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Walkula Beach / St. Marks and THE MAN!! 11/19&20/05

Posted: November 21st, 2005, 12:24 pm
by Koenig
Saturday put in at Walkula beach. Dang the tide was LOW this weekend. Ended up getting stuck in a deep hole til tide came back in, but no bother! After realizing I was surrounded by water I proceeded to pull out the trout one after another, glad to see I wasn't the only fool that got stuck! :D Oh, Total trout: 16... 4 were keeper. Caught them on Electric Chicken under CT.

Sunday put in at the Fort early am. Pretty chili. Ran to the red fish spot. OYSTER BARS! Then began to pull out the Reds one after another. Once the bites slowed we moved to another bar, started pulling out some more! Seemed like each bar we stopped at we caught Reds. Only one keeper but I love catching anything that fights like that! Total reds caught: 29 Tried to break 30 but the rain started and we got cold and miserable quick. We went through a lot of shrimp with pins and bars beating up them up. Bought about 125 to 150 shrimp from Scott and used every last one. For the longest time I was never able to catch a Red fish. Now, it seems like they are every where!!! I realize this is a good time of year to catch them but DANG! I really think the one keeper and slot rule are paying off for the Reds in Florida. Good work FWCC!

Got stopped for the usual safety gear inspection and whatnot . All was good and the man was professional. Sure do appreciate what they do.

Speaking of THE MAN, someone tell me if you know what happened to these guys..... When we got back to the Fort we notice the man was at the rocks where the shore fishers hang, he was holding beer in one hand and a cooler in the other, looking upset. He and the shore fishers headed to the truck. I say to my buddy, they were drinking on state property or something like that.... Well, once we loaded up the boat we saw what the fuss was about. There on the man's tail gate was at least 12 to 15 SHORT REDS!!! I don't know what happened to those guys but I'm sure something did.

Sorry to sound this way but if you are going to participate in a sport/activity you should know the rules and regulations. If not, don't keep'em. Like I said above there are reasons when we have them and they ARE the reason we are able to go out and still catch Reds. I shall get off the soap box now! :-D

Posted: November 21st, 2005, 2:52 pm
by trout fisher
Great weekend! Those reds sure are fun when you get 'em to bite. Hope those guys learn a lesson.

Posted: November 21st, 2005, 6:35 pm
by Riverrat
Have not a thought at what happened the man did what he had to do .. I know i was at the Fort and the man checked me in my boat so i ask him if he had checked the Bro's fishing off the rocks because i had seen them catching a bunch of small reds and trout lol hahhaha..He went up there and had a ball .Thats where our welfare money went that day lol .

Posted: November 22nd, 2005, 9:06 am
by catchin1
THE MAN!! Always trying to keep us down. 8)

Posted: November 22nd, 2005, 9:57 am
by dstockwell
Great report. And if people do not know the rules they do not belong out there.

Posted: November 22nd, 2005, 2:04 pm
by Fighting Conch
Some great fishing Koenig! Days like that keep you going.

Like most folks I have a love-hate relationship with THE MAN. It's a big intrusion being stopped but I know the rules are a necessity and would'nt want to be the guy having to do the enforcement. Of course, there were those tickets way back for violating a no-wake zone (it was a speed trap organized by a cranky dock owner who built in a bad spot) and running at dusk without lights (I could see fine). But I've reformed.

Posted: November 22nd, 2005, 8:00 pm
by Koenig
Anybody know what the penalty for taking an under sized Red fish?

Posted: November 22nd, 2005, 8:44 pm
by wevans
$250 per fish in Fraklin county, don't know about Wakulla :oops: :thumbup:

Posted: November 22nd, 2005, 10:59 pm
by dolphinatic
I recently boated a 48" bull red fishing out of Lanark. Took a quick picture and sent him back. When I got back to Mike's, the MAN was there but didn't bother to check us. He just asked us if we caught anything. That's usually their "foreplay" you know :roll: Then once you think you have made a "friend", they move in for the potential kill. Not this guy...he just went back to talking to Mike. When we got loaded up, I went over to him and told him what all we caught. I told him about the big red and asked him how much it would have cost me to keep it. He said $200 and he would get to keep it. I just figured that if I wanted to throw away $200 I would have bought a friend's tickets to the ACC Championship game in Jacksonville :lol:

Posted: November 23rd, 2005, 11:42 am
by Koenig
48'' RED?!?!?! What a monster!!! I bet he faught like crazy. What kinda gear did you catch him on?

Posted: November 23rd, 2005, 11:43 am
by Koenig
supposed to be "fought".

Posted: November 24th, 2005, 12:50 am
by dolphinatic
It hit a whole LY in 35 ft. on it's way to the bottom.

Actually, after the first 10 seconds or so, the fish gave up. It was still a load to haul in though even using a 6.0 Penn!!!!


Image

Posted: November 24th, 2005, 11:03 pm
by DixieReb
Yep, that's a nice bull. :thumbup: :thumbup: Congrats.