Yaking St.Marks 16June

[TallyFish]

Launched at 6 am ish from the light house with "jsuber" and both of us competing in the North Florida Gulf Fishing Club Tourney. We headed to the southwest oyster bar however it got crowded fast by some rude motor dudes who thought they would anchor ON jsuber. Jsuber paddled away I stayed. I had no luck there after about 45 minutes of casting a variety of stuff. Headed to another spot a little further east and while trolling there hooked a nice blue fish on the Ty Smith ( TSR) Rig. Reached my destination and located a probable ambush point and anchored up. Shortly after the anchor was set I got a monster hit with the TSR while it was drifting in the current. It fought for about five minutes and when I got it next to the yak it showed me the spots of a very nice long, fat sea trout. I brought it on board and measured it at 26"estimated weight of 4.5 to 5 lbs. Mistake #1 was no picture. I unhooked it, turned to place it in the cooler and got it in, then as I was pulling the top across the cooler the fish bounced out hit the deck and into the drink! And that was mistake #2! Said "rats" and kept fishing. While still anchored in the same spot caught a nice mackerel on a shorter version of the TSR. Later using a mirrolure suspending jig caught a very nice Jack which was the width of the interior on the Hobie Outback about 25" I could not get it to cooperate with the measuring stick for an accurate length. But it was a nice one and gave the best fight of the day not to mention getting wound around the anchor line three winds, the Mirage drive fins once, and the rudder as well. Pretty smart fish! As the day closed out went back to the oyster bar out front of the light house and caught three small legal trout.

[jsuber]

I got schooled. I barely caught the keeper trout I caught. I did have a incident on my way to the Lighthouse. I went through the gate and passed the little museum and saw an Owl sitting in the middle of the road. And this was a big Owl. Let me tell you, I know exactly how big he was cause as I approached him he took to flight and flew into the cab of my truck. He fluttered around on my steering wheel and made a few more flaps and went out the window. I was impressed that I kept the truck on the road. I felt lucky he wnet out the same window, cause the other one was still up. No feathers on me.

[Talltails]