Weekend Econfina trip 3-30-08 - Pics added
Posted: March 31st, 2008, 1:27 pm
Went out of Econfina on Sunday with my Dad. We got to the ramp at about 6:15 and decided there just wasn't enough water to head out. Because of the hull on my Cape Horn, I have to be careful and pick the right moments to try and ease out. So we waited about a half hour to watch the sun come up, swat mosquitoes and watch the clouds come out. I realized I had not been out in a while after finding a Super Spook Jr. in my tackle box, still in its original packaging with a little bit of Christmas wrap still attached. Yep, I had not been out on the water since before Christmas! In fact, this was the reason I agreed to venture out on a Sunday, I usually avoid the weekends and gladly burn up personal leave during the week to enjoy the beauty of fishing on a week day.
In any event, as soon as we rounded the last bend in the river the wind hit us. It never let up the entire time. It blew steady out of the east, north east and made casting and working the trolling motor a real bear. Because of the wind, even though I really wanted to fish topwater, I switched to a spoon. We settled in around our favorite creek and quicly boated an 18" red, but let him go in hopes of bigger game. Within the next 5 minutes a saw a huge swirl right around where my spoon was and then felt the weight and power of what turned out to be a 24" red. He ended up in my cooler and later in the blackening pan. Yum!
This fish was exciting for me because he is the largest red I have ever caught and I caught him on an ultra light rig. He actually made one healthy drag testing run for an oyster bar and ended up circling the boat twice before I could bring him in.
While we were around the creek we saw what we think was an Osprey. We first saw him sitting on top of an oyster bar (dark body with a white head) and even thought he might be an eagle. Later we saw him fly by, with what appeared to be a pinfish in his claws ("Hey, come back here with my bait!!).
After fighting the wind for another half hour we gave up and drifted out to about 2 - 3 feet of water and caught a bunch of smaller trout in the next hour. The biggest was almost 18". All of these guys lived to fight another day since I already had the red lined up for dinner. We caught all of the trout on nuclear chicken gulps. At first we used CT's, but then I switched to just the jig in hopes of scaring up a flounder.
All in all it was a great chance to spend time with my dad and get out on the water. The water temp registered a high of 68 degrees at one point and based on the schooly trout we picked up it seems like the spring run is just around the corner. Sorry for no pics, I haven't spent the time to learn to paste them in my post yet. I may come back and edit and add them because we took a couple of the red.
Pics added.
In any event, as soon as we rounded the last bend in the river the wind hit us. It never let up the entire time. It blew steady out of the east, north east and made casting and working the trolling motor a real bear. Because of the wind, even though I really wanted to fish topwater, I switched to a spoon. We settled in around our favorite creek and quicly boated an 18" red, but let him go in hopes of bigger game. Within the next 5 minutes a saw a huge swirl right around where my spoon was and then felt the weight and power of what turned out to be a 24" red. He ended up in my cooler and later in the blackening pan. Yum!
This fish was exciting for me because he is the largest red I have ever caught and I caught him on an ultra light rig. He actually made one healthy drag testing run for an oyster bar and ended up circling the boat twice before I could bring him in.While we were around the creek we saw what we think was an Osprey. We first saw him sitting on top of an oyster bar (dark body with a white head) and even thought he might be an eagle. Later we saw him fly by, with what appeared to be a pinfish in his claws ("Hey, come back here with my bait!!).
After fighting the wind for another half hour we gave up and drifted out to about 2 - 3 feet of water and caught a bunch of smaller trout in the next hour. The biggest was almost 18". All of these guys lived to fight another day since I already had the red lined up for dinner. We caught all of the trout on nuclear chicken gulps. At first we used CT's, but then I switched to just the jig in hopes of scaring up a flounder.
All in all it was a great chance to spend time with my dad and get out on the water. The water temp registered a high of 68 degrees at one point and based on the schooly trout we picked up it seems like the spring run is just around the corner. Sorry for no pics, I haven't spent the time to learn to paste them in my post yet. I may come back and edit and add them because we took a couple of the red.
Pics added.
