St. Marks 5-14
Posted: May 15th, 2005, 6:16 pm
Was supposed to work all day, but the draw of beautiful weather and 1-2 ft seas forced me to put work off until another day (obviously, I am self-employed). Besides, I just bought a new depth finder and had some flush mounted rod holders installed and they needed to be tested! 
Got to the lighthouse and launched by 3:15 p.m. ran about quarter mile south of the bird rack and drifted west of the channel. My buddy immediately began hooking into short trout. We were fishing 5 feet of water and the temperature was 79 degrees. The tide continued to rise and despite drifting north toward shore we eventually found ourselves in 8 feet of water and no bite.
Eventually headed further west and caught fish between the 1st and 2nd poles (are those the stake lines?) from 4-5 ft of water and the temperature was 79.4-79.9. Shrimp was the preferred bait of the day. Lost a couple of decent trout at the boat not taking it too seriously because we had enough fish for a decent meal.
Final totals:
1 Spanish Mackerel - 22" (Shrimp under CT)
2 Trout - 15.5" and 18" (Shrimp and Candy Corn under CT)
1 Rock Bass - 14" (Yellow Grub on Jighead retrieving moderately)
18 Shorts (Mostly shrimp under CT and various SWA)
Back at the ramp by 6:30, bite slowed down tremendously after 5:30 p.m. Seemed that with the water so warm you really needed to be fishing as close to the bottom as possible. Also, threw Catch 2000 quite a bit and only had a couple follow it to the boat, no strikes.
Lastly, had something strange happen. On the trip home all the fish died in the livewell except the Rock Bass. Cleaned it and rinsed it off and it continued to twitch and flop at least five minutes after the head being cut off along with being gutted. Talking about a freaky event.
After that experience, it was easy to get up and go to church this morning.
Got to the lighthouse and launched by 3:15 p.m. ran about quarter mile south of the bird rack and drifted west of the channel. My buddy immediately began hooking into short trout. We were fishing 5 feet of water and the temperature was 79 degrees. The tide continued to rise and despite drifting north toward shore we eventually found ourselves in 8 feet of water and no bite.
Eventually headed further west and caught fish between the 1st and 2nd poles (are those the stake lines?) from 4-5 ft of water and the temperature was 79.4-79.9. Shrimp was the preferred bait of the day. Lost a couple of decent trout at the boat not taking it too seriously because we had enough fish for a decent meal.
Final totals:
1 Spanish Mackerel - 22" (Shrimp under CT)
2 Trout - 15.5" and 18" (Shrimp and Candy Corn under CT)
1 Rock Bass - 14" (Yellow Grub on Jighead retrieving moderately)
18 Shorts (Mostly shrimp under CT and various SWA)
Back at the ramp by 6:30, bite slowed down tremendously after 5:30 p.m. Seemed that with the water so warm you really needed to be fishing as close to the bottom as possible. Also, threw Catch 2000 quite a bit and only had a couple follow it to the boat, no strikes.
Lastly, had something strange happen. On the trip home all the fish died in the livewell except the Rock Bass. Cleaned it and rinsed it off and it continued to twitch and flop at least five minutes after the head being cut off along with being gutted. Talking about a freaky event.
After that experience, it was easy to get up and go to church this morning.
