Checked-in at JBT and trailered South. On the way down I realize that the folding seat on the boat is straight up in the air (supposed to be folded down). I pull over and Skeeter eater steps out to button her down. We continue down to the ramp and it is there that I realize the seat has blown off the boat somewhere between JBT and Sopchoppy. Oh well that’s boating some days. I gotta call the factory on Monday and I am sure they will want $49857384754397.99 for a replacement.
Get the boat in the water and headed South. There is one flat where Tom Keels and I had bagged some nice trout on a rising tide early in the morning about a month ago. I decided that would be spot # 1. Rode over there and took note that the 5-10mph forecasted wind was a fantasy and that the wind was W/SW and moving pretty good.
Hit flat #1 and we pickup 3 slot fish on topwaters (super spook and zara spooks). Skeeter Eater bagged a huge catfish which departed with his zara spook. I picked up one pup red on the super spook as well. As was the case about a month ago with Tom the bite on this flat died when the sun got higher.
Staying true to the plan of just being happy with 5 slots before hawg hunting I decided to try a well-known spot in the open bay. Ran out to spot #2 and the chop was just too much to keep an accurate drift going even using the Minn Kota and the drift sock. Caught a few trash fish but the wind/chop, combined with the dirty water made me long to be elsewhere.
I decided to make a long run to spot #3 which was down wind/chop. Started heading that way and the plan was to keep Lanark Reef on my left. I see a bunch of people fishing the outside of the reef and I make an impromptu decision to check it out. We made a few drifts while being mindful of boats which were anchored up looking as if they were tarpon fishing. We were bouncing Exudes on jigheads. Skeeter Eater had a trout spit the hook on the first drift. We caught some pretty aggressive lizards. On the second drift Skeeter Eater puts slot fish #4 in the box. Eventually we ran out of drift.
We continued down wind/chop towards what was now spot #4. We had to run around some oil boom in order to get there. Spot #4 was choppy and covered in some of the dirtiest water I have ever seen there. We couldn’t even see bottom in 1.6 feet of water. I decided that spot #4 was not going to work. We had 4 slots in the box. It was about 11:30AM.
I called an audible and we hit a nearby flat that looked like it would be more protected from the wind. Despite clearer water (still not great) and good grass combined with depth variations this flat did not produce. We fished a nearby slough which was somewhat wind protected. The water there was very dark and all we caught was a damn catfish. These two spots had cost us about an hour with nothing to show for it. There was about 90 minutes left before I wanted to be at the ramp.
Time was petering out and we had to run up wind/chop. A reliable source had told me to fish this one new (to me) spot which had some okay trout on it. We had 4 keepers in the box and I would have really felt better having 5 in the box before going ‘redfishing’ so I decided to check this spot out even having never fished there in the past. At this new hole we were bouncing bottom with Exudes and I bagged a nice flounder on a white one. A few casts later slot trout #5 comes over the side on the same white Exude.
It was a little bit before 1:00. I wanted to be at the ramp by 2:00. Time to hit the redfish grounds and look for a nice trout. We get over there and start pitching gold spoons and weedless rigged Exudes. Not much was happening. The wind was just howling at this point and it took a lot of work on the Minn Kota and the powerpole to keep the boat in a fishable position. Time was running out on our day.
Out of nowhere Skeeter Eater sets the hook on his Johnson Silver Minnow spoon (in gold). I grab the net and powerpole down. The fish gets next to the boat and it was an eater but not a tourney winner. I get the fish with the net and he goes 22” on the law stick. No big deal we had already talked about a Saturday night fish fry so put him on ice.
I don’t know why. But I had a ‘feeling’ that there was more than one fish on the spot where that 22” fish had been living. I repositioned the boat with the powerpole for better casts. I pulleded a Texas rig off my favorite rod and re-tied with a weighted jerkbait hook and a 6” Gulp jerkshad in pearl. I tossed the jerkshad into some good looking territory, twitch it twice and it gets crushed by a nice red. We go around the boat a couple times with a nice red and we finally get him in the net.
The red goes 26.5” on the law stick. It was 1:58PM.
Head back and loaded the boat on the trailer. Drove through a freakin monsoon go get back to the weigh-in. Our 5 trout only weighed 7.35 lbs. The redfish got beaten by over a POUND. The flounder was good for the $50.00 gift card from Kevin’s.
The fish fry with the added benefit of grilled redfish was great. Awesome day on the water. Thanks for fishing with me Dan. Thats how all Saturdays should go.
Edited to add pictures.
