Fishin' St. Marks 5.17.2013
Posted: May 19th, 2013, 11:27 pm
On Friday I had the opportunity to fish with my daughter. I have not had the chance to fish with her for a few years now. I promised her she’d catch some fish. We got off to a late start by putting the boat in at the Fort around 9:30 or 10. Ran down to the lighthouse. When we hit the third channel marker I gave her the helm and let her run us down the east flats to start the day. First stop first cast gulp and stank bait and wham, she’s glowing with excitement, hauls this 19"er into the board.
Photo op and high fives she says “I still got the touch”. I was delighted she even wanted to go fishing with me and I didn’t care even if we didn’t catch any more fish. Next stop in 4.5 feet of water, slack tide, no wind, no nibbles, and boat stands still without an anchor or drift sock. Water temp was 79.2, clarity = crystal in 4.5’ (scallops spotted on bottom look promising, might be a banner year for scallops) My Harbor Freight Bimini goes up and we escape the late morning heat. After 10 minutes, daughter wants to go trolling off-shore, I quickly concur and we’re off headed south seeking 20’. While running at about 7 mph in 7’ or 8’ a pod of dolphins decided to escort us out off the flats.
This made the event even more special to both of us. Even BayLee (our black lab) was very curious about our visitors and kept an eye on them. After about a mile the dolphins veered off and away from us. When we hit 12’,(I could still clearly see the bottom could tell grass from sandy areas) I slow down to trolling speed and drop a stretch (sd-14) fire-tiger. When we hit 17’ I drop a pair of stretch 25’s and leave the sd-14 out there running along. After a while I noted none of the pole tips appeared to be “bouncing”, so I cut the motor off and reel in one of the lures and discover they had mingled together and formed a 10’ single braid-mess. I cut the motor off and we began a slow drift. Below, I’m frantically trying to untangle a braided mono mess; Shelley spots a couple huge schools of bait coming toward the boat. I rig her up with a Clarks Spoon under a steel leader and she begins to cast into the bait ball. I start butcher the tangled mono mess and re-tie all the trolling poles. I join in the casting with another spinning rod rigged with up with a Clarks' Spoon under a steel leader. Here is a picture of me watching the GPS as we trolled under my Harbor Freight home made Bimini.
We trolled over some public numbers and snagged a 14” Black sea Bass and a short Grouper.
After a while the wind picked back up and we headed for the hill. BayLee is glad to be back where she can cool off for the ride home.
Got home for some blackened Black Sea Bass and Trout. I had a Great time with my daughter even though we didn't catch a load of fish it didn't matter much to either of us.
Photo op and high fives she says “I still got the touch”. I was delighted she even wanted to go fishing with me and I didn’t care even if we didn’t catch any more fish. Next stop in 4.5 feet of water, slack tide, no wind, no nibbles, and boat stands still without an anchor or drift sock. Water temp was 79.2, clarity = crystal in 4.5’ (scallops spotted on bottom look promising, might be a banner year for scallops) My Harbor Freight Bimini goes up and we escape the late morning heat. After 10 minutes, daughter wants to go trolling off-shore, I quickly concur and we’re off headed south seeking 20’. While running at about 7 mph in 7’ or 8’ a pod of dolphins decided to escort us out off the flats.
This made the event even more special to both of us. Even BayLee (our black lab) was very curious about our visitors and kept an eye on them. After about a mile the dolphins veered off and away from us. When we hit 12’,(I could still clearly see the bottom could tell grass from sandy areas) I slow down to trolling speed and drop a stretch (sd-14) fire-tiger. When we hit 17’ I drop a pair of stretch 25’s and leave the sd-14 out there running along. After a while I noted none of the pole tips appeared to be “bouncing”, so I cut the motor off and reel in one of the lures and discover they had mingled together and formed a 10’ single braid-mess. I cut the motor off and we began a slow drift. Below, I’m frantically trying to untangle a braided mono mess; Shelley spots a couple huge schools of bait coming toward the boat. I rig her up with a Clarks Spoon under a steel leader and she begins to cast into the bait ball. I start butcher the tangled mono mess and re-tie all the trolling poles. I join in the casting with another spinning rod rigged with up with a Clarks' Spoon under a steel leader. Here is a picture of me watching the GPS as we trolled under my Harbor Freight home made Bimini.
We trolled over some public numbers and snagged a 14” Black sea Bass and a short Grouper.
After a while the wind picked back up and we headed for the hill. BayLee is glad to be back where she can cool off for the ride home.
Got home for some blackened Black Sea Bass and Trout. I had a Great time with my daughter even though we didn't catch a load of fish it didn't matter much to either of us.