Arrived in the bustling town of Carrabelle late Wednesday evening with my Dad and big plans of slinging bait Thursday morning. As it turned out we decided to hit 2 Al’s for a good breakfast and then do some maintenance on the boat and place of shelter until it warmed up. Dad is 74 so he isn’t much on cool air across the water early in the morning. We launched the “Brown Hide Girl” at Lanark around 12:30 as the tide was coming in. We made our way to the east end of Lanark Reef and began our drift throwing corks and 4” Gulp Shrimp. Things were slow for the first half hour and then as though the dinner bell rang we started catching trout with the first few being short. I finally hooked an 18” that went into the box. Dad soon followed with a 19.5” fish that also hit the chilly bin. A while later I hooked what I first thought was a redfish or cobia, as the drag required an adjustment three times. As it turned out the slab at the end of the line was my largest trout to date at just shy of 25”. Dad scooped up the fish with one swipe and after a couple photos I debated on turning it loose. Dad said, “well, we may never catch another one that big so I say we add it to the cooler”- which we did. I figure I’ve turned enough 20.5” loose to justify my decision. I tried the 4” gulps without the cork, Top Dogs in a couple different colors, and 2-3 different colored gulps both with and without the cork. The best bite seemed to come on the 4” white shrimp in 4.5 feet. I did have two hits on topwater but never caught a fish. Once we drifted out of 4-5ft into 2-4ft. we had fewer bites the entire afternoon. The water was reasonably clear from Lanark ramp toward the marine lab with only what I consider a light stain. We continued fishing until 5:15 and headed in. Total for the 5 hrs was 6 keeper fish and roughly a dozen short fish. All in all a fine afternoon with my pops.
Dad
Me with the slob
Friday morning we headed out with my mother and wife and fished the exact same areas using the exact same bait and caught three trout (two keepers) and one flounder the first three and half hours. Once the tide turned and begin coming in after lunch the bite seemed to pick up but still slow. We headed in around 4:00 with 5 trout, one flounder and a pretty good sun glow on the ears.
Saturday afternoon (mother and wife) and I decided to fish just east of the Carrabelle river in a couple spots we had caught some good trout and flounder in last fall. After 45 mins and one bite we moved a short distance east with the same results. I decided to run a couple miles toward Lanark and find some clear water. Once we moved into cleaner water we picked up a couple keeper trout, one flounder and a couple shorts. It was still mighty slow but better none the less. We fished about 3 hours and headed in. We must have seen twelve- thousand rays everywhere we went from the river to Lanark. Pretty cool afternoon being on the water even though the fishing was slow.
Sunday, the wife and I made a quick run out to Dog Island Reef and threw a few baits hoping to find some Spanish Macks and scattered trout. I finally caught one nice Spanish and that was it for the short time we were there. We headed back into some grass flats behind Dog Island and caught a couple trout before heading in early. We had orders from the resident cook that smoked ham and side fixens would be served before too late so given the fishing results we decided that was the best option.
The Mack
We spoke with a couple other folks that indicated things were slow inshore for them as well. I didn’t talk with anyone that seemed to have had much luck offshore. Water temps ranged from 61 in the mornings to 67 in the late afternoon near Lanark. In another week or so things should be good if the weather stays nice.
"No, I dont remember where I last had it, if I knew I'd go get it" ...
