Aug 28th 2026 12hr overnight St Pete FL (doing it again!)

[JasonGotaProblem]

Shoulders and elbows are giving me hell. It's like they knew. Packing a spinner in case the right arm craps out on me.

And the Tylenol and roll on lidocaine. Weather looks like rain at night (it's an overnight trip). But the fish are wet anyway. I can dress appropriately.

[MACflyer]

Did you make it out Jason? I'm south of you and we had some pretty good storms last night.

[JasonGotaProblem]

Joe and I made it out, and it was a very interesting trip. Weather was far rougher and wetter than predicted, and I think they went to less active spots that were out of the path of the rain. Half the boat was a hearing-impaired veterans group, many were fishing for their first time. Everyone interacted with was super cool, but there were a lot more tangles this trip.

Some good sized fish still came over the rail but neither Joe nor myself got many keepers this trip.

I hooked onto something while I was using my accurate 270. Initially I thought it was the bottom, but it was swimming hard, and I was gaining line. But barely. I was essentially leaning over the rail thumbing the spool and getting 2-3' of line at a time using the rise and fall of the waves for some version of a pump n reel, because my rod was far too bendy to lift whatever this was, and when I remembered to push the button and lock down the drag I started being able to reel a bit, but I remembered I'm using 40' braid so I didn't wanna rush it and snap my line. About 50' from the surface a tangle with someone else's line saw the fish escape. I heard what sounded like a pop or a crack, and now that reel feels rough on retrieve. I may have screwed up a bearing. Time for a service.

[MACflyer]

Happy you and Joe finally made it out and caught some fish. Hard to say what the big one was, but I have noticed the bigger grouper and snapper, 27"+, give a lot of head shakes until you get them pretty close to the boat. What fish won the pool?

[Brewcrafter]

Bummer about the fish and the reel Jason, hopefully nothing too serious. - john

[Gfish]

A hearing impaired Vet. group. Probably easier to fish with than vision impaired persons. "Fish-on!, What? Fish-on coming down the rail! What? Fish-on right behind you! What? Hey I'm fishing here, back-off and give me some room!"

[oldmanjoe]

  Well it is Jason 40th birthday  ,and we are going to fish the 28 of August on :
https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/12hr-night-fishing-trip/
  Looking for any members that want to join us from the Tampa bay area .  Let's get together and have fun for a change , meet face to face and tell lies .    

[JasonGotaProblem]

What Joe said. Open invite.

[MACflyer]

I'm on it, and will get my brother to join too. I haven't seen midnight in so long, but a chance to meet some AT members and catch fish...well gotta do it.

[JasonGotaProblem]

I need to start getting my gear in order, it's rapidly approaching.

[JasonGotaProblem]

Getting close. I need to start packing.

Is a Shimano speedmaster 16ii overkill for reef fishing?

[MACflyer]

Probably, but you just got it so why not use it. Put it on a lighter rod and have fun. Wish I was going.

[steelfish]

that speedmaster 16 is the same size of a talica 16, pretty much penn jigmaster 500 size, speenmaster/talica is small enough to use it on light rods and strong enough to use it for bigger fish.
also, you will get familiar with the low speed gear, low speed IS really overkill

[oldmanjoe]

  Can`t wait to try out my new fish call !!

[MACflyer]

Can`t wait to try out my new fish call !!

Joe, do you need to be underwater to call the fish, or can you use it from the boat?