St. Marks 2008.03.13
Posted: March 14th, 2008, 12:21 am
Viva le Daylight Savings! I worked a full day today, zipped out like a bat out of Hades, walked the dogs, changed clothes and zipped off to get the boat. Floated the boat off the trailer around 6pm at the lighthouse pool. I brought with me a rain jacket even though it was 70 degrees and 0% chance of rain, live shrimp, even though I usually only use those in horrible weather or when really tired these days, and left the flyrod and lightest tackle in the truck. All this I did to tempt karma in to giving me glassy water, warm weather and fend off the 5-10kt wind I saw on the weather prediction on my way out the office. Well, no joy.
The wind prediction was horribly wrong, but unfortunately it was a gross underestimation and that's about it. The second I got on plane the boat jumped out of the water, got jostled around slantways and every-which-ways, had to keep it around 20mph driving out. I ended up putting the jacket on before getting out of the no wake zone, had a nice shower before even making the channel, and decided I'd best not venture off too far. I'm tellin ya it was rough out there. My favorite.
So on went the jacket, out came the heavier poles, and on went the shrimp. I chucked them around the eddie-side of some rocks not far from the lighthouse. Tide was nice and high and I tried to make lemonade out of the fact that I was fishing on a school night for the first time in months. On the other hand, I was pretty disappointed that the wind was nearly un-fishable. I'd estimate it was about 20 knots and occasionally gusting higher and calming down to maybe 10 for 20 seconds every now and then.
Lo and behold I get all situated on an old honey hole, 1st cast gets a right proper hit or two, reel in shrimpless. 2nd cast lands me the trout in the first picture a tiny bit over 20 inches about 3 seconds after hitting the water. Took a picture and let it go. 3rd cast another 20 inch trout after about 2 seconds in the water. Took a time-out to try a self-portrait. Better than last time. Re-shrimp and chuck it out again. Nothin for a few seconds, I decide it's time to rig up my other rod and up the odds. soon as I get to the back of the boat to pick up the other rod, I see my rod is bent over. Pull in another one a little smaller. Before re-re-shrimping I rigged up the other pole with an egg rig and started chucking them both out in opposite directions. I was throwing as far as I possibly could, which almost directly in to the wind was about 20 feet. Didn't matter, they were all up on the rocks.
For the next hour I caught more fish than you would think could pass through the small area in which I was casting in that amount of time. I literally spent most of my time out there baiting a hook or reeling in a fish. All but 2 or 3 of the shrimp I threw out got fish. The only real down-side is they were nearly all snot cats after those first few trout. Talked myself in to heading back before it got pitch dark.
Water temp was about 64 where I fished
Didn't even throw anything but a shrimp...If it ain't broke...
Weather was partly chilly and overcast, wind speed was 'Daaaaaaaayyum"
Found a few trout...
Self portrait - I used the windshield for the sepia effect...also it's the only place I could set the camera to use the timer
The wind prediction was horribly wrong, but unfortunately it was a gross underestimation and that's about it. The second I got on plane the boat jumped out of the water, got jostled around slantways and every-which-ways, had to keep it around 20mph driving out. I ended up putting the jacket on before getting out of the no wake zone, had a nice shower before even making the channel, and decided I'd best not venture off too far. I'm tellin ya it was rough out there. My favorite.
So on went the jacket, out came the heavier poles, and on went the shrimp. I chucked them around the eddie-side of some rocks not far from the lighthouse. Tide was nice and high and I tried to make lemonade out of the fact that I was fishing on a school night for the first time in months. On the other hand, I was pretty disappointed that the wind was nearly un-fishable. I'd estimate it was about 20 knots and occasionally gusting higher and calming down to maybe 10 for 20 seconds every now and then.
Lo and behold I get all situated on an old honey hole, 1st cast gets a right proper hit or two, reel in shrimpless. 2nd cast lands me the trout in the first picture a tiny bit over 20 inches about 3 seconds after hitting the water. Took a picture and let it go. 3rd cast another 20 inch trout after about 2 seconds in the water. Took a time-out to try a self-portrait. Better than last time. Re-shrimp and chuck it out again. Nothin for a few seconds, I decide it's time to rig up my other rod and up the odds. soon as I get to the back of the boat to pick up the other rod, I see my rod is bent over. Pull in another one a little smaller. Before re-re-shrimping I rigged up the other pole with an egg rig and started chucking them both out in opposite directions. I was throwing as far as I possibly could, which almost directly in to the wind was about 20 feet. Didn't matter, they were all up on the rocks.
For the next hour I caught more fish than you would think could pass through the small area in which I was casting in that amount of time. I literally spent most of my time out there baiting a hook or reeling in a fish. All but 2 or 3 of the shrimp I threw out got fish. The only real down-side is they were nearly all snot cats after those first few trout. Talked myself in to heading back before it got pitch dark.
Water temp was about 64 where I fished
Didn't even throw anything but a shrimp...If it ain't broke...
Weather was partly chilly and overcast, wind speed was 'Daaaaaaaayyum"
Found a few trout...
Self portrait - I used the windshield for the sepia effect...also it's the only place I could set the camera to use the timer
Good job and very nice job of reporting.