River Fishin' wet 12/25 and windy 12/26
Posted: December 27th, 2010, 9:17 am
The wet day:
When plans are made far in advance one must follow through.
My brother-in-law, sister, wife (Nina) and my fathers fiance's son all came to town (sister, brother-in-law from Seattle, and fiance's son from Atlanta) to spend Christmas at my fathers house. After a wonderful morning spent together the plan was to take everyone fishing and then head back to the house for dinner.
After reviewing the radar and tides it appeared that we had a small window of opportunity to shoot down to the St. Marks and hopefully let everyone feel a tug on the line. This was Mark's (dads fiances son) first experience fishing so I really wanted to put him on some fish so that he would have pics to take back to ATL along with bragging rights.
At the Fort we ran into Mr. Ty and briefly discussed the front that was billowing in our direction, we both thought we had a couple of rainless hours, so my mind was at ease as we headed past Shields Marina. We were incorrect. As we took the first bend to the left we were greated by a light drizzle. Not a big deal as I was prepared with a rain coat for everyone on board so we suited up and continued on.
As we arrived to our "spot" the rain had steadily increased to a 6 out of 10 but this wasn't going to stop this group of serious fisheman and fisherladys, so we dropped anchor and I began to dish out shrimp that we purchased from Jerry's on the way down.
The group caught Redfish after Redfish and everyone did get to feel that tug on the line, but most of the fish were short. The rain began to get a bit uncomfortable, I was able to provide coats, but we didn't have rain pants and jeans were begining to get a bit soggy. Just as we were about to pack it up I hear "oh yeah" and turn to see my wife hooked up on a good fish. Her drag yanked out with a number of short zips and then a long steady one. I knew this had to be a good Red. Minutes later we netted the fish and placed her on the measuring stick. A TRUE 27" Red!!!!!
After high fives and my wife proclaiming that this was her "best Christmas gift ever" we headed back to the landing. Day one complete!
The windy day:
Christmas day was for those who weren't the most experienced of anglers. Yesterday was for my brother-in-law who is very experienced and guided with me in Alaska which is where we met and I ended up introducing him to my sister. He was anxious to get serious with the fish and see just how well we could due despite the horrendous conditions (25 to gale force winds and quite chilly).
We started out in the Wakulla trying to target some Tarpon that hold in a spot during the coldest months of the year. They were there, but they were not eating. We tossed everything we had at them, including live Shiners but no takers. The wind was ripping down the Wakulla so hard I could barely keep the boat straight with the trolling motor.... no fun.
We headed back up the St. Marks to try for some Trout action which proved to be a very good move. Once in the St. Marks we dropped the trolling motor, tied on some grubs and went to town. We trolling motored up and down a stretch of the river and cuaght trout on just about every cast. It was truly a wonderful day for Colby and I never got tired of watching him set the hook in fish after fish. He ended up with the big trout of the day which was 19.5"s. We later decided to sink some shrimp and as luck would have it, he too, caught 27" red just as the day came to a close. Before we left we ran into Brian and Katie Showman and it was nice to see that we weren't the only foggy minded duo on this blistering cold day.
Great weekend of fishing and more fishing. Wouldn't spend Christmas weekend any other way. Pics were taken and should be posted on a site that I write for called myhometownfishing.com.
When plans are made far in advance one must follow through.
My brother-in-law, sister, wife (Nina) and my fathers fiance's son all came to town (sister, brother-in-law from Seattle, and fiance's son from Atlanta) to spend Christmas at my fathers house. After a wonderful morning spent together the plan was to take everyone fishing and then head back to the house for dinner.
After reviewing the radar and tides it appeared that we had a small window of opportunity to shoot down to the St. Marks and hopefully let everyone feel a tug on the line. This was Mark's (dads fiances son) first experience fishing so I really wanted to put him on some fish so that he would have pics to take back to ATL along with bragging rights.
At the Fort we ran into Mr. Ty and briefly discussed the front that was billowing in our direction, we both thought we had a couple of rainless hours, so my mind was at ease as we headed past Shields Marina. We were incorrect. As we took the first bend to the left we were greated by a light drizzle. Not a big deal as I was prepared with a rain coat for everyone on board so we suited up and continued on.
As we arrived to our "spot" the rain had steadily increased to a 6 out of 10 but this wasn't going to stop this group of serious fisheman and fisherladys, so we dropped anchor and I began to dish out shrimp that we purchased from Jerry's on the way down.
The group caught Redfish after Redfish and everyone did get to feel that tug on the line, but most of the fish were short. The rain began to get a bit uncomfortable, I was able to provide coats, but we didn't have rain pants and jeans were begining to get a bit soggy. Just as we were about to pack it up I hear "oh yeah" and turn to see my wife hooked up on a good fish. Her drag yanked out with a number of short zips and then a long steady one. I knew this had to be a good Red. Minutes later we netted the fish and placed her on the measuring stick. A TRUE 27" Red!!!!!
After high fives and my wife proclaiming that this was her "best Christmas gift ever" we headed back to the landing. Day one complete!
The windy day:
Christmas day was for those who weren't the most experienced of anglers. Yesterday was for my brother-in-law who is very experienced and guided with me in Alaska which is where we met and I ended up introducing him to my sister. He was anxious to get serious with the fish and see just how well we could due despite the horrendous conditions (25 to gale force winds and quite chilly).
We started out in the Wakulla trying to target some Tarpon that hold in a spot during the coldest months of the year. They were there, but they were not eating. We tossed everything we had at them, including live Shiners but no takers. The wind was ripping down the Wakulla so hard I could barely keep the boat straight with the trolling motor.... no fun.
We headed back up the St. Marks to try for some Trout action which proved to be a very good move. Once in the St. Marks we dropped the trolling motor, tied on some grubs and went to town. We trolling motored up and down a stretch of the river and cuaght trout on just about every cast. It was truly a wonderful day for Colby and I never got tired of watching him set the hook in fish after fish. He ended up with the big trout of the day which was 19.5"s. We later decided to sink some shrimp and as luck would have it, he too, caught 27" red just as the day came to a close. Before we left we ran into Brian and Katie Showman and it was nice to see that we weren't the only foggy minded duo on this blistering cold day.
Great weekend of fishing and more fishing. Wouldn't spend Christmas weekend any other way. Pics were taken and should be posted on a site that I write for called myhometownfishing.com.
Also, no need to spend the extra money on "Gulps" this time of year. All of our fish came off of Gotcha grubs and you can get 20 in a pack for just under $5. With all the fish caught we used less than a pack. Just a tip.