Keaton results!

[jcflats]

We left the landing around 9:00 am and was greeted with a stiff N-NE wind that was blowing around 15 miles per hour steady. The wind blew all day long and moved from northeast to the southeast by afternoon. We stopped at the first bird rack just north of the channel and fished about an hour with no results. We decide to move in closer and went toward the big two story house that has the silver tin roof and long dock. We went just south of the house until the water depth changed to 2-2.5'; we started a drift and got our first fish when the water depth changed into 3-4' range. I was throwing a speckled-blue fluke and got slammed! Line started singing off and I thought REDFISH! This fish got about fifty yards from the boat and just sat there like a rock. I was reluctant to put much pressure on this fish afraid of breaking off. After a breif standoff I turned up the heat a little and realized that the fish was fouled hooked and that it was a spanish mack (20''). Soon after that Rogan was chunking a spook-jr and boated a 19 1/2 inch trout that exploded on that plug. We continued to fish that area for a couple of hours trying everything in the bag of tricks. We threw jigs of every color, some under a big red cajun thunder, some under a small chartruse cajun thunder, flukes of different colors fished slow, jigs with no cork fished slow, rattlin redfin, you name it, we threw it!
We continued to pick up trout occationally, but could not establish a consistant pattern. Around 12:00 we decide to go north and went up there about 10 miles from Keaton and fished an area known for its unique bottom covered with potholes and dropoffs. The story was the same, the fish were there, but the bite was slow. After fishing this area a couple of hours, and picking up several shorts with an occasional keeper, we went in to fish the grass line. Excitement came on the third cast when Rogan threw his spook-jr (i call it the santa-claus color) across the mouth of a tidal creek and the water exploded like someone threw a brick in it! Rogan is all bent back with a big Ol' grin on his face and I am diving for the dip net! After a breif battle we boated a beautiful 23" gator. This fish looked like it had a five pound sack of taters in its belly! That was the only fish caught in close, the water looked like choclate milk in there.
We started back to Keaton around 4:30 stopping at the same spot we fished that morning. We caught a few more trout as the day came to a close. Tired and content, my second largest trout ever came on one of my final casts, as if the flats were saying "welcome back ol' friend. The fish was 26" and over 6 pounds! A year earlier my largest trout (28") came from the same area.

The fish are there, but I think to really turn them on we need a couple of clear sunny days. A good end to a great day.

20+ short trout
7 keeper trout
1-26", 1-23", 1-19 1/2", 1-18", 2-17", 1-17 1/2"
1 spanish mack- 20"

[tin can]

Way to go. Good report.

[dstockwell]

Nice catch.