I hate the "Red Tide"!!! Today my crew consisted of Mason Williams, his son Brent, Donnie Poston and Joe Wright who is visiting from New Mexico. We decided to run to points north with with a stop for bait at the Vera Cruz and then off to the Benson reef with visions of shallow water red snapper, grouper and cobia on our minds. Couldn't have been more wrong, the red tide really has hurt the near shore marine environment. No bait or otherwise at the Vera Cruz, nothing but croakers and silver trout at the Benson and nothing but miles of lifeless weed lines from 2 to 8 miles offshore. Ended up fishing at a couple of reliable stops this time of year for a little table fare. Still not a bad day with good friends and and some tasty treats from mother ocean.

Final tally for the day:
3 Tripletail
15 Silver Seatrout
1 Baby Mackerel for bait