St. Marks 4/12---trout and spanish
Posted: April 14th, 2008, 9:19 am
Searched hard for a fishing partner to no avail. Everybody was headed out of town, scared of the weather report or not around when I stopped by to talk to them.
Saturday morning things didn't look to bad at the house, so the dog and I headed for the lighthouse.
Launched around 7 and turned east right into a sloppy chop. Ran to an area where I had a caught several nice trout two weeks prior, and they hadn't moved an inch. Did a couple drifts in 2-4' of water (moving very quickly even with a drift sock out) and caught probably 40 trout up to 23". Kept an 18.5 and 19.5 for dinner. Tired of bouncing like a cork I headed shallower in search of reds. Worked about a half mile of shoreline but was moving so fast I couldn't even search with a spoon. Nothing.
By about noon the winds had picked up, Boo had already got some swimming in on the shallow flats, we had trout for dinner and I was ready to head in. As we headed out into enough water to run, it became apparant that the waves would not allow me to run very fast. Rather than fighting them I decided to break out a couple beers stowed under the deck and troll back hoping for some macks. I didn't have any mackeral trees or clark spoons, so I put out an x-rap and an old Gator treble hook spoon I happended to find in the bottom of a box. About five minutes after we start the x-rap gets hit; an 18" trout. I was a little shocked, but tossed him back and kept going.
About 5 minutes later the x-rap goes off again, this time feeling like a spanish. As soon as his first run stops the other rod goes off, and it isn't slowing down. The other rod being my 3000 Stradic that was low on line to start the day. Tried to horse in the first fish so I can attend to the Stradic, and I lost him as a result. I quit reeling, cuss, then the x-rap gets hit again while it's just sitting. I put it back in the rod holder to let the fish wear itself out since the Stradic is almost out of line. Pick up the stradic and put a thumb on the spool. Luckily the fish was running down wind, so the boat turned when I thumbed the spool and I started gaining a little line. About 10 minutes later I finally have the fish boatside...jack cravelle, 34" to the fork...crap, all that for a jack. Turn around to grab the first rod and realize not only did the fish (probably a spanish) get tangled in the prop when the boat turned, but it then managed to get away and take my x-rap with him. I spend the next 15 minutes laying against the motor cowling cutting PP out of the prop, and taking waves over the transom.
Boo and I batten down the hatches and make the rough run back in. I was very happy with the way the boat handled the sloppy water. We got wet, but that was the extent of it. Looked like some others were having a tougher time including one little boat that had washed up against shore between the lighthouse channel and the east river; looked like they were taking a pounding. A pontoon boat threw them a rope and pulled them back to the channel just I got close.
A fun day with the dog and some nice trout too. Looks like I'll be putting new line on a couple reels this week.
Saturday morning things didn't look to bad at the house, so the dog and I headed for the lighthouse.
Launched around 7 and turned east right into a sloppy chop. Ran to an area where I had a caught several nice trout two weeks prior, and they hadn't moved an inch. Did a couple drifts in 2-4' of water (moving very quickly even with a drift sock out) and caught probably 40 trout up to 23". Kept an 18.5 and 19.5 for dinner. Tired of bouncing like a cork I headed shallower in search of reds. Worked about a half mile of shoreline but was moving so fast I couldn't even search with a spoon. Nothing.
By about noon the winds had picked up, Boo had already got some swimming in on the shallow flats, we had trout for dinner and I was ready to head in. As we headed out into enough water to run, it became apparant that the waves would not allow me to run very fast. Rather than fighting them I decided to break out a couple beers stowed under the deck and troll back hoping for some macks. I didn't have any mackeral trees or clark spoons, so I put out an x-rap and an old Gator treble hook spoon I happended to find in the bottom of a box. About five minutes after we start the x-rap gets hit; an 18" trout. I was a little shocked, but tossed him back and kept going.
About 5 minutes later the x-rap goes off again, this time feeling like a spanish. As soon as his first run stops the other rod goes off, and it isn't slowing down. The other rod being my 3000 Stradic that was low on line to start the day. Tried to horse in the first fish so I can attend to the Stradic, and I lost him as a result. I quit reeling, cuss, then the x-rap gets hit again while it's just sitting. I put it back in the rod holder to let the fish wear itself out since the Stradic is almost out of line. Pick up the stradic and put a thumb on the spool. Luckily the fish was running down wind, so the boat turned when I thumbed the spool and I started gaining a little line. About 10 minutes later I finally have the fish boatside...jack cravelle, 34" to the fork...crap, all that for a jack. Turn around to grab the first rod and realize not only did the fish (probably a spanish) get tangled in the prop when the boat turned, but it then managed to get away and take my x-rap with him. I spend the next 15 minutes laying against the motor cowling cutting PP out of the prop, and taking waves over the transom.
Boo and I batten down the hatches and make the rough run back in. I was very happy with the way the boat handled the sloppy water. We got wet, but that was the extent of it. Looked like some others were having a tougher time including one little boat that had washed up against shore between the lighthouse channel and the east river; looked like they were taking a pounding. A pontoon boat threw them a rope and pulled them back to the channel just I got close.
A fun day with the dog and some nice trout too. Looks like I'll be putting new line on a couple reels this week.