And he still had a headache.Left the house at five this morning with a sinus headache. Actually considered not going.
"Hurry up, little girly-man, the exercise will will help your headache. I want to be at the gate at 6."
I've figured out that if I leave the house at five with a canoe in tow, make a quick stop at the Hwy 98/Woodville Hwy intersection convenience store for ice (a little over 1/4 of the way, but stores are a little scarce beyond that), I can be at the gate (a little over half-way) about 6, which puts me at the lighthouse about 7 or a little before.
The bugs? No kiddin'. There was no breeze and nobody else down there. From the time I turned off 98 until I had the canoe loaded, in the water, and was leaving I didn't see another living soul. As I was leaving some folks started showing up over at the boat ramp.
Got to the first bar out in front of the old pier. Drifted down the east side throwing a She-Dog. Lots of mullet and bait, but nothin' hittin'. The tide was rippin' out of the river. A pod of 3 dolphin were working tag-team on the mullet. A bunch of manatee (what's a group of manatee?) were outside the river mouth doing manatee stuff. Fair size gator cruising down the bank. Got to the outer end of the exposed part of the bar, parked the boat and got out to wade. Got a strike by a ladyfish that cut me off, but didn't hook up. My plug was riding the tide further down the bar, but I was able to run it down. Fiddled around here for a little bit. Then decided to head over to Kitchen Cove and the bars in that area behind Sprague Island.
Threw a few casts around the steamboat, but nothing happening. The current was really rippin' through there. Da' Man blew by heading up the channel. Didn't stop to check me. I waved, he waved. Then he stopped at the next boat, about a mile away. Don't know if he found anything, but seems like he was there a lot longer than a safety check before they parted ways.
Casting at bars along the way I got over to Kitchen cove a little before 9. There were some reds up real shallow on the flats outside the cove, but I couldn't fool any of them. Back in the cover there were mullet everywhere, but no cooperative reds or trout. Did find one sail-cat and a 3 lb. jack crevalle that wanted a 7M MirrOlure.
About noon, no reds, no trout, I decided that was enough foolin' around back in the creeks, I should have stayed out on the flats, and headed on to the west. The breeze was gradually beginning to pick up out of the SSW. Paddled on for another 30 minutes, then anchored for lunch. That's the good thing about a Gulp under a Cajun Thunder. It's close enough to bait you can pitch it out and fish while you have a ham and Swiss on raisin bread. Picked up two short trout doing this. Then moved on to the rocks on the south end of Patti's Island.
Anchored a little off the rocks and cast around with the 7M, nothing. The breeze is picking up. Noticed my headache was gone. Threw the 3", New Penny Gulp and pulled a 24" red out of the rocks, but apparently that was the only one there. A little after 2 I decided I'd better move on. It's starting to cloud up a little, especially to the north, and the wind is gradually, but steadily, growing stronger. A headwind that I'm going to have to paddle into to get to Live Oak Island, with a bicycle in the bow of the boat that does a fair approximation of trying to act like a sail.
An hour-and-a-quarter later of steady and increasingly harder paddling and I'm at Live Oak Island with no more real interest in fishing, although I did give the rocks on the south side of the Island about 30 minutes.
I have come to the conclusion that these excursions are not fishing trips. Too much distance to cover, I spend more time paddling than fishing. Nice canoe trips, though. I think I can get more fishing time in by going to a specific place and fishing just that area. Instead of trying to cover the whole bay.
Hmm, I wonder if the calorie return on one 24" redfish equals 30 miles of towing a canoe behind a bicycle and about ten or so miles of paddling? Maybe I should have kept the jack. I think it's time for icecream.
Ham and swiss on raisin bread??? 
