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Some much needed saltwater therapy

Posted: February 18th, 2014, 11:50 pm
by fishinfool
I am headed out in the morning 2-19-14. Finally a day off with decent weather and a little time available. Now that I think about it, this might be my first trip of the year.
There will be a report to follow, good or bad.

Re: Some much needed saltwater therapy

Posted: February 19th, 2014, 4:04 am
by FishWithChris
Where're ya headed to? We'll be out there tomorrow, as well.

Good luck & tight lines! (just hopefully not because you're stuck on the bottom :lol: :lol: :lol: )

Re: Some much needed saltwater therapy

Posted: February 19th, 2014, 4:55 am
by fishinfool
Heading out of the lighthouse ramp.

Re: Some much needed saltwater therapy

Posted: February 19th, 2014, 5:33 am
by captkeyser
My wife and I are headed out of the Light House ramp as well. Should be a beautiful day...hoping the fog isn't around for long.

Re: Some much needed saltwater therapy

Posted: February 19th, 2014, 12:56 pm
by redfishrangler
Good luck. Very interested to see what the water temp is and how there biting. Gonna make my first try in a week or two

Re: Some much needed saltwater therapy

Posted: February 19th, 2014, 1:23 pm
by mpa_72001
64 yesterday

Re: Some much needed saltwater therapy

Posted: February 19th, 2014, 1:41 pm
by redfishrangler
Was that 64 in the river or on the flats?

Re: Some much needed saltwater therapy

Posted: February 19th, 2014, 2:01 pm
by mpa_72001
Not in the river.

Re: Some much needed saltwater therapy

Posted: February 19th, 2014, 2:04 pm
by Salty Gator
Go get em Jim and Eric. Hope y'all do well

Re: Some much needed saltwater therapy

Posted: February 20th, 2014, 7:32 am
by fishinfool
Well here is the promised report. Arrived at the ramp at 7AM. The wind was out of the S E at 10-15 MPH. Water temp at the ramp and on the flats started at 55°. Partly cloudy and air temp of 50°.
With the water temp in mind I started at a rock pile hoping for some deep water trout, some sea bass or the possible bull red. The water clarity was 7-8 feet. With no bites I decided that I should have tried in the river and was kicking myself for not starting there. On the way in I tried a couple of bars with no results. In the river I spoke with a fellow that assured me the trout were not in the river and I should be working the bars. Taking his word for it I moved back out. I went to Folly Bar where I had a nice fish (Trout?) come unbuttoned from my Chartreuse Catch 2000. After about another hour of no strikes I decided to try Stoney Bayou. There was more activity there than anywhere else I had been, but again no strikes. I did see 3-4 reds while working some of the side creeks but was unable to entice them into eating.
I arrived at Stoney around noon with a steady incoming tide. By then the water temp had increased to 64°. Air temp was 70+ and partly cloudy. A sea fog started to move in but stalled a couple of miles short of shore.
All in all it was a beautiful day and I was thankful for getting out on the water, A couple of fish would have been nice but I suspect that if this weather continues for the next 2-3 weeks, our flats explosion is just around the corner.

Re: Some much needed saltwater therapy

Posted: February 20th, 2014, 12:44 pm
by onefishtwofish
Had a similar start, but we arrived later in the day. We kept looking for creeks and found one with 66 degree water and caught 8 trout, 6 were keepers. No reds, which was surprising based on the water temp. When the tide stopped, the bite stopped.

Re: Some much needed saltwater therapy

Posted: February 20th, 2014, 3:15 pm
by captkeyser
Wife and I launched around 7:30am at the Light House ramp and headed back up the St. Marks to hit a section of bars that have always produced. We got a 27" stud Red on the bars but only two slot trout. Odd. I did notice a green slime coating all of the submerged bars, which I don't like to see. Not sure if this had anything to do with it, but the trout bite wasn't there. As the tide was getting close to low slack, we high tailed it over to some flats to the East in hope of seeing the Reds that have been tailing for the past couple of weeks. They were there! Saw around 25 to 30 tails and had 3 followers. No takers :( . Still fun and one of my favorite ways to target Reds. After the tide had come in enough to cover the tails we made a move to a creek. Caught a few nice slots at the mouth but not as many as I expected so we continued moving back. Ended up finding fish and kept 8 upper slot trout, rest were released. All fish in the creek were caught with flukes on a 1/8oz jig head. Color DID seem to matter. My normal "go to" pearl fluke was not doing the trick so we did the opposite. Fished a gold speckled black fluke and it was game on.

So, we hit the mouth of the river which produced a great red and a few trout. The flat had reds, but they weren't in predator mode, and the creek was the most productive for trout. No big trout caught with the largest being just shy of 22"s. All in all, it was a fantastic day on the water. Going again Sunday, rain or shine. :thumbup:

Re: Some much needed saltwater therapy

Posted: February 20th, 2014, 6:10 pm
by LucWilliams
Went East today. Reds were in an eating mood. Soft plastic was bait of choice. Caught 2, one at 26 and the other right over 27. The 26 inch fish tailed a little for me. Had one that wouldn't eat and another that my buddy messed up the shot on but the fish was tracking the lure and wanting to eat it.

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Re: Some much needed saltwater therapy

Posted: February 21st, 2014, 6:29 pm
by milto
Looks like the weather was too nice to pass up on Wednesday. Like Galantnole said we also got out on the water with bigphishie.The day started off a little cool, but warmed up rather nice. We ended up a little east of St. Marks where everyone else was. The bite also started off slow, and our tradition of cracking a cold one once a keeper was in the boat had to be reversed. But as soon as we cracked one, it was game on! We actually found our trout on the flats. Water temp was around 62 to start the day and in some areas almost 68 at its warmest. It almost tempted me to pull out the top water. But when we got on em like we did, there was no reason to change! We had our 3 man limit of trout in less than an hour. All were 16+, but we were never able to find the big boys. We threw back many as well. Since we limited out on trout is was the reds we were after. Ended up with 3 slot reds. One 24, One 23, and one 20. Overall great day on the water!!

Re: Some much needed saltwater therapy

Posted: February 21st, 2014, 8:07 pm
by tallykenj
Nice!


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