GPS is a wonderful tool. A few years ago someone was nice enough to mark the "channel", such as it is, at the mouth of the river. I took the time to store waypoints for those markers, and store a good track out of the river. As a result, I ran out with only one little problem. As mentioned in another report, fog and glasses don't get along. Thankfully, if I lean back far enough while running the boat, I can sorta see my GPS without my glasses (more on this later). I headed east to an area I haven't fished in years, thinking surely no one else will run this far in this fog. Using my GPS, and a small portion of what little common sense I have, I ran slow and dropped down to an idle a reasonable distance from where I wanted to be. About a minute of idling and I idled past another boat. I thought, "Well, there's someone else as crazy as me out here". The low was predicted to be around noon. But when I got to my chosen spot, I found the water was already low. "Not a problem. I'll back off a little and fish the area." This area has several oyster bars and lots of rocks. Knowing this, I chose a topwater bait, thinking that was the only type bait I could throw without losing it. So I tied on a skitterwalk and hurled it out there, hoping to find the reds, nestled in the rocks. The first cast produced a hungry 23" trout. (I'll remind you I'm not wearing my glasses) I get the fish in the boat and discover that my arms aren't long enough to back off far enough to see the hooks. I put my glasses on, removed the hooks, and released the fish. By this time my glasses are fogged over. I took them off, wiped them off, put them in my pocket, and went back to fishing. The fish cooperated in this area for a little more than an hour. I managed about 20 good trout, with 7 over 20". However, my trolling motor payed the price. There is paint missing from the skeg, and the prop has several new nicks in it.
When the bite quit in this area I decided to move to another area in hopes of finding reds on the rising tide. I eased out and headed to another area that has produced reds in the past. As I'm Idling, a boat appears in front of me. It's the same boat I idled past when I first got there. I shut the motor off and apologized to the gentleman and his wife. He smiled and said "No problem". I decided to fish my way to where I wanted to be. There wasn't much wind, but it wasn't blowing in the direction I wanted to go. So I guessed at a direction and used the trolling motor to head where I wanted to be. There are lots of oyster bars in this area. And the fog was thick enough you couldn't see them until you were on top of them. This, combined with not being able to see my GPS from the front deck, resulted in several course changes, some in circles, to get to where I wanted to be. I finally got there and, guess what. The same boat I had come close to twice was sitting there. However, this time he spoke to me. He asked me if I had any idea where I was. He was lost. He did not have a GPS. I offered for him to take a look at mine. When he looked at the map he then knew where he was. We chatted for a few minutes. He then pointed into the fog and said "We've had enough. I think I'll head in". He was point in the opposite direction from Econfina. I pointed and said "Econfina is that way". I was shocked when he told me he had launched from The Fenholloway. The last I saw of them, they were headed in that general direction. I sure hope they got in OK.
It's now 1:00 PM. The fog is still as thick as ever. I've made it to the grass line. There isn't much wind, and what wind there is is from the east. This made fishing the bank easy, and had me headed toward the river. As I approached a creek mouth I could hear a boat idling through the fog. There are several bars around the mouth of the creek. I'm thinking this boat is about to go aground. Much to my surprise, a 20' offshore boat breaks through the fog and idles right into the creek. Obviously this guy had been here before, and was very good at using his electronics.
The fog finally lifted about 3:30. I fished along the grass line until 4:30. Every point and creek mouth produced fish. I caught probably 20 more trout, and did manage 4 reds.
I was very happy to put my glasses back on, and comfortably run in at the end of the day.


