St. Andrews Bay 11/02/06

[Chalk]

The day started out at 3:15 with a alarm going off in Norfolk,VA....The rest of the day was better than the start...I never sleep good on the road, so I'm crossed eyed typing this report, after a few of these I'm sure I'll be

Arrived back in PC around 10:00....Had a voice mail from Birddog stating, "I told you it wouldn't rain." I quickly call him to say you didn't mention that the wind was blowing a gale.

I had planned on this trip for almost two weeks, but almost talked myself out of going do to the wind, weather and I was tired...Finally said what the heck...Loaded up the Ghostrider and off I went.

Launched the boat in gale forces winds...eased out to a some what sheltered spot and started fishing..Basically let the wind push me down this bank and used the trolling motor for correction...Landed 3 reds, biggest was 26 1/4" and weighed 5 lbs and 10 oz....smallest was 22" and some change...Also caught 2 keeper trout.

Lure of the day was fashioned from metal wire, flat metal, lead jig head and a soft body....Had a few wishful attempts on topwater.

Actually a pretty nice day, glad I went...nothing broke, can't wait to do it again...

[birddog]

Short but sweet.

[Reel Slow]

Lure of the day was fashioned from metal wire, flat metal, lead jig head and a soft body....

Hmmmm....veerdie veerdie interezsting

[Eerman]

Lure of the day was fashioned from metal wire, flat metal, lead jig head and a soft body....

Hmmmm....veerdie veerdie interezsting

I'm sure that soft body was a Gulp don't ya think RS

[Ron Wilson]

Nice job Chalk.

[tin can]

Lure of the day was fashioned from metal wire, flat metal, lead jig head and a soft body....

Hmmmm....veerdie veerdie interezsting

I'm sure that soft body was a Gulp don't ya think RS

I feel sure it was not a Gulp. But I'll bet I can tell ya what color it was.

[beatswork]

You guys talk it up all week about all these fish you're catchin', I'm stuck in my office, no chance for escape, prayin' for the weekend to hurry and please don't blow me to Cuba, and you ain't even gonna tell me what's been workin' for you What kind of dadgum (pardon the BB) report is this?!

Maybe it's a Gulp!

Bet I know the color!

Thank's fer nothin'. Guess it's back to Florida Sportsmen magazine.

[birddog]

[Redbelly]

Lure of the day was fashioned from metal wire, flat metal, lead jig head and a soft body....

Hmmmm....veerdie veerdie interezsting

Sounds like one of those redfish specific spinner baits....with a chartruese grub-bait.

[Reel Slow]

Lure of the day was fashioned from metal wire, flat metal, lead jig head and a soft body....

Hmmmm....veerdie veerdie interezsting

I'm sure that soft body was a Gulp don't ya think RS

Probably along with a day-glo pink CJ

My money is on a spinner bait of some sort

[Ty one on]

I bet it was one of those three eyed baits, With stripes and changes color depending the direction of the sun .

Way to take advantage of some spare time Chalk .

[Chalk]

Well I can assure you it's not a gulp, the only way a gulp will be present on my boat is if someone brings them...

Since some need a finite explanation here goes:

"Lure of the day was fashioned from metal wire, flat metal, lead jig head and a soft body" this broken down into common everyday language would be a spinnerbait. Color was a wonderful product that I procured from Bigbendfishing.net Social sponsor from the past and present, which would be Bayou Buck's curly tail grub bodies (white and chartreuse) and Greedy Gut curly tail grub bodies (pink and chartreuse aka electric chicken).

I was using a Shimano Citica reel (that will be replaced by a better reel soon, POS) on a Bass Pro Woo Davis Extreme 7' medium action rod, spooled with Berkley big game 12 lb test line in green. I would cast out and hold the rod a 10:00 and reel the 6:2.1 reel fast enough to keep the spinner bait just below the surface.

I then would use the Minn Kota Riptide low profile 12v trolling motor (that was partly procured from a gift card provided to me by the great members from this site at the Bigbendfishing.net Social 2006) to correct the boat in the gale force winds.

Upon hooking the fish, I played them around the 2001 Back Country 169 Ghost powered by Yamaha...Then I netted them with a collapsible net procured from the fine folks at Walmart in Tallahassee off HWY 27...Upon netting them I would measure them on the saltwater blue board procured from the fine folks at Bass Pro in Destin Florida...I then proceeded to weigh them on the Rapala 50 lb digital scale I procured at the Walmart off back beach road in Panama City Beach Florida.

I did this several times, I started the Yamaha powered Back Country Ghost fueled by Chevron fuels and lubricated by Pennzoil outboard motor oil equipped with a Bob's Machine Shop 4" hydraulic jackplate procured from the fine folks at Ebay and tried to repeat my drift but they were only interested in my offerings once, no second chances today.

Fish seemed to be located in 1 to 3 foot of water over a mixed bottom of turtle and widgeon grass, water clarity was clear on the top but had suspended particulate matter on the bottom half of the water column.

I did try another area that had clear water, there were fish there but they were not moving and were very spooky. The Back Country 169 Ghost has some broken areas on it's planning surface which generate what is commonly known as hull slap...possible fixes for this problem in the near future will probably be fixed with a procurement of one of the following products: East Cape Canoe Lostmen, Maverick HPX, Beavertail B2 or Gordon flats boat.

I'm sorry I cannot provide you with a water temperature, I’m not equipped with that kind of sophisticated equipment yet.

I did create another lovely data file on my Garmin GPSMAP 76CS and marked several nee spots worth of exploring on a high tide. To view the detailed map of all my fishing spots in St. Andrews Bay, click here Detailed topography map with marked fishing spots

I really can't leave without describing the way my Team BigBendfishing.net hooded sweat shirt made by Cafe Press presented to me by Tom Keels the proprietor and owner of Bigbendfishing.net at the Bigbendfishing.net Social 2005 keep me warm all afternoon...The Columbia long sleeve shirt provided safe haven for my cell phone, complemented by the Redhead cargo pants I procured at Basspro...As well as the duck boats from Cabelas that my lovely wife gave to me on Christmas of 2005...Mostly forgotten and hardly ever mentioned I have to give thanks to the fine folks at Fruit of the Looms for the sport boxers that provided excellent comfort and support while crossing the choppy water.

If you want anymore information just ask.....

[beatswork]

I'd like to take this moment to apologize for my previous post. It was made in the heat of the moment. You see, I have not had the opportunity to fish since last Sunday. It's a hurtful thing and am sure y'all can sympathize. I neglected to post my report because my arms were too tired from catchin' fish, and my fingers were all scraped up by gills and slippery fillet knives. Below is my neglected post, in the spirit of Chalk's most informative post I will in detail provide the info of my day...

Headed south, cast, caught fish using a variety of presentations. Some lures had earned the instant respect of the Walmart cashier when I purchased them because, in her words "Thez sure iz purty". I was fishin' in enough water to float my boat.

Chalk, not to get to personal, but do the Fruit of the Looms really help, and if so is there a specific color the fish like more

[jsuber]

What kinda tires are you using on your trailer, and what was the pressure? Glad you made it back okay. Let me know next time your going to Norfolk and bring proper attire to go fishing.

[Chalk]

What kinda tires are you using on your trailer, and what was the pressure? Glad you made it back okay. Let me know next time your going to Norfolk and bring proper attire to go fishing.

I will not divulge that kind of information, some things are private