Waited for Grizzly to show up at 4:30.
Hooked up the boat and headed to Savannahs' for the $2 Special.
2 over easy and grits down the hatch we head to St. Marks Outfitters for the tournament sign in.
As cold as it was,we were in no hurry to sit at Aucilla and wait for safe light at 6:50 a.m.
Got to the lower ramp and saw very little water.
We had to back in to "the hole" to launch the boat.
We idled and stopped at various places in the river to try the deeper channel holes.
First cast resulted in a deeply embedded Mirrolure on a rock.
Moved on down to a creek.
Next cast resulted in the new out of the box Mirrolure parting company with the line.
Next cast a Slayer jig head parted company and the reel had to be stored due to a tremendous backlash.
All the while Grizzly is busy stripping old line off a reel and tying on bait.
Water temp is reading 49 degrees and the wind is North at 15-20.
My rabbit fur lined hat was a welcome addition.
We continue idling down river to the mouth.
Other than an occasional deep hole the depth was 15 inches and less in the river.
A creek mouth to the East was our intended destination.
Once we cleared the mouth and onto the flats the water got more skinny and the temp down to 43.
Crab traps were completely out of the water.
Being too shallow to run the trolling motor,we drifted South towards a offshore bar known to hold reds.
The crystal clear water showed no bait fish and no other fish.
Four hours into this the tide was supposed to be high.
We had about 2 inches more water than when we left the dock.
We decide to load up and go to the St. Marks river where we could navigate.
Going back to the ramp at a brisk 5 mph idle,we encounter a rock bed 200 yards from the ramp.
The prop has been sent to Gator in Perry.
At Shields Marina we head up river with 2 pounds of Jumbo shrimp.
Not a bite.
We head down river to try closer to the Gulf and all the holes on the way.
Grizzly hooks up with a nice red that pulls the hooks out of range of the net.
A couple bars later a large wake is homing in on his jerk bait.
A brief hook up results in a broken line and lost bait.
Back at St. Marks Outfitters for the weigh in and some great sausage dogs provided by St. Marks Outfitters.
Congrats to the few who caught fish and all the winners.
The March 12 Trout Tournament is in Keaton.
See you there.
P.S. Ate the bait for supper.
Glad everyone was alright at least!
Sorry ya'll had a rough one