St. Marks 10/29/06
Posted: October 29th, 2006, 8:36 pm
Seems the federal folks forgot to change the clock on the refuge gate. It was wide open at 0530 this morning.
Tide was supposed to be high at 0516 this morning. That might have been the high, but it wasn't any where near the predicted 3.3 feet. I idled out of the canal in the dark this morning, and took my usual shortcut behind the bar at the lighthouse. When I saw the old pilings I knew the water was already low. so, I decided to run out and around to get to where I wanted to be. (A fellow forum member attempted the short cut this morning
) I idled in to my spot just as the sun was starting to show itself on the horizon. There was a gentle north breeze, and the water temp was 63 degrees. And, the fish were there. My second cast with a topwater boated my first red of the day. 24". A few casts later I made a long cast with the topwater. About 6 twitches into the retrieve a red rolled on the bait, but didn.t take it. I let the bait sit for a couple of seconds and twitched it a couple of times, and the fish rolled on it again. We played this game for near the entire retrieve. The fish rolled on the bait 8 or 10 times, but wouldn't eat it. The fish finally ate the bait about 20 feet from the boat. Another slot red boated. After that I couldn't get a fish to look at topwater. I switched to a spoon and had one fish charge the spoon, and turn off about a foot before eating it. It didn't take long to realize these fish weren't very aggressive. So, I switched to a soft jerk bait and a slow retrieve. The decision payed off. 5 more slot reds boated within the next 45 minutes.
The fish were hanging out in one particular area, but the water had fallen out so fast I had to vacate the area by 0830. Never caught another red after leaving that area. I moved out to an area that had produced trout in hte past. What I found was a Birddog. He had caught several nice trout in the area. I eased on a little further and started a drift. The intent was to drift to water deep enough to run, and maybe catch a few fish. The drift produced a 19" and a 22" trout. Got to water deep enough to run and headed in. It was a slow idle through the lighthouse canal. There was very little water. Had the boat on the trailer and headed home by 1130.
With the early high tides this week, I might have to slip in a couple more half day trips this week.
Tide was supposed to be high at 0516 this morning. That might have been the high, but it wasn't any where near the predicted 3.3 feet. I idled out of the canal in the dark this morning, and took my usual shortcut behind the bar at the lighthouse. When I saw the old pilings I knew the water was already low. so, I decided to run out and around to get to where I wanted to be. (A fellow forum member attempted the short cut this morning
) I idled in to my spot just as the sun was starting to show itself on the horizon. There was a gentle north breeze, and the water temp was 63 degrees. And, the fish were there. My second cast with a topwater boated my first red of the day. 24". A few casts later I made a long cast with the topwater. About 6 twitches into the retrieve a red rolled on the bait, but didn.t take it. I let the bait sit for a couple of seconds and twitched it a couple of times, and the fish rolled on it again. We played this game for near the entire retrieve. The fish rolled on the bait 8 or 10 times, but wouldn't eat it. The fish finally ate the bait about 20 feet from the boat. Another slot red boated. After that I couldn't get a fish to look at topwater. I switched to a spoon and had one fish charge the spoon, and turn off about a foot before eating it. It didn't take long to realize these fish weren't very aggressive. So, I switched to a soft jerk bait and a slow retrieve. The decision payed off. 5 more slot reds boated within the next 45 minutes.The fish were hanging out in one particular area, but the water had fallen out so fast I had to vacate the area by 0830. Never caught another red after leaving that area. I moved out to an area that had produced trout in hte past. What I found was a Birddog. He had caught several nice trout in the area. I eased on a little further and started a drift. The intent was to drift to water deep enough to run, and maybe catch a few fish. The drift produced a 19" and a 22" trout. Got to water deep enough to run and headed in. It was a slow idle through the lighthouse canal. There was very little water. Had the boat on the trailer and headed home by 1130.
With the early high tides this week, I might have to slip in a couple more half day trips this week.
