JT51 and TinCan Keaton 3/3&3/4/07

Post by **Jumptrout51** » March 5th, 2007, 9:45 pm

Saturday we launched late,about 8:30 am at Keaton City Ramp. We were prefishing for Sundays' TeamSeatrout tournament.
It was low tide. Weather prediction was for 10-15 mph from the north.We made it out of the channel and ran to our first fishing hole. NOT. No water had to stop about a mile short and drift back out. Fished the whole way. Not a bite.
Decided to run to a different spot. Twelve miles later at 40mph we settled down to spot #2. Within 15 minutes we had a 21 and a 19 in the livewell.TROUT of course.
Mullet were everywhere.
Not another trout bite there.
We fired up the YAMMY and headed to spot #3. The bite was on.
We kept 7 more trout and one of the reds.
Then it was time to leave. We had found some fish for Sundays event.
Got back to TinCans' house and weighed the fish on the NFGFC tournament scales. 14 pounds 15 ounces.
We figured "NOT TOO BAD".
....................................SUNDAY TOURNAMENT DAY...........................

Left the ramp at 6:30 (yes,in the morning). Low tide at 8:30. North wind at 15-25 mph. No water in the canal. Less water on the flats. Got stuck 3 times trying to get out. Had to stop the big motor and use the trolling motor. Had to stop the trolling motor and use the dip net to push with.
Finally got to the outside channel. TC was running the trolling motor again. I was dragging a topwater bait,just in case. Twitch,twitch,jerk,etc. BLAM!!! A real nice 24 plus trout nails it in 6 inches of water. TC manages to drag it off with the trolling motor.
That set my mood for the day.
I say to him,"this is a sign,lets' fish here" he says "not enough water,gotta keep moving".
SPEAK UP CHALK.
We kept moving.
One mile later,same depth of water we left,where the big fish were.
We started fishing there.
We had to keep fishing there. Not enough water to go anywhere.
By 8 a.m. we had a limit of fish in the boat and throwing back anything 18 inches and under.
These fish were caught on topwater,suspended baits,soft jerkbaits,jigs and grubs,etc.
About noon we had enough water to run the boat. We headed to Saturdays' hotspot. When we got near there,the hotspot was still 2 feet out of the water.
We fished outside the hotspot until time to go to the weighin.
At the weighin we had 12 pounds 4 ounces of trout. Good for a tie for 2nd place,but bumped to 3rd for the money. The "OTHER TEAM" had a slightly larger big fish.

Post by **birddog** » March 5th, 2007, 9:52 pm

Good report, JT. Its about time you posted a fishing report. I had begun to think you only got on the site for the smatazzin'

I real surprised TC didn't throw out the anchor where you lost the big trout. Guess he saves that aggrivation for the Chalkster.

Glad ya'll pulled out 3rd. Congrats. to both of you

Post by **Barhopr** » March 5th, 2007, 10:36 pm

Nice detailed report. You should have just jumped out after the big'un. and bulldoged it.

ddb · Post by **ddb** » March 5th, 2007, 10:40 pm

Nice report and congrats on the 2nd place finish. We gave it a try on Saturday but it sounds like we were fishing too deep (6-7). We found lots of shorts but it appears the quality fish were up tight. Would have been better than being toused around by the wind in the pm anyhow.

Post by **Eerman** » March 5th, 2007, 10:43 pm

Thanks for the info JT. Hope that wind goes away for this weekend.

Post by **CairoTrout** » March 5th, 2007, 10:51 pm

Did yall see the big azz Triton stuck in the mouth of the canal that was me and my compadres .We got out and pushed man was it cold. Wish I could have caught all them fish.

Post by **Jumptrout51** » March 5th, 2007, 10:59 pm

CairoTrout wrote:Did yall see the big azz Triton stuck in the mouth of the canal that was me and my compadres .We got out and pushed man was it cold. Wish I could have caught all them fish.

Sorry no. You must have gotten unstuck and moved on by the time we got there.

Post by **Chalk** » March 6th, 2007, 3:18 am

Tincan wrote: "not enough water,gotta keep moving".

I'm glad someone else felt my frustrations

Good weekend

Post by **tin can** » March 6th, 2007, 7:30 am

For the record, the bottom of the boat was dragging. The water was moving out quickly. It was still 2 hours to low tide. If I had stopped, we would have been there until somewhere around 11 AM. (Read between the lines, folks. While I was fighting a swift current, trying to dodge getting stuck, JT was in the back of the boat, flingin a bait. I got no help from him all day.)

Post by **birddog** » March 6th, 2007, 7:32 am

tin can wrote: While I was fighting a swift current, trying to dodge getting stuck, JT was in the back of the boat, flingin a bait. I got no help from him all day.)

That sounds about right.

Post by **jsuber** » March 6th, 2007, 7:49 am

Sounds like my kinda fishing. You know how I feel about skinny water "Its where the fish are". Good ree-port.

Post by **SHOWBOAT** » March 6th, 2007, 9:36 am

Good to see you guys on Sat. Sounds like you found some good ones. My buddy and I managed to catch about 20 trout up to 22" as well as 22" red.

Hopefully I"ll post some pics soon, but currently I can't find the chord to save pics from my camera.

Post by **reel therapy** » March 6th, 2007, 2:09 pm

SHOWBOAT wrote:Good to see you guys on Sat. Sounds like you found some good ones. My buddy and I managed to catch about 20 trout up to 22" as well as 22" red.

Hopefully I"ll post some pics soon, but currently I can't find the chord to save pics from my camera.

Where were you fishing?

Post by **SHOWBOAT** » March 6th, 2007, 2:53 pm

RT-I went to Keaton Beach Sat just to get a look at the place since I had never been there and figured 6:30 on tournament day wasn't the time to explore. We launched using the lift, not knowing there was ramp, only be told the lift was down upon return and to use the ramp. Not a good use of $8.

We went everywhere, 38 miles on the GPS. The trout were all caught on the flats, and the red came as we followed high-tide into a creek. The trout were on plastics and the red on a Mike's spoon.

We even managed to drift into the shallow flats for a while so the dog could play fetch in 1-2'. Had to find a pot-hole just to get up plane to get out when we wanted to leave. Did see some big trout in the shallows but couldn't get them hit. Nonetheless, the shortest trout all day was just over 15".

Beatiful flats and gin clear water is an understatement for Keaton. Truly gorgeous. Hope to see a lot of you Sat.

Post by **Jumptrout51** » March 6th, 2007, 9:08 pm

tin can wrote:For the record, the bottom of the boat was dragging. The water was moving out quickly. It was still 2 hours to low tide. If I had stopped, we would have been there until somewhere around 11 AM. (Read between the lines, folks. While I was fighting a swift current, trying to dodge getting stuck, JT was in the back of the boat, flingin a bait. I got no help from him all day.)

I guess the fish that put us in the money didn't count.
In that case I won't catch a fish that counts next time.
I will just sit there and smell his SLURP.