Apalachicola....I mean Port St. Joe 10/01/05

[Chalk]

The week long plan was for myself, Tincan and a Birddog crew to attack the Apalachicola Bay this Saturday morning. The forecast didn't look to sporty, but it was a forecast and they are wrong most of the time. Well since me and Tincan were in a boat the forecast would turn out to be true 10-15 knot winds, actually clocked it at 16 mph on the way in....

We all launched under the bridge and headed up Scipio creek to explore some of Tincans spots...Only found one "ski" trout and alot bait....We head up river to try some creeks in the bay...We run into Old Dog once in the bay and he gives us the grand tour, nice to meet you OD....

We start fishing, I catch a rat red and perform a no handed release on a good flounder....We head to a creek looking for a redfish, upon stopping the increased wind that was forecast shows up....

Really deep creek, full of needlefish....Something was chasing our baits to the boat, but we couldn't make out what it was...I finally catch one of the mystery fish...It was hybrid bass ....We fooled around in there and caught 3 more hybrid's, a green trout and another rat red.

Wind is really bad now....We call Birddog and make a decision to leave and go over to Port St. Joe....The ride back to the trailer was interesting to say the least...My quote for the trip across the washing machine of a bay was "This boat doesn't run worth a sheet on it's side!"

We load and head to St. Joe....Alot better conditions there..We fish our normal redfish holes and only see a few rat reds and small trout.....We fish some more looking for some trout...Caught two keepers...We think about calling it quits and meet up with Birddog and give him our two fish and tell him we are leaving....

We decide to make one more drift on the way in, Birddog was going to redfish some more.....We make a drift, we pick up a few trout...Let's do this again....Then again and again again ......Tincan flips the old candy corn eel up to a pothole and locks into a good trout, 24 inches. I can see Birddog, I call him on the VHF, no answer... Tincan calls him......Seems Birddog can only go 52 miles on 9 gallons of gas... Off we go Tincan and Chalk's Towing and Recovery Service to pull our little buddy in.....

Tally of the day was redfish, trout, green trout, hybrid's and the catch of the day was a Birddog ....Numbers, not enough to keep count, lures mainly jerk baits, straight jigs and Cajun Thunder...

What a day....It was a normal day for Tincan and Chalk, the wind blew a gale, took waves over the bow, listened to Tincan whine all day , I caught all the fish and we had a blast....Can't wait to do it again..thanks for the ride and another great day on the gulf with some good friends TC

Tincan's and his big trout....



Catch of the day was a Birddog "Gas less on the gulf"

[tin can]

Well, I'll be dog gone. For once, Chalk's report was mostly true. The only things he got wrong was I caught all the fish again, as usual, and he did all the whining.

Fishing with Chalk is always an adventure. Today was no exception. I had a blast, partner.

[noleflyfisher]

Sounds like you had a great day. The water looks beautiful in St. Joe.

[dave7]

Sounds like a nice couple trips in one day.

[Reel Slow]

Way to pull it/him out! I can here him now "oh yeah, don't worry, we can get across the bay on this here pint of gas."

Nice trout TC! Don't say ya caught it on a gold spoon

[Chalk]

No spoon action Reel Slow...Hell, I even threw a spoon for awhile...I had to lead the way with straight jigs and flukes...I can only catch two before TC will listen to me...

All poking and kidding aside, glad we were there to be able to help Birddog out, he would do it for us, no doubt....

Birddog and Kevin holding up the days bounty....

[tin can]

I can here him now "oh yeah, don't worry, we can get across the bay on this here pint of gas."

Sounds like you know the boy, RS. I checked on him last night to make sure he got home OK. He said he stopped and put $5 worth of gas in the boat on the way back home. He's back out there again, today.

[noleflyfisher]

BTW Birddog, I love your rig . . . nice set up.

[Old Dog]

Enjoyed meeting you guys on the water and it's too bad you didn't have a better day at Apalachicola, because when that place is hot there's few better as far as big trout are concerned.

For us it was a good day to be outdoors, but it was not a good day for fishing. Hugh, my fishing partner of the day, (80 years old), and I got down to Apalachicola about 0730, launched downtown and headed into the bay to run to the Goree Bridge hump where good catches of trout had been reported the week before.

Winds of 10-15 had been predicted but I think they erred on the low side, because as soon as we got out into the bay proper, the winds were such that it was difficult to stand up to take a leak. (Hugh had me stop the boat half way to the bridge so he could take one-prostate trouble), and had problems standing up. (I hope when I hit 80 I can walk!), There were a couple of guide boats north of the bridge but they weren’t doing anything and we didn’t either. It was just too rough. We tried the upper part of the bay but it was not much better.

With Visions of being skunked flashing through my mind I decided to throw in the towel at Apalach. and headed west to East Bay at Panama City. Of course the east wind was blowing there too, but we found some wind shadow and managed to pick up 9 trout before approaching thunder storms drove us off the water around 4:00.

With the price of fuel at around $3.00 a gallon now those paltry 9 trout cost us plenty in money but I think we finished the day with money in the bank in other things. You just can’t put a price tag on being on the water with good friends and the fellowship that comes from that.
od

[tin can]

It was good to see you again, Don. Thanks for all the help yesterday. Sure made sloshing around out there much easier.

[Old Dog]

Same here John. BTW, that old man has fished with me long enough so that when I put the rod in the rod holder he sits down and hangs on. No need to ring the bell. Remember?
od

[tin can]

Same here John. BTW, that old man has fished with me long enough so that when I put the rod in the rod holder he sits down and hangs on. No need to ring the bell. Remember?
od

Sure do.

[trout fisher]

Hate I missed ya'll. I was at St. Joe. Went across the bay to fish the grass in front of those dome shaped houses, one green, one pink. Could not even hardly stand up in the boat. Travelled back across the bay in front of Black's Island to try and get out of the wind. Fished from Presnell's all the way back to the St. Joe ramp. A few bites, nothing major. Man it was ROUGH!

[Chalk]

Trout Fisher were you staying at the El Governor?

[trout fisher]

10/4! How do ya like the T-top?