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All the trout are at Keaton!

KEATON BEACH FISHING REPORT

by: Pat McGriff

Keaton Beach Fishing Report December 12-13 2003

Timing is everything.

This time of year, at Keaton Beach, a day could mean the difference in your success as one front after another comes through and either revs the fishing up or shuts it down.

Thursday and Friday were spectacular days at Keaton last week. Al Catalano said he had the best three days fishing for trout on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of last week, since he moved to Keaton Beach (over three years ago?) Al was plug fishing, and said he caught them on a bunch, but the best of all was Mirrolure's Catch Jr. and Catch 2000.

Just so happens, Mickey Wheeler, of Tallahassee, Fla. also had a blast Thursday and Friday fishing, yep Catch 2000's in 1 - 3 feet of water. Mickey also caught fish on Bomber 15 A's as well as other jerkbaits. Mickey released 5 trout over twenty inches on Thursday and seven over twenty on Friday all on the Catch 2000's.

Saturday, the front hit and Mickey said he only caught four fish and they were all over twenty inches, then they just quit. He came in with one trout.

Monday, Ken Clark and Terry Haney of Lake Park and Valdosta, Ga., respectively, kept ten trout and one red. They caught over fifty trout and the largest was 22.5 inches an the the smallest was 18 inches. So, it pays to be here ahead of the front, not during or just after. Oh, they were throwing plugs and Assassins.

Jason and Buie Rowan of Valdosta and Doerun, Ga. limited out Monday in just under two hours and then in an hour an a half Tuesday. Problem each day? catching a trout under twenty inches long This father and son team landed a 28 inch and a 27.5 inch trout Tuesday! "They hit anything we threw at them," said Buie.

So come down before the front gets here, or three days after....

If you go offshore, I would guess you wanted to catch some grouper like the eight which Linda and David Hayman of Hahira, Ga. caught Monday. Where and on what you ask...Try say, 45 feet of water, on squid.......of course.

A rant about fishing reports:
I don’t know.
The science geek in me always reads reports with a lot of skepticism, especially the published ones. That’s one reason I particularly like corresponding here, I get less hype. Published reports don’t get much of a read if they’re about people not catching fish. You all know this but I thought I’d take a spin on the Keaton report. The message was that if I’m going to fish I’d best watch the weather reports and go pre or post front.
The pre front concept seems to get a lot of credence. I’d say that it gets more credibility than post front.
What doesn’t get much respect is fishing during a front.
I wonder why it is that not many reports come out about fishing during a front?
That answer is obvious. I’d look at post front the same way. The best boating weather is usually pre front and post front is typically rough. So when do people fish and report about catching fish? Pre front.

There are a mountain of other variables (always) that were in play at Keaton late last week. The main one may have been the coming shift in weather. It was a weak front. Is that better than a strong one?
I don’t know.
All this said I read every fishing report I can find. The Keaton report (and Gone Gator's comments Inshore) will have me tossing plugs next time out. I never tried one on Friday, even though I guessed right and tied one on before I put in. ??
I don't know.

Just a thought most reports during a front probably don't get posted cause either they were killed or the fish did not bite . Though I seem to remember in a previous life, when I was a bass fisherman, catching bass in the rain or just after a good down pour.

I'm skeptical about reports too, but what intrigued me about the report was Keaton does not have that many tidal creeks for the trout and my assumption is the trout were on the flats. If they were caught over towards Yates creek that would imply they were migrating towards Spring Warrior area. Or the theory of Trout heading to deep flats in the winter comes to mind.

I did get a report from Econfina that confirmed the same type of action in the same time frame.

After catching enough school trout to make a whale choke Saturday and reading that report, my hypothesis is the larger trout are still on the flats.