Econfina 03/12/03

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Sir reel
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Joined: January 22nd, 2003, 11:35 am
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Econfina 03/12/03

Post by Sir reel »

Put in at the landing about 9:30. If your fishing out of the Econ for the next couple of days you probably won't have to worry about tides :D

The river is really "ripp'n" . Saw a local guide putting in at the same time and he said he thought he could have put in at the 98 bridge and drove over to the Econ :D

My plan was to head to Rock Island and try some Trout and then maybe head South (time permitting) to see if I could find some structure in 12'-15' where its been reported by some folks here that one could find rockbass and grunts.

The water around the islands was extremely stained. I actually floated onto a oyster bar and never saw it :o until I looked over the side of the boat to see what I had made contact with!

We started drifting in a western track from the west side of the island and almost parallel to the shore. We were using white and shrimp colored grubs underneath CT's and tipped with fishbites. The first drift was in about 5-6' and very little action. I moved in to 4-5' and made a second drift with same result. We changed to a orange/yellow combination grub thinking the trout just couldn't see the jig but didn't seem to help much. I decided to head on out to see if I could find the rockbass city and took my skiff between the two islands to see what the pass/bottom there looked like. The water was 2-3 feet in some places and when I got to the east side of rock island there were trout every where!! They were jump'n all over the place like mullet! My wife caught a nice red fish about 20 " and we anchored just east of the island and worked our grubs all over while the trout continued to jump all around us but couldn't get any strikes!!

I then turned the boat south and headed out. Reached 15-16 ft of water but had to run a slalom course of crab traps most of the way out. I didn't have enough time to do a lot of search'n for good bottom so we fished a couple of places and played with what was on the bottom but didn't find any RB's or Grunts. I headed straight for the river from where we were and ran in until I was about half way between the two platforms. We shut down and started a drift which was pretty much heading us right towards the river anyway. Water was 8-9' and much clearer. We boated 4 nice trout 16-18 " and released 2 shorts. Then the Spanish showed up!! Started loos'n grubs being cut off. Wife brought one to the boat and I netted. 24" on light spinning with 8lb test! We caught and released 3 or 4 more and had several hits. Occasionally a trout would make it to the grub but the Spanish were generally first in line. Wish I had stayed at the platforms and drifted all day! The most action took place for us around 2-3pm.
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dstockwell
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Post by dstockwell »

Sounds like a good time, much better than work. At least you got a few. Image
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tin can
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Post by tin can »

SR, sure hate to hear you were sick yesterday. :wink: I hope the day of rest made ya feel better. I also think it's wonderful that your wife was willing ta stay right by your side and nurse you through your illness.(Sounds like a very pleasurable day)
What was I supposed to do today?
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Sir reel
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Joined: January 22nd, 2003, 11:35 am
Location: Tallahassee

Post by Sir reel »

Thanks TC,

I appreciate the kind thoughts :D I do believe I'll make it now. :wink:
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