The weather wasn’t very cooperative, with gale force winds limiting some of the places we could fish the whole time we were there, but we were able to find a few places that were not quite as windy and managed to put a few limits of trout in the box to take back with us for the folks back home.
Thursday, we spent part of the day fishing the lee side of SGI, and managed to catch a few small trout, a couple of flounder, and a slew of ladyfish, but the wind shifted from the south to the northeast around noon, and we decided to break for chow and try another place.
After lunching on shrimp po-boys at Scipio Creek Marina,
we loaded up and headed for another area. (I can’t tell exactly where under threat of having my tongue torn from my mouth and thrown to the dogs), but it was a bit more productive for keeper trout and a couple small reds, and one VERY LARGE red. Ronald and I used Norton glo-Bull Minnow’s, and ¼ oz glo DOA shrimp, and had pretty good luck on them; catching over 20 trout on them before the bite slowed down. Hoping to get the trout biting again, I decided to change the offering and I put on a gay-pink ¼ oz DOA shrimp, and on the first cast, as I was skittering the pinky lure back to the boat away from the bar, there was a tremendous swirl; a swirl little like the one a porpoise makes when it’s chomping down on mullet, and the fight was on.
Ronald Fuller kindly stopped fishing, manned the net, and shouted encouragement and advice, but using 8# test Stren line with a light, fast tip rod, it took me a little while to get the red to side of the boat, and I found out getting this red to the side of the boat didn’t mean the fight was over; I had to get it to the side of the boat several times before Ronald was able to expertly net the fish and bring it aboard. After a quick attempt at a measurement, and a couple of photos, Ms? Red was consigned back to the deep to spawn or give some other angler a thrill like mine on another day, while I took some deep breaths to get myself back together.
Last year, near Ono Island, I had caught the largest red I had ever caught up to that time, a 39 incher, (caught on a glo-Norton Bull Minnow), and I thought I’d never top that catch, but the one I caught Thursday afternoon went at least 40 inches and maybe a little more. I had a yard stick on board but this fish went well beyond its 36 inches, and I couldn’t get an exact measurement on the weight either. I had a Boga Grip with me, but it maxed out at 15 lbs, (most of what I catch weighs less than a couple of lbs so I don’t know how much the thing weighed, but it was hefty).
Friday morning we awoke to gale force winds coming out of the south so once again we were limited to where we could fish. We picked a little spot on the lee side of St. George Island and by noon we had put a limit of trout and a piece of another in the box before I unwisely, as it turned out, suggested we try another spot. Larry and John were able to pick up a few fish at the new spot, and Ronald had on something like what I caught the day before, but the fish let itself go as it neared the boat.
After a battling the winds and swells for awhile Ronald and I decided to throw in the towel and head back to the Circle City. On our way out of town we stopped by The Grill restaurant and got to watch the Apalachicola Sharks homecoming parade file by as we chomped down on our fish po-boy’s.
After lunch the weather got worse with the wind picking up and a hard rain starting to fall. We stopped by Bluewater Outriggers in Port St. Joe, so Ronald could see a fellow tackle store colleague, and a guy at the counter told us the area was under a tornado watch. We learned after we got back to Dothan, that later in the afternoon, Apalachicola had been hit by a tornado that uprooted hundreds of trees and destroyed several houses, making me glad we didn’t stay any longer than we did.
It was a great trip with some great guys, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to have fished and broken bread with them and I hope to do so again sometime soon. I was once again reminded that good fishing partners are as hard to come by as good wives.
.
.
.
RONALD FULLER WITH ONE OF HIS SEVERAL NICE TROUT:
.
.
.
.
THE OLD DOG WITH BIG RED:
.
.
.
.
.
.
LARRY DEAN WITH A BIG RED CAUGHT A FEW DAYS BEFORE WE GOT DOWN THERE:
.
.
.
L TO R, JOHN SKIPPER AND HOST LARRY DEAN:
.
.
.
.
A LOW TIDE AND A SOUTH WIND MAKE RECOVERING A BOAT AT THE SGI STATE PARK LABOR INTENSIVE FOR LARRY AND JOHN:
.
.
.
WHAT I CAUGHT MOST OF MY FISH ON:
.
.
.
.
WITH HIGH FUEL PRICES, AND COMPETITION FROM FOREIGN SHRIMP, SCIPIO CREEK SHRIMP BOATS ARE NOT GETTING OUT MUCH:
.
