St. Marks 7/2

[BeeeReady]

Left the around 7ish stopped and threw the net in the lighthouse creek got some small pinfish and croakers. It was a fairly low tide and bait was plentiful.. came out of the lighthouse Channel and instantly saw a few Tarpon gulping some air, I threw a big topwater plug on them but there were no takers.. it looked like they were headed out into the bay.. I decided to Head West and fish the flats. There was lots of grass in the water and bait popping. The first bait school I encountered I threw a topwater plug and caught a nice Spanish mackerel about 4 pounds. I stayed on the outside of the school with my trolling motor and put 5 more in the Box all about the same size. I did lose my Top Pup.. and switched to a crocodile spoon. I went out to about 7 foot of water and caught quite a few trout maybe twenty or so with three nice keepers at 18, 17, and 17 1/2 inches.. with the Spanish on ice i decided to let them swim..I saw a lot of other bait schools with Spanish mackerel attacking them but decided to head into a few creeks. On the incoming tide the red fishing was slow at first... about 12 o'clock the bite picked up suddenly.. picked up a 24 "redfish which i released. I caught him on an aqua dreams spoon that was black.. they stopped attacking that and I switched to an exude soft plastic with red jighead ..watermelon green.. this caught me a nice trout at 21 inches which I released as well. Two undersized Reds at about 15 inches each were also caught with this bait. I floated out the tiny pin fish on a cork got another small red, and a beautiful 23 " trout.. the circle hook did the trick and he was released unharmed. Like a light switch the bite shut down and nothing was moving. I headed back to the lighthouse and was out of the water by about 3:30.. it was a fun day and the fish were eager to eat. Total count for the day was six Spanish mackerels from 3 to 4 pounds, 20+ trout in including a 23" 21 "18 "17 " and 17 1/2" four reds at 24" 15" 15" 14" plus a few ladyfish and a catfish. I did whack a rock or something and bent my porters rock guard! But...overall a really fun day on the water.
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