2:00 p.m., had some lunch and layed down for a bit -- after showing Tiger the two big Bonita and 5 of the Mingo Snappers -- assured of having fish in the freezer to go with some half-dozen or more of the Spanish Mackerels.  I also came back with three nice chunks of fillets from one of the King Mackerels (shared by all who were onboard) but, no Grouper.

Around 4:00 p.m., I walked down to the fishing pier here at the campground and took my binoculars to see what might be happening at the bridge and causeway to Santa Rosa Island -- and check the windy conditions for possibly fishing off the pier here or the causeway.  The wind was whipping "white-caps" on the waters here as it blew hard from the southwest so, I thought the nearside of the causeway might be shielded some and provide some better evening fishing there near the bridge (and, I could put on my "Grouper Rig" and give it a try with a bag of cut-bait I still had in the fridge).

On the way back to the RV, I stopped at Marge's camper/trailer to see if she and her daughter Sharon wanted one of the Bonita and a couple of the Mingo Snappers.  Sharon is a really fun person I had met on the fishing pier here one day and we fished there one afternoon and a bit of the evening.  Sharon came up from Ft. Lauderdale to help her mother as she is having a tough go of it recently, with her husband in rehab and more recently cracked one of the vertabrae in her back.  They were pleased to have the fish and even invited me over for some dinner later but, I still had fishing on my mind.

There weren't but a few cars along the causeway so, I took the wide open spot on the east side nearest to the bridge and parked my cooler near the seawall.  The sun nearly showed signs of dropping to the water and giving me a chance for that long anticipated "Green Flash" but, the clouds soon took any hope of that away -- as I cast a half dozen times toward the channel under/near the bridge.  Seemed like nothing but, bait stealers were there cleaning the giant hook meant for Grouper so, I decided to change up and put on a bottom rig with steel leaders and smaller hooks -- maybe try the grassy areas to the east and see what might be biting.  After one cast, I had a little silver trout -- put him back.  Then, I caught two small catfish (put them back too) and then another, slightly bigger silver trout -- kept him.

Whiskers Longer than the twins.

Darkness had decended earlier so, I had my little LED night lights with me to help in my rebaiting of the hooks and shine at the waters and the big heron that stayed during the evening and darkness hoping for handouts (which he got from me).  A little later, something hit harder than the others and this tme I fought and caught this nice sized catfish -- it tore off some line as it neared the seawall so, it gave up a pretty good fight.  In the darkness, I feared it might have been a shark, even as I brought it over the seawall.  With its nasty spikes making it harder to handle, it kicked up sand in my face and on my wet, overly fishy smelling clothes.

Two young guys came down in the darkness to see the catfish and were delighted to hear the fish were biting there as they had been fishing the other side of the causeway and not having any luck.  While they were there (taking up my earlier position of the evening), I caught a couple more smaller catfish in the twelve-inch range and put those back.  I gave them my last two pieces of bait and left with only the wish I could have caught one of those keeper Spotted Sea Trout or that Grouper.

Maybe I will have to come back to Florida later this year, before that saltwater license expires.