Left from Shell Island at about 12:00. Beautiful day and the forecast said it would be that way all day. Went out to Marker 24 Barge and trolled a stretch. While I was letting line out for the first time, a fish nailed it and about branded my thumb. Reeled in a nice Spanish, about 24" to fork. Picked up an almost-long-enough grouper a few minutes later. Looking forward to a great day. Nice breeze keeping things cool.
Stuck with my plan to slowly head inshore and get up into the creeks on higher water. Glad I did because the wind picked up. Waaay up.
Went on into some secret creeks but couldn't hardly fish with a trolling motor. So I tried setting the anchor and soaking some shrimp I had bought just in case. Managed a few undersized redfish, several cats and a pretty nice 20" trout.
Coming back it was terrible. Nasty chop even a mile or two up the river. Still glad I got out and felt a few tugs and got a good dinner to eat. Hope everybody's been doing OK.
