Headed out this morning with a good friend, Capt. Rick Grassett of Sarasota. We entered the Gulf of Mexico via Big Pass and headed south. Our goal was false albacore (little tunny) on fly.

Wasn't much going on, but we noticed a good amount of birds off Casey Key about a mile north of the Venice Inlet. Nothing was happening, but we tucked that infor away. On the way back north, we drifted the same area and pods of albies began busting minnows. They were fast, moving and hard to zero in on. We figured our best bet was to drift the general area and maybe they would erupt near us.

I hooked up on a Myakka Minnow tied on a No. 1 hook. The hook pulled after a couple of minutes. I hooked another a few minutes later, but lost that fish, too.

Rick finally hooked up and landed a 12-pound after a 5-minute battle.

That was it.

On the way back, we found a 10-pound tripletail hanging out around a crab buoy and hooked up for a few seconds.

Good day nevertheless.