St. Marks 8/27
Posted: August 28th, 2017, 10:55 pm
After a couple of short shakedown runs the last couple of weekends in the new-to-me flats skiff, I was finally ready to hit the water for some serious fishing this weekend. The tides and weather looked less than cooperative, but my buddy Ed and I decided to give it a go Sunday morning. We hit the lighthouse ramp before daylight, with a steady wind blowing from the NE. We dawdled a little getting everything ready, but were still second to launch.
We ran east into the steady NE wind and started a drift roughly in front of Gray Mare at sunrise in 3 feet of water. We did a few drifts getting pushed out by the tide and wind to deeper water in fairly short order, running in a little further west, drifting back out again. We had to work for fish but ended up with three solid keeper trout - 19", and two 17" - by 11:00 a.m., plus half a dozen shorts and a few trash fish. All fish were caught on new penny Gulps or root beer DOAs under popping corks. The keepers were also all caught in shallow water - 3-4 feet.
About that time the sun started shining pretty well, and the tide getting pretty low, so we ran down and hit Cobb rocks looking to see if any redfish were holding on them. No joy in mudville. Contemplated trying a couple of creeks, but with the chop on the water, a very low tide, and not having good routes marked on the new GPS yet, decided to give it a pass. So we ran back to the ramp and got there to the lowest water I've ever seen in the canal. That wind must have really pushed the water out. Even with my motor jacked all the way up I still rubbed the skeg on the ramp bumper putting the boat on the trailer. No harm to the skeg though, so it was all good.
Water clarity was surprisingly good, and the cloud cover pretty consistent despite the wind until late morning. Frankly, we did better than I expected. And, I continue to be impressed with the new Bay Craft - it really handled the chop well and we stayed pretty dry when running given the conditions.
I'm still trying to master sharing pictures - I will add a couple if I figure it out. I'm going to try to post more of my trips in the future. I've learned a lot on this forum over the years!
We ran east into the steady NE wind and started a drift roughly in front of Gray Mare at sunrise in 3 feet of water. We did a few drifts getting pushed out by the tide and wind to deeper water in fairly short order, running in a little further west, drifting back out again. We had to work for fish but ended up with three solid keeper trout - 19", and two 17" - by 11:00 a.m., plus half a dozen shorts and a few trash fish. All fish were caught on new penny Gulps or root beer DOAs under popping corks. The keepers were also all caught in shallow water - 3-4 feet.
About that time the sun started shining pretty well, and the tide getting pretty low, so we ran down and hit Cobb rocks looking to see if any redfish were holding on them. No joy in mudville. Contemplated trying a couple of creeks, but with the chop on the water, a very low tide, and not having good routes marked on the new GPS yet, decided to give it a pass. So we ran back to the ramp and got there to the lowest water I've ever seen in the canal. That wind must have really pushed the water out. Even with my motor jacked all the way up I still rubbed the skeg on the ramp bumper putting the boat on the trailer. No harm to the skeg though, so it was all good.
Water clarity was surprisingly good, and the cloud cover pretty consistent despite the wind until late morning. Frankly, we did better than I expected. And, I continue to be impressed with the new Bay Craft - it really handled the chop well and we stayed pretty dry when running given the conditions.
I'm still trying to master sharing pictures - I will add a couple if I figure it out. I'm going to try to post more of my trips in the future. I've learned a lot on this forum over the years!
