St. Joe Bay 5/25

[RedMann]

I'm still trying to learn St. Joe Bay but only making a little bit of progress. We fished the flats north and south of Eagle Harbor on Saturday throwing gulps and live shrimp under cajun thunders. Caught five trout with only 2 legitimate keepers -- a 17" and a nice 19". Threw back two 15-inch trout just because I don't like to take chances on measurements. Kind of hard for the trout to get to the bait with all the ladyfish. We must have caught 20-25 lady fish which are fun to catch but frustrating when you would much rather be catching trout. Water was gin clear with temps in the 79-81 range. Beautiful day once the wind laid down but not a lot a catching going on. Also fished the surf a couple of times over the weekend and managed a few decent sized whiting but not nearly as good as a couple of weeks ago. I did not catch a pompano or hear of any being caught but I didn't talk to very many folks so just take that part of the report with a grain of salt.

Hey Brian, I saw your boat at your place this weekend -- how did you do?

[SHOWBOAT]

We did pretty well when we were fishing. I fished with my dad Sunday morning and caught a couple limits of trout up to 22". Saw some reds but no takers. I spent most of the weekend running family and dogs around the sand bars for some swimming and

There was a lower slot red crusing the end of the Cape less than 18" from shore. Not a bad place to call home if you can stay away from the sharks and dolphins.



We did catch a couple popping cork fish but most were topwater. With ~80 degree water the schoolie trout have moved a little deeper, 4-7', summer patterns. The big girls are still shallow. High pitched TWs like OneKnockers and Skitterwalks were preferred over SuperSpooks or Rattling Spooks.

[RedMann]

Sounds like I need to be hitting you up for some SJB fishing advice! Wife and I did the beach thing at the end of the Cape yesterday. Looks like we were a little bit south of where that pic was taken. Drop dead gorgeous out there this weekend.