St. Marks Jul. 22,23rd

[dogonenuts]

Finally got to go "out" agin after my son and I tried some bottome fishing for the first time a month ago. On Fri. NOAA had it right for once. Picked up about 50-60 pins on the flats and headed out. Was able to cruise the Pathfinder out to the OAR area at about 35 mph (conserving gas 'til the prices come back down). Started seeing bait pods here and there. Got a little distracted trying to get Macks to hit lures we threw into the mix without any luck(should have trolled a spoon thru but was set on bottom fishing). I couldn't believe all the good looking bottom between the OAR numbers and K tower. COuldn't get any interested fish with pin fish, jig or cigar minnows. Wind started blosing a little so we decided to start mozyinig back north. Trolled for awhile with a king rig, clark spoon and a stretch. Got one stike on the Clark spoon. My 9 year old son pulled up a 36-40" king to the side of the boat on 12lb. test line. The fish dove for the bottom and when he got him back up he must have gotten a little slack 'cause the hook just came out before I coul gaff him .. The fish just sat there. I was paralyzed and couldn't take a swing at him with the gaff. He finally realized he was free and took off. i wanted to cry but my son told me that men don't cry so we went on.

Next day NOAA was back on track and the 5-10 predicted was more like 20 with 2-3's and occasional 4's rather than smooth to 1-2's. Ever the optomist I predicted the wind would lay when the sun came up an dit got hot. So, we caught more pins and headed out again at least to troll for that kinfish again. But the waves just got bigger. After going 2/3's the way caution got the better of me and we aborted to head for the AR's closer to St. Marks where the bay boat would feel a little bigger. The stretch fetched a nice Spanish out of about 30ft of water as we trolled a bit. On the first anchor drop my friend and I immediately got rocked up pretty quick. Caught one 24" Gag, a 50-75lb nurse and a grunt. Hit a couple of other spots but had no action. Headed in about 1:30 as the airconditioner was on the blink in the boat and we had a long drive back to Macon.

We'll try again in the fall when the air conditioner is working again.
One quick question: Does it count as a skunk if you caught no desirable fish but did catch your own bait fish?

Nuts

[EddieJoe]

Finally got to go "out" agin after my son and I tried some bottome fishing for the first time a month ago. On Fri. NOAA had it right for once. Picked up about 50-60 pins on the flats and headed out. Was able to cruise the Pathfinder out to the OAR area at about 35 mph (conserving gas 'til the prices come back down). Started seeing bait pods here and there. Got a little distracted trying to get Macks to hit lures we threw into the mix without any luck(should have trolled a spoon thru but was set on bottom fishing). I couldn't believe all the good looking bottom between the OAR numbers and K tower. COuldn't get any interested fish with pin fish, jig or cigar minnows. Wind started blosing a little so we decided to start mozyinig back north. Trolled for awhile with a king rig, clark spoon and a stretch. Got one stike on the Clark spoon. My 9 year old son pulled up a 36-40" king to the side of the boat on 12lb. test line. The fish dove for the bottom and when he got him back up he must have gotten a little slack 'cause the hook just came out before I coul gaff him .. The fish just sat there. I was paralyzed and couldn't take a swing at him with the gaff. He finally realized he was free and took off. i wanted to cry but my son told me that men don't cry so we went on.

Next day NOAA was back on track and the 5-10 predicted was more like 20 with 2-3's and occasional 4's rather than smooth to 1-2's. Ever the optomist I predicted the wind would lay when the sun came up an dit got hot. So, we caught more pins and headed out again at least to troll for that kinfish again. But the waves just got bigger. After going 2/3's the way caution got the better of me and we aborted to head for the AR's closer to St. Marks where the bay boat would feel a little bigger. The stretch fetched a nice Spanish out of about 30ft of water as we trolled a bit. On the first anchor drop my friend and I immediately got rocked up pretty quick. Caught one 24" Gag, a 50-75lb nurse and a grunt. Hit a couple of other spots but had no action. Headed in about 1:30 as the airconditioner was on the blink in the boat and we had a long drive back to Macon.

We'll try again in the fall when the air conditioner is working again.
One quick question: Does it count as a skunk if you caught no desirable fish but did catch your own bait fish?

Nuts

Nice report. Saturday did begin a bit rougher than one to twos, didn't it? Heck, on the skunk thing, who is counting? With a hot summer day, windy, and all that, I hardly ever expect to load the boat. Getting out now and then in July and August is enough, with a fish being a bonus.

Luck,

EJ

[birddog]

Glad you got out there, Dognuts.

[dstockwell]

Good report..