Well the fish are here. Last weekend Ben, Eric, and Lauren hit the Dog hard, scoring 18 pompano on a Saturday, and scoring 10 more on Sunday! Being the good neighbors they are, they shared some of the bounty with other islanders. Nonetheless – they have set the new bar to beat when it comes to Pompano fishing! Not to be outdone, Doug heard Eric was hosting his brother and a friend for the following weekend on the Dog. And he was IN! Eric and Doug headed over Friday morning on the triumph to get the house ready for their guests (Eric’s brother David, and his friend Mike), and then spent a little time fishing in the bay waiting for them to arrive. Not a lot of action in the bay unfortunately, but the day was still young. Departing from the usual surf fishing location – Eric repeated this weekend at the old Pelican Inn location. Although it was not the slam that they experienced the week before, it still produced six pomps, and everyone reeled one in!

Hopes were high for a repeat of last week’s record pompano catch, so the crew set up on Saturday in the same location. The wave action had calmed considerably, but the sun was bright, and the water temps were near 70. After a few adjustments, all we reeled in were to nice whiting. Eric suggested we pivot, take advantage of the light wind and waves, and take the triumph on its maiden trip to the Dog Island Reef.

After a quick swap out to light tackle rods, we hopped on the Triumph to run to the Reef. Captain Eric put us on the action fast, as he pulled up a monster mackerel right away. Shortly after everyone was pulling fish over the railing. Mike hooked into a gator trout, and the blues were savage non-stop fighting all of us. In the end, we spent a few hours fighting the fish, grabbing more trout and blues, and filling the cooler with plenty of fish.

After cleaning all the fish on Saturday from the trip to the reef, we had an unwelcome visitor! Right under the very table we clean the fish, a mean old water moccasin came around. It did give us the chance to try out our ‘new to the island’ old Marlin Model 80 .22 rifle. Eric confirmed the sights were plenty good enough as he dispatched the snake with one round of rat shot! No one wants to go home early from a cottonmouth bite! Great shot Eric!!

Eric had some steaks on hand just in case we were not successful catching fish, but they are now in the freezer for next time! The crew enjoyed a classic Dog Island Fish Fry at the Willfish cottage, featuring Eric’s signature batter, cheese grits, and a salad! Doug had the honor of frying up the days catch for our guests. Everyone went to bed stuffed!

Sunday we did not fish as the guests needed to make tracks back to Georgia, but plenty of fish were caught, eaten, and more brought back to Tallahassee from the Friday and Saturday haul!

The Dog never disappoints. It may not give you what you were after, but if you take what it IS giving you will never be disappointed!!

Oh yeah, the Willfish cottage is in the midst of a makeover, so we have stepped things up a notch or two. Claaaassssyyyy….