St. Marks 2008.01.19

[Mook!]

...SKUNKSICLE!


Too cold, windy, choppy, overcast and murky to fish effectively. Ran in to 2-3 foot chop less than a mile south of the fort on the way in in heavy rain and 15-20mph wind. We saw one redfish in a tidal pit near a creek mouth, and with the temperature drop and the sun failing to come out, water got colder and colder as we went up the creeks. Going to check them out again tomorrow if we get some sun, but today the warmest temp we found in a creek was 53.5 - east flats was around 56-57 avg. Called it a day the third time we got rained on. Barely saw any signs of life all day except I got one bite from a flounder and the one redfish that swam under the boat, oh and someone from Georgia blocking the boat ramp for like 10 minutes while I stood in the 40 degree rain and 20mph wind in the boat waiting to get out. Other than that, nothin out there.

[snatch-n-reel]

At least you gave it a go. Are you fishing in the JBT redfish tourney tomorrow?

[Mook!]

It was supposed to be 2 days, 19-20 but I assume it was cancelled today as I only saw 4 boats on the water all day including us, and we went maybe 20 miles. We were intending to enter it, but decided a few days ago that it prolly wouldn't happen due to the weather. I noticed on the way home around 1pm that the store was closed, so I"m again ASSuming they cancelled at least for today.

If they changed it to tomorrow only, then maybe we will; we will be out there either way. Supposed to be cold but less than half the wind and none of the rain. We were fine in the cold even with the wind, but when the temp went down, the wind tripled speed, and the rain got harder and more frequent, and the fish refused to bite, just wasn't worth it any more. Was actually a somewhat dangerous ride in too. Second worst I've ever seen the water conditions in the channel overall, and worst I've ever seen that far north.

[caseycook]

Tourneys on for tomorrow...was cancelled for today. Showboat and I are giving it a go tomorrow, but the conditions could make it dangerous at the mouth of the river. Strong north winds combined with an incoming tide make the mouth of the river (by the lighthouse) very dangerous. It might be a river day tomorrow...

[Mook!]

Thanks for the tip on the tournament. What the water usually looks like on a very bad day between marker 16 and the lighthouse is what the entire river almost to the fort looked like today - wind and current were running perpindicular, both very strong. In that one bad area it was prolly 3-4 feet chop on the way in. Add to all that the fact that it was raining cats and dogs on the way in so hard I couldn't keep my eyes open without ducking behind the windshield, and yah - it was kinda rough out there. We had water over the bow of mojo's boat for the first time ever, and that's a very seaworthy bay boat a little over 18'

Wind tomorrow is supposed to only be about half of what it was today or less, depending on where you look. Hopefully it will be tolerable, but considering the water temps we got out in the creeks and east flats compared to the river, I'd prolly call it a river day anyway. I doubt they'll come out of the deep and or warm water that quick since the temps are continuing to drop until morning. Hopefully we'll see y'all out there. Any idea how many people they got expected to show up tomorrow for tournament?

[caseycook]

Yea, read my post from last March to see how fun the mouth of the river can be in those conditions...

I talked with John Morgan and he said one boat had already signed up, butfor a lot of their tournaments, most people just sign up day of...I can't see participation being any more than 10 boats seeing as it's going to be a high of 50 and winds at 10-20 out of the north.

[Talltails]

I'll be fishing the JBT tourney tomorrow. Got the skiff all rigged and ready to go for a day on the river.

[Mook!]

Yea, read my post from last March to see how fun the mouth of the river can be in those conditions...

That the day the two boats capsized right there within a few minutes of each other? If so me and mojo were fishing Sprague Bar when that happened and sawr it all go down. That wasn't you was it? A Jon boat occupied 3x and like a 17-18 foot boat that looked like a bay boat...didn't see that one roll so we only saw the bottom of the hull, but it was a fiberglass V of some sort if I recall.

[caseycook]

No, we didn't capsize, but the bilge wasn't working properly and we took a few waves over the bow...boat filled up and we had to anchor on the Long Bar and bail...fun stuff. Y'all have fun tomorrow, Showboat and I are out...the temperature and the wind have scared us off.

[Mook!]

Yah just went back and found your post - that was the same day I was talking about - jsuber posted a couple pics of the upside-down boats. We saw you out there too trying to come in off the flats, and you were one of 3 boats we saw come around bird rack and then pull off to the shallow water that day.

We took it over the bow this morning prolly about exactly the same place you did that day, only we didn't get that much water in the boat - just barely dipped the nose in and most of the water ran off the sides of the front platform...nothing significant in the boat.

I think we're prolyl passing on the tournament as well, but still going out about 6:00 - dunno how long we'll stay. I still don't have all my body heat back yet that I lost this morning.

[jsuber]

[RD]

Yea, read my post from last March to see how fun the mouth of the river can be in those conditions...

That the day the two boats capsized right there within a few minutes of each other? If so me and mojo were fishing Sprague Bar when that happened and sawr it all go down. That wasn't you was it? A Jon boat occupied 3x and like a 17-18 foot boat that looked like a bay boat...didn't see that one roll so we only saw the bottom of the hull, but it was a fiberglass V of some sort if I recall.

It was a 16 ft Ckiff with 4 grown men in it and when they tried to get a big ole boy up on one corner(250+) and all of them on one side helping she went over and there was 7 in the water falls under my "dumber than a box of rocks" catagory for both boats

[Redfish Jim]

Mook -

You ought to send a picture of yourself from yesterday to the Webster's folks. They can use it to illustrate the term "die-hard" . Maybe include a picture of the folks that were on the ramp for 10 mins to illustrate "clueless dumb$#@#'s" (their state of residence is immaterial).

Good luck to all going out today for the tournament or just fishing. Please be careful. According to the National Weather Service, gale warning in effect this morning and small craft advisory in effect through tomorrow morning. I've been out on days with a hard north wind and not been able to get to the creeks even at high tide. So you're probably wasting your time to leave the "comfort" and safety of the river.

[Redfish Jim]

Mook -

You ought to send a picture of yourself from yesterday to the Webster's folks. They can use it to illustrate the term "die-hard" . Maybe include a picture of the folks that were on the ramp for 10 mins to illustrate "clueless dumb$#@#'s" (their state of residence is immaterial).

Good luck to all going out today for the tournament or just fishing. Please be careful. According to the National Weather Service, gale warning in effect this morning and small craft advisory in effect through tomorrow morning. I've been out on days with a hard north wind and not been able to get to the creeks even at high tide. So you're probably wasting your time to leave the "comfort" and safety of the river.