Keaton Beach May 23-26
Posted: May 27th, 2003, 8:41 am
I'll start by saying, hope everyone did better than I did. I left Keaton Beach ramp at 7:00 am. on Friday fishing alone. Water temp was 74 degrees. Wind was dead calm. About three hours left on rising tide. Ran South from last channel marker to Big Grassy. Started off throwing grubs under thunders in 3 foot of crystal clear water. Bait fish and Mullet were everywhere. At one point in, 2 foot of water I trolled with my Riptide right into the middle of one of the largest school of Mullet I've seen in a long time. I trolled along with them casting into them watching something hungry crashing into them. Dreams of bigs Reds took hold. Turned out to be two 4 foot sharks feeding on the mullet. Quite an experience though. Got my heart pumping. Moved into an area about 3-4 foot deep with lots of sandy holes 5-6 foot deep. Changed over to my cut pin fish rig on the bottom. Shortly after the first bait hit the water, a 23 inch trout nabbed it.
The bite was extremly slow after that one. I managed 4 good keepers by 1:00 pm. Fished hard in 3-6 foot water till 4:00 pm without a keeper to finish my limit. Didn't matter, this day goes down as great self therapy.
Saturday, second day. Left landing at 8:30 am. Tons of boats as expected. Hoped to miss the rush, but I didn't. Had a tough time catching pinfish. Went back to the 3 foot water to start. Wind was dead calm. Water temp was 78 degrees. Almost a repeat of the the first day. Caught 4 keepers with one over 20 inches, then could not get another keeper till 5:00 pm. when I gave up. Still a great day to be on the water. Trout for supper at the camper that night.
Sunday, third day. Left the landing at 8:30 am. Hardly anyone at the landing. Water temp 80 degrees. Ran 10 miles to my starting place. Very hard to catch Pinfish. Fished in 3-6 foot water with no keepers at 1:00 pm. Fired up and headed to 8-10 foot. Threw the Pinfish rig out on bottom and right away a 22 inch trout took it. I figured I was in the right spot. Rigged up a live Pinfish under a thunder to drag. Began catching babies with a ever now and then keeper till I got to 4 again. With maybe 40 throw backs. A couple very decent trout pulled off before I could net them. One papa Cobia that would estimate at 50 lbs did two tail stands and broke a 30lb wire leader and was gone. Then "They" moved in. The SHARKS. Could not fish for them. Everywhere I moved they were there. Some small some as large as 4 foot. Tearing up all my rigs. I finally gave up and went in about 5:00 pm. Lots of pulling and catching that day, with only 4 keepers at the end of the day.
Overall only 12 keeper Trout for three days. But one of the finest three days I've had on the water in a while.

Saturday, second day. Left landing at 8:30 am. Tons of boats as expected. Hoped to miss the rush, but I didn't. Had a tough time catching pinfish. Went back to the 3 foot water to start. Wind was dead calm. Water temp was 78 degrees. Almost a repeat of the the first day. Caught 4 keepers with one over 20 inches, then could not get another keeper till 5:00 pm. when I gave up. Still a great day to be on the water. Trout for supper at the camper that night.

Sunday, third day. Left the landing at 8:30 am. Hardly anyone at the landing. Water temp 80 degrees. Ran 10 miles to my starting place. Very hard to catch Pinfish. Fished in 3-6 foot water with no keepers at 1:00 pm. Fired up and headed to 8-10 foot. Threw the Pinfish rig out on bottom and right away a 22 inch trout took it. I figured I was in the right spot. Rigged up a live Pinfish under a thunder to drag. Began catching babies with a ever now and then keeper till I got to 4 again. With maybe 40 throw backs. A couple very decent trout pulled off before I could net them. One papa Cobia that would estimate at 50 lbs did two tail stands and broke a 30lb wire leader and was gone. Then "They" moved in. The SHARKS. Could not fish for them. Everywhere I moved they were there. Some small some as large as 4 foot. Tearing up all my rigs. I finally gave up and went in about 5:00 pm. Lots of pulling and catching that day, with only 4 keepers at the end of the day.
Overall only 12 keeper Trout for three days. But one of the finest three days I've had on the water in a while.
