Steinhatchee with guide 9/18
Posted: September 21st, 2009, 9:31 am
Went to Steinhatchee Friday to fish as part of a party of four. The guide was Steve Khrol (Krohl?). Runs a 24' ProLine open fisherman. With the heavy rain Thur night, we didnt know what to expect. He ran south towards Horseshoe Beach area and we started shallow. I picked up an 18" trout, but things got crazy for about 1/2 hr when we got in the ladyfish. Big ones mostly. This was in very shallow at 2-3 feet.
This guide likes cut pinfish under corks for bait. I wasnt real enthused about that but it was working ok. Kept thinking about putting on a jig but didnt want to imply anything about guide's thinking. We even snagged a 12' grouper that was really pretty.
Moved around some and not much happened till tide started coming back in after an 8AM low. The tides were very high + tides that day.
Tried some deeper water - 5 to 6'. We got a couple of more keeper trout and a couple shorts. By 11:00 we had about 4 in boat and were beginning to be rained on. It lasted for about 3 hrs but no lightning and only distant thunder so we werent really impacted.
After tide had come in some, guide moved to a closer-in spot about 4' deep now where he targets both reds and trout. Then my buddy something big that took off on a run. I thought it was a ray since we had seen several of these crusing.
Turned out to be a red. He was taking the fisherman all over the place. When I netted him, I thought for a second he was over the size limit, but luckily he was 27" and 7 lbs. This was the host's first fish of the day so I thought "Good for him, he is paying for the trip, so he got a stray bull red and that is fitting."
Well, I decided to take a leak and was standing on the front deck balancing with rod under my left arm. Of course I wasnt watching my cork at all. Suddenly a fish steal the rod out of my "grip." I tried to avoid peeing on myself while getting a hand on the (fishing) rod. Good thing I was wet all over from rain anyway. This one was not going easy either and took lots of drag then boiled all around as we tried to net him. He was 26.5" & 7 lb. -my biggest red ever.
We kept repeating the drift ending up near shore and going back on the GPS trail and got 3 more keepers in succession, 20 and 21" Then we caught 2 about 16" throwbacks, and one that was well over 22 but had to release it since with 5 people on board we already had our 5 keepers. Everyone on board caught at least one red, either keeper or short.
Finished my day up with a 20" trout and the guide got a couple trout on our last few "redfish" drifts. Total take was 8 keeper trout, 5 reds. The 13 fish weighed 39 lbs so a healthy average Fish fry tonight at my house. My buddy wants to go back so we booked that same guide in October. Nice to have friends with disposable income.
This guide likes cut pinfish under corks for bait. I wasnt real enthused about that but it was working ok. Kept thinking about putting on a jig but didnt want to imply anything about guide's thinking. We even snagged a 12' grouper that was really pretty.
Moved around some and not much happened till tide started coming back in after an 8AM low. The tides were very high + tides that day.
Tried some deeper water - 5 to 6'. We got a couple of more keeper trout and a couple shorts. By 11:00 we had about 4 in boat and were beginning to be rained on. It lasted for about 3 hrs but no lightning and only distant thunder so we werent really impacted.
After tide had come in some, guide moved to a closer-in spot about 4' deep now where he targets both reds and trout. Then my buddy something big that took off on a run. I thought it was a ray since we had seen several of these crusing.
Turned out to be a red. He was taking the fisherman all over the place. When I netted him, I thought for a second he was over the size limit, but luckily he was 27" and 7 lbs. This was the host's first fish of the day so I thought "Good for him, he is paying for the trip, so he got a stray bull red and that is fitting."
Well, I decided to take a leak and was standing on the front deck balancing with rod under my left arm. Of course I wasnt watching my cork at all. Suddenly a fish steal the rod out of my "grip." I tried to avoid peeing on myself while getting a hand on the (fishing) rod. Good thing I was wet all over from rain anyway. This one was not going easy either and took lots of drag then boiled all around as we tried to net him. He was 26.5" & 7 lb. -my biggest red ever.
We kept repeating the drift ending up near shore and going back on the GPS trail and got 3 more keepers in succession, 20 and 21" Then we caught 2 about 16" throwbacks, and one that was well over 22 but had to release it since with 5 people on board we already had our 5 keepers. Everyone on board caught at least one red, either keeper or short.
Finished my day up with a 20" trout and the guide got a couple trout on our last few "redfish" drifts. Total take was 8 keeper trout, 5 reds. The 13 fish weighed 39 lbs so a healthy average Fish fry tonight at my house. My buddy wants to go back so we booked that same guide in October. Nice to have friends with disposable income.
