St. Marks 04-21-2003

Post by **Tom Keels** » April 21st, 2003, 8:36 pm

Wil and I had to be in to work well before 6 am this morning to test some applications so we made a plan to fish this afternoon. We left work about 12:30 and ran some errands, got the boat, and were in the water by 2:45. Wind was out of the SW about 10 knots, choppy but not bad. We ran over to Tin Can's secret spot and started a drift. Wil caught a trout on the first and second cast, while I was still getting rigged up. We continued to drift and catch trout on CT's and glow grubs. I caught a nice 4' blacktip, and Wil caught a sharpnose.

We continued catching trout on every cast or every other cast when Wil hooks into something big. It begins to run around the back of the boat and Wil's boat is pretty narrow. I'm trying to get out of the way and Wil and I ended up on the same side of the boat and out he went. He managed to save the rod, but lost his NFGFC hat and his sunglasses. The fish was still on but in the comotion, the line became tangled in my reel's anti-reverse switch. We tryed for what seemed like an eternity to free the line, but it's pretty difficult with a big fish pulling on the other end. Needless to say, the fish was gone, the hat was gone, the sunglasses were gone, and Wil was soaking wet.

Well, after the laughter subsided we went back to fishing, and I tied on a chartruese and chrome rattlin rougue and picked up 2 more keepers and Wil picked up another. By this time the wind has increased to about 20 knots and it is white capping. In the distance we see the rain clouds start to roll in so we made the call to head in. Had the boat on the trailer at 5:20.

Total tally for the day:
Wil - 12 trout - 2 keepers
Tom 20 trout - 5 keepers
4 Sharks
2 breakoffs
Several soft biting missed trout.

Nice afternoon except for the wind.

Post by **jmay** » April 21st, 2003, 10:05 pm

great report Tom.... I only wish that I was close enuff to take an afternoon off and go to the flats. We have good lakes and I'm sure that there are those that would be envious of us being able to go quality deer hunting on lunch break.... but this salt water thing is really starting to get to me.

Post by **Browning Slayer** » April 22nd, 2003, 9:19 am

Nice catch and great story! That'll be one of those trips you talk about a life time!

Post by **tin can** » April 22nd, 2003, 2:39 pm

Thatll teach ya to go to MY secret spot!

Post by **Sir reel** » April 22nd, 2003, 3:15 pm

Fishing TC's secret spot,

not only that, but Tom's been hold'n out on sharing information with us

Who'da thought you could use NFGFC apparel and sun glasses to set up a CHUM line!! Or was it the fact that his "CHUM" was the one in the water??

Post by **Tom Keels** » April 22nd, 2003, 3:47 pm

Read Tin Can's last report for the location to his "secret spot".