Keaton Beach 11/5 - 11/6 Oh Yeah!!
Posted: November 8th, 2005, 11:26 pm
Went for a weekend end trip of some flats fishing out of Keaton Beach. After a late start on Saturday (don't ask, boat problems that were supposed to have been fixed by the boat mechanic) we hit the water at about 1:30 pm. We start off throwing some jigheads and grubs but with little luck. I pull out the pinfish rod and catch a couple of pinfish and set them out under some Cajun Thnuders and we start getting some bites. We use both live pinfish and cut bait and manage a good haul of 2 redfish (22" and 24"), 5 keeper trout (16 - 19") and about 4 short trout and a couple of catfish. The bite was good but not steady. But we seem to have located the fish in 3' of water. We head in at about 5:00 pm for some grub and sleep.
Sunday we get in the water at about 7:00 am and decide to buy some live shrimp, actually we were going to buy live pinfish but at $8.00 a dozen the shrimp seemed a much better deal at $7.50 for 50. We start fishing a little deeper (4 feet) because its low tide and we catch three or four fish real quick (2 keepers) and the it slows a little but we catch a few here and there for a few hours as the tide is going out. Also catch a 20" Spanish Mackerel. Then at low tide it stops dead and so does any wind. We piddle about not catching anything and decide to head shallower as the incoming tide starts. Thats when it goes from decent to great. In the next few hours we fish from about 3.5' to 2' and catch a lot of trout. We end up with our limit quickly and start releasing fish after that. We catch about 25 keepers with at least 5 or 6 going over 20" about two over 23". Many of the other keepers were 18" - 20". We also release about 25 short trout also. We also release one short redfish and keep a 15" flounder. Most of the fish were caught on cut bait under a cajun thunder, some on the shrimp but the cut bait worked better because you did not have to worry about the bait stealers from taking your bait. Plus we would catch two or three fish on one piece of cut bait. It was a blast and the best day I have ever had fishing the flats.
Sunday we get in the water at about 7:00 am and decide to buy some live shrimp, actually we were going to buy live pinfish but at $8.00 a dozen the shrimp seemed a much better deal at $7.50 for 50. We start fishing a little deeper (4 feet) because its low tide and we catch three or four fish real quick (2 keepers) and the it slows a little but we catch a few here and there for a few hours as the tide is going out. Also catch a 20" Spanish Mackerel. Then at low tide it stops dead and so does any wind. We piddle about not catching anything and decide to head shallower as the incoming tide starts. Thats when it goes from decent to great. In the next few hours we fish from about 3.5' to 2' and catch a lot of trout. We end up with our limit quickly and start releasing fish after that. We catch about 25 keepers with at least 5 or 6 going over 20" about two over 23". Many of the other keepers were 18" - 20". We also release about 25 short trout also. We also release one short redfish and keep a 15" flounder. Most of the fish were caught on cut bait under a cajun thunder, some on the shrimp but the cut bait worked better because you did not have to worry about the bait stealers from taking your bait. Plus we would catch two or three fish on one piece of cut bait. It was a blast and the best day I have ever had fishing the flats.
