Took the admiral and "baby" girl out and splashed the boat for the first time since last August, didn't really care what happened just wanted to get the boat out and wet a hook.
They don't like getting up early so in the interest of my sanity got them up at 6:30 AM and pulled out about 7:30, 20 minutes into the trip my daughter remembers she was supposed to stop at a friends house and let their cat out of the garage so that it doesn't cook during the day. So we turned around and went back home, while she was letting the cat out we took the boat to gas up locally rather than waiting to hit Maddie's since we were now going to be in the scallop seeker's rush. Wife then decides we may as well stop and pickup some breakfast sandwiches after declining to get some doughnuts while I fueled up, I added stabilizer and Ring Free while waiting for her to get breakfast.
Finally headed back with daughter, wife and breakfast sandwiches... already dreading the boat ramp follies.
Stopped off at Seahag for a CCA Star measuring device and some live bait, I stay with the boat while they go in just in case I need to move. They return with measuring device, Seahag shirt(what was I thinking letting them go by themselves) and no bait other than frozen squid. Apparently Seahag didn't get any shrimp or pinfish for the weekend
Sat in traffic to turn into the county ramp, lots of time to prep so by the time a ramp opened up the wife just backed it in, I released the strap climbed in and motored over to the dock to wait on her(I have her well trained at this point). She stepped in, we pushed off and headed out. Ramp was actually pretty smooth no crazy stuff that I saw. Wife swears she saw two redfish rolling on the surface near the no wake sign, I thought it might have been small tarpon as I have seen them in the river before but she was adamant it was redfish based on color???
Headed south with the intent to go past Pepperfish but the thunderstorms were already forming and I could see one half of the scallop flotilla was in that area. Turned in at some normally productive spots and wife boated a nice 17" trout on her second cast so CCA ruler out, photo done and in the cooler. I could see a storm coming but thought it was going to go between us and the river but we got a good shower and some winds for about 30 minutes or so. A few bolts of lightning but not too bad. About the time it cleared USCG came over the radio with a warning that thunderstorms were popping up all over the gulf, at that point I could see several downpours around us but we were relatively clear and no major lightning so we fished on.
My daughter squealed and she soon put an 18" trout in the boat, so once again ruler out, photo and then pose for snapchat? Meanwhile wife boats a few shorts which she handled and good lord was it hot even with the breeze.
I finally hooked up with something and had my line cut as soon as I set the hook, so probably bluefish or Spanish, re-tied and boated a small jack.
Thunderheads seemed to be building and I could still see downpours all around us so I headed to the hill while the weather was still OK. Ramp was pretty quiet as we came in and we loaded with no delays or issues.
Stopped by Roy's for a shrimp sandwich, ran into a retired couple from church and chatted with them for a few basically teasing them that they couldn't escape even in the hatch. I talked to our server for a few minutes and she said they had been pretty busy since the season opened early and were seeing some large groups. Not sure about the scallop report but apparently the intended economic impact of opening early is helping the locals.
We stayed in 7' - 9' the whole time, tossing soft plastic on jigs and the water was stained bit not really dark. Water temp was about 83 at departure and 87 on the flats.
On the ride home I pointed out that we could have fished a lot longer, been cooler and missed the busy time at the ramp had we got up at 5 and arrived at 7, wife and daughter both reminded me that they are grumpy when they get up too early so maybe better to sweat and fight the crowds
