St. Marks 2008.05.07 After work fishin again...again

[Mook!]

Headed out to the lh again yesterday about 6pm to try and cash in on the outrageous tide movement. Yet again I pulled a keeper trout on my first cast with redfish magic zulu...and another on the third cast. the thing got hit every time I twitched it, but it was a short bite, so I swapped out for top dog jr. The topwater action was off the chain, got knocked a foot or two outta the water a few times but again mostly shorts that do that, exciting as it may seem. drifted over some shallower harder bottom not long into it and the biguns came out en masse. trout, reds and the elusive giant snot cat were all goin nuts on the chart top dog jr, but still was having trouble hooking up most of them. I decided to get some more practice with the mirrolure crankbait while I knew I was in fish, and thought maybe it could improve my hookup ratio, so swapped rods again and started chunkin. Got a couple keeper trout there, ladyfish, missing fewer big omes than the top dog but I wasnt seeing as many either. I started to really concentrate on the splash 2x+1...jank jank jank...2x+1...twitch twitch twitch...so a couple casts in to it I see why the bite is slowing down. I got a 3-4 foot bull shark crashing it when it hits the water. Thabkfully no hookup. half way to the boat it rolls on the lure just as it floats up after a twitch. Keep working the paced pattern. About 10 feet from the boat while doing what Capt McGriff? Nothing...while doing nothing for about 10 seconds after a couple twitches, the 3-4 foot COBIA, not bull shark, rolls over it again, then hauls arse. didnt catch it, didnt even hook it, but in 12 years living here I've yet to bust by big bend cobia cherry, so that was the peak excitement of the day for me. It was in 2 feet of water maybe 200 yards (metres if you're euro) from shore.

no pics last night, and again no amazing catches, but a cobia that was +/- a few inches of being a keeper in 2 foot water in St Marks has me excited...so excited I'll prolly have to go again today.

[Sir reel]

Your fast becoming my new hero!! ......How was the wind/waves??

[Mook!]

actually the ride in was in the 'somewhat sporty' category as the tide was just starting to really rip out for that last hour or two, but the '13-17' mph wind predicted last night was a heckuva lot calmer than the '3-5' Tuesday evening. with that and the later tide turn, the chop was less choppy and more ripply. Kind of perfect actully - in my drift if I turned the motor all the way starboard I rode the wind toward shore, and when I flipped it all the way to port I caught the current and moved verrrry slowly offshore. GPS had a nice sawtooth pattern when I was done and I didn't use the motor or drift sock fer none of it.

[Littoral]

I know it was topwater but I sure do recognize this combination:

...redfish magic zulu...and (Cobia) in 2 feet of water maybe 200 yards (metres if you're euro) from shore.

Ya freakin-hoo!

[mojokoko]

your a freaking machine.

[mojokoko]

your a freaking machine.

[Bow'd Up]

Nice eve Mook

[RodBow]

You suck!

[fishfeeder]

Nice day...........

[RHTFISH]

Topwater Rules!!!!!!

I'd probably have needed an extra dose of heart meds after the cobia blowup!