Steinhatchee Report 5-2

[2-STROKIN]

Well we got out at the crack of dawn. Went north just past pine log island and started fishing in around 4 ft deep. Kept getting in the schools of pinfish and caught a few small trout, one barely being a keeper. Hung a few sailcats around noon and a lot more small trout around noon (12-13" range). Nearly everyone headed in a little after 1:00 and around 1:30 we decided to follow suit. Just past pine log we saw some movement and slowed down and gave it a shot. Heavy activity of big sailcats, ladyfish and more small trout. Did hang one 17" in that group and a big 22" cat. One of the ladyfish I was reeling in got pummeled before getting to the boat by something. All in all horrible day until around 1:45 then we had fun catching and releasing for the most part for around an hour until we ran out of shrimp.

[2-STROKIN]

Also, not sure of what everyone else has been seeing/hearing, but seems like everyone has been catching ALOT of short trout.

[Hunt Nasty]

We fished all day from Rock Point to Keaton Beach and caught two keeper trout between 4 guys on my boat... threw everything in the tackle box at them. Bet we caught 80 short trout however.

Something is off this year in the Hatch... no grass either which is strange this late in the year.

[crappielimits]

Freshwater is slowing the grass from growing. When it turns on its going to be fun.

[big bend gyrene]

Massive spring & summer freshwater dumps for at least the past two years heavily impacted the grass... I started a thread where quite a few board members spoke to it last year.
http://www.bigbendfishing.net/phpBB3/vi ... =1&t=36593

Not only did it fairly significantly impact fishing last year, but it sure also did a number on bait availability in the area. Prior to the seagrass loss, I had multiple numbers I could fish with gulp tipped sabikis and load the bait well with pins in under an hour. Past two years, I've tried for bait at my inshore spots for an hour or so with no more than one or two pinfish in the livewell. Had better luck getting bait offshore where the impact of the freshwater dump was logically much lower / diluted.

Few things will make me happier than the day I hear that the grass is thick again / bait (and fish) are back in full force.

[Hunt Nasty]

Yeah, I have been fishing in Steinhatchee for 12 years and I have never seen the fishing as poor as it has been this Spring. Talked to several guides in the area and they are all struggling to catch fish as well. Sea Hag Marina usually never has open slips on the weekends this time of year but the past two times I have been in the last 4 weeks there are multiple open slips, and a lot less boat traffic than normal.

Hope it doesn't affect Scallop Season

[zload]

Capt. Tommy Thompson's fishing forecast over on FS hit a nerve... he talked about catching pufferfish that he had never seen in the Big Bend before, last two trips I've made we also caught them. Seems strange and they are aggressive.

[Salty Gator]

Capt. Tommy Thompson's fishing forecast over on FS hit a nerve... he talked about catching pufferfish that he had never seen in the Big Bend before, last two trips I've made we also caught them. Seems strange and they are aggressive.

I caught one in stony bayou 2 weeks ago. I've caught them offshor, but never inshore, especially in a creek completely blown out by frrsh water. I didn't think much of it until now

[big bend gyrene]

Hope it doesn't affect Scallop Season

ABSOLUTELY killed Econfina's scallop season last year (per the linked report I shared above). While Econfina doesn't usually out perform areas to the east and west, in years with decent visibility, thick grass, and the right salinity levels, we've found enough to make it worthwhile. Last year I snorkeled grounds productive in earlier years and didn't find A SINGLE large scallop, instead finding ONE miniscule barely formed scallop where normally we would fill a bag full. Those dives are what startled me at the level of grass lost. It was honestly nearly complete loss / vast empty areas where I had previously dove down to thick grass in years past.

Know we had some heavy rains earlier in the spring, but been pretty dry of late. Grass and tons of things I've planted aren't too happy about it (keeping all watered -- giant pain in the arse), but if helps the grass flats make a bit of headway, again I'll be a happy man.

[DixieReb]

If the fish have to go miles out to find bait and get out of the fresh water, I wonder if trout will start laying eggs out there as well. They normally lay in inshore bays near marsh grass. If that happens will it have an impact on juvenile fish stocks?