Keaton Beach 3/24 & 3/25/06

[Littoral]

Yukon Cornelious
Up on the bar sunning, nice job.

[Jumptrout51]

Friday
Reel Slow and I arrived in Keaton Beach about 6:30 Friday morning expecting cold and wind. We were not disappointed. As we eased out the canal I noticed the tide was still falling out even though the low was forecasted to be around 4:00 a.m. It was going to be shallow today.

We headed south kind of between Dogshead and the shoreline and set up a drift. Right off the bat RS picks up a bluefish and a short trout. Things are looking up already. Well things slowed down considerably after that. We spent the next few hours hitting spots south of Keaton that had been productive a couple of weeks ago. The bite was way off but we saw lots a trout, good trout, they just would not bite. Just before lunch we made a big move to the north.

We make the 8 mile run to the north and find good fish hanging around the oyster bars and spotty bottom shallow areas. We start picking up good fish although scattered in 3' or less water drifting south along the coastline. Today is prefish day for the tourney so were just catching them, snapping a picture and moving on. Hoping to come back Saturday and really lay with them.

About 1 p.m. we decide we have found fish for Sat. to the north and want to locate some fish to the south just in case. So we head back to an area that we had seen some really good trout in that morning. We start catching trout immeadiately. We stay on the move though really covering a broad shallow flat, finding good trout and reds on every drift. By 4:30 we're both pretty worn out from the intense fishing and wind so we decide to head in, knowing we had a good gameplan for Saturday.


Reel Slow puts a nice'un in the boat.


And another one bites the dust


Birddog finds an acorn


Look at that hog.


Birddog finds a blind and lost red.


Reel Slow's hitting his stride


Saturday Tournament Day

Saturday's dawn breaks cold and clear with only a hint of the wind that is to come later that day. We wake up a 5:00 a.m. bristling with anticipation of things to come. I decide to check on the boat 1st thing so I hurriedly dress and walk down to the dock. Just as Pat McGriff had predicted all the boats are stuck in the mud. With negative tide and the wind it was going to be a while before we were going anywhere. So we piddle around gassing up the boat, loading gear, and shooting the breeze as other competitors arrive.

Our illustrious tournament director, Foghorn Leghorn err I mean Yukon Cornelious

announces no one can leave until everyone can leave.

It just so happens his boat is stuck the worst.
So the dig out begins. With the help of a PVC ( ah scratch that, lets just leave it at pushpole ) and a lot of straining and grunting we get my boat out. By this time everyone can get out except the Taylor Brothers, so going above and beyond Team Sopchoppy and Team Birddog position their boats to try and drag 'em out of the mud.










So with a little teamwork we get them out and after a lot of sitting around shooting the breeze ...

We blast off errr I mean ooze out the canal.


Reel Slow and I head north. We stop and set up a drift quickly picking up a nice keeper and a throwback. Then nothing for a long time. We follow the tide in and after a long while we find some trout. Scattered here and there but finally some trout. The bite seemed to be tailing off, and here's where we made our mistake. The good trout we had found the day before to the south were burning a hole in my mind. We had some decent fish, but with the bite slowing in the north I figured by the time we got south, we could finish out our day with a good kicker fish and be close to the dock.

When we arrived back on our shallow flat to the south, we were feeling pretty good. Reel Slow lost a really good fish right off the bat, so with high expectations we fish on with confidence. Dissappointedly, this would be the last fish we would have on the hook. For the next 2 hours we covered this flat thoroughly and came up empty. Feeling pretty low and running short on time we pack it in with only 4 trout to weigh and a redfish as a bonus. I feel I should add that early that morning we had thrown back 2, 16" trout cause "we ain't gone need any little ones". Yeah right!

Well as it turned out we were fortunate to have 4 trout that were heavy enough to take 2nd place. And probably never would have caught trout big enough to rival what Steve and Butch Taylor brought to the scales. That was the best 5 trout stringer I've ever seen. Congratulations to Steve and Butch for a great record setting catch. And to Bud and Eerman for hanging in there through less than ideal conditions to bring home 3rd.

Reel slow and I had a great time and I'm looking forward to the remaining tournaments. Steve and Butch have set a high bar and we're all going to have to buckle down and fish hard.



Can't wait til next time.

BTW We caught our fish on Gold Renegade Magnums, suspending Mirrolures, and soft plastics such as Xudes and Bass Assasain Shads, as well as a couple of double super secret weapons.

KEATON '08 is going to be fun.

[Bow'd Up]

That looked like fun, all that beautiful mud Looking forward the the tourney.