Gold Spoon Hex Broken

6.7.11

Tide: High and outgoing

Water temp: 84 deg.

We decided to hit Lanark with the wind blowing hard out of the east south east.

We headed west out of Lanark and started throwing the Big EZ and Hunter had the gold johnson spoon on.  We were throwing baits that wouldn't hang in the suspended weeds.  Hunter was commenting on how he has never caught a fish on a gold spoon.

It wasn't long before Hunter said "I think I've got one".  I turned to watch him looking puzzled as the fish swam towards the boat and suddenly realized it was hooked.  Hunter's new Johnny Morris reel got it's drag worked out as Hunter's thought of "having one" turned out to be true.  A nice 22" red came aboard.

It wasn't long before he hooked up again and brought this nice multi spotted red aboard.

We worked our way up and down the coast and ended up with 6 nice reds, of which two were keepers.  They bit well on this smoky morning, but eased up as the sun got up.  We hit some docks but to no avail.
We loaded up the tin boat and put the hex of the gold spoon behind us.

Oyster Bar Multi Specie Catch Fest

6.6.11

Tide: High to outgoing

Water Temp: 83 Deg.

Hunter and I wanted to get out and try to find some fish for the upcoming Big Bend Classic.  Seeing we had a high tide first thing in the morning, we took the tin boat, Nan, out for a oyster bar milk run.

Heading over to the banana bar for the first attack and we were rewarded with some 3 nice flatties which two came home with us for dinner.  They were eating Hunter's gulp.

Hunter was pretty much on fire today.  He was feeling it with his new rod and reel.

We hopscotched around the bars avoiding the worst water as the wind was blowing hard from the north right down the river.

I caught a couple of nice blues.  At our last stop, the white bar, the bait was stacked up.  Hunter had been throwing the bonkadonk with no success all morning.  I said, "I'm gonna catch one here with it, here we go" and bingo, nice trout.

I even had a small cobia on a swimbait here.  

It was getting hot, so we headed to the Mashes with a good multi specie day slugfest behind us.

Snapper Run

6.3.11

Lanark Village Ramp

Tide: low incoming

Water Temp: low 80's

With favorable winds forecast we decided to try for some delicious red snapper.  With the short season, we wanted to get some in the freezer while we can.

We headed about 13 miles off shore from Dog Island.  We were remarking how few boats were out.  Wouldn't you know it, the first hole we were going to had a boat on it.  This happened again later in the day.  I guess the numbers I have aren't really secret after all.

Nancy and I knew one number no one would have, because we found it last year while out in the K tower area.  We went there on our second stop and the fish were waiting.

Hunter caught a bunch of illegal grouper, gag and red.

While I was waiting to help Hunter get one of his illegals in the boat, I heard Nancy grunt and say "this is a big one."  Hunter looked over the side and saw the nice red glow of a snapper coming up.  He dropped his stuff and netted this nice 22" 7.25 lb. snapper.

We had an OK trip, stopping here and there.  Finding fish at one spot and not another, but we did catch a nice black bass to go home with the snapper.

We figured we actually fished about 3 and a half hours, so not a bad trip.  All fish were caught on cut bait, as my bait catchers didn't come through again.

SSSSLLLLOOOOOWWWWWW

5.27.01
Tide: incoming
Water Temp: 81
Warm and humid morning

Went out this morn trying to get some water time before the Memorial Day weekenders hit the water.

I wanted to go out in front of Piney Island and try to get some reds to eat some topwater.

It sure looked promising as I slid the boat into the water at Rock Landing.

I got plenty of casting practice.  Only had one half hearted boil on the bonkadonk.

The wind started picking up, so I decided to finish in the harbor and try to pull a red from one of the docks inside the harbor.  

I pitched up under on of the cat sailboats and my line moved off.

I set the hook on this nice 18" trout.  That was a surprise.  He was gonna go back in the water, but he inhaled the little jig.  So, into the cooler the fish went for a future dining experience.

I pitched about all the docks in the harbor.

This was the only bite and only fish I caught.  

Now that is what I call slow.

It seemed dead out on the water today.  Maybe it is the quickly rising water temps.

Lanark Dock Pitching

5.26.11
Tide: Incoming
Water: Clear, 82 Deg.
Sunny and warm (what else?)

Headed down to Lanark on a solo trip this morning.  Figure I would try the incoming tide for reds.  If I fell out of the boat I could wade to shore.

The water is very clear there, very pretty and lots of weeds.

I started at the FSU marine lab.  While there was a TON of bait there, I couldn't get anything to bite.

So as it got closer to high tide, I figured I would do the ol' Lanier method.
I tied on an 1/8 jig head and a gulp shrimp and started fishing covered docks.  While there aren't many, I did manage to find a few.

I caught three of these guys off one dock.  15-16 inches, not big, but nice fighters.

I caught another one a few docks down the shoreline.

I'm sure there are bigger ones around, but the water temp is now 82 degrees.  Just last week it was 74 degrees.  I didn't see any trout.

I did see two tarpon roll just west of the FSU lab.  I also saw some guides out on bird island polling along.  So, I'm assuming they are targeting the early tarpon.  Might have to get in on that next week after the crazies leave the water after Memorial Day.

Catching Up at Lanark and the OR

5.26-5.28.11
Water 72 degrees
Wind, light

Well we finally got back home after traveling with the Rhode College Lynx baseball team this winter/spring.

Hunter, Charlotte, Nancy and I decided to try Lanark for some new water fishing.  As it usually goes when fishing a new area we had mixed results.

Charlotte had the most luck, whether it was having a fish spool her on the beach at Dog Island or catching dinner on the grass flats a Lanark, she was in the mix most of the time.

We ran from the beach at Dog Island to the barge 5 miles out and back to the flats off 98 and didn't do real well.  We hit a low tide most of the day and the water wasn't moving too well.  So, that's my excuse.  

We hit the water Friday morning and had some decent results here at the OR mouth.

This last picture shows Hunter with the first fish he caught with his new Loomis rod and Stradic reel he got for his graduation.  (Thanks Nick). Well, it's the first fish he caught that he will claim.  It seems I remember some ladyfish and some blue runners in the mix that may have been the first fish caught on the set up.

Doug came up and we put together a nice evening trip on the bars in the river.  They were eating the lead heads with gulp pretty well.

This picture was the last cast.  What a battle in the swift outgoing tide.

Doug and I planned a trip Saturday morning that included a stop at 2 flat, Ochlockonee shoals, 24 marker, and the cobia run. This run was jinxed from the start as a wire came loose from the depthfinder.
As we stopped at 2 flat and as I was fixing the wire all I could hear was Doug saying got him, missed him, got him, $%#&.  Oh, the last quote was mine.

He was banging the spanish on top on the bonkadonk.

Little did we know this would be as good as it got Saturday.
I broke a rod tip, had my good jerkbaits bitten off, and mostly removed the green slime that is growing in the waters near shore to off shore.  What the heck is up with that stuff?  It makes it very difficult to fish about any bait/lure.

Oh well, we got to smoke some filtered Swisher Sweets, what a treat.

Nice to get back out and fish again.  Will be settling in now, and be more consistent on my posts and hopefully on my fishing results.

Graduation Party Quick Pics at Horseshoe Lake

5.19-5.22.11

We came up for Hunter's graduation from Rhodes college.  Had the whole clan in from Texas, Ohio, Florida and Maryland.

It was cool, cloudy and windy during the days at the Shoe, but we managed to wander out on the dock.  We caught quite a few crappie for the conditions, but a couple of good ones were brought in like these below.

Both of these were caught with the ol' tube jig and a chartreuse crappie nibble.  Those things are dynamite.

We did real well as bank trash up on the Shoe.  I can only imagine how well you can load the boat if you had one.  I probably will never fish there again, but the folks in that area should be happy they have such a good lake near a major metropolitan area.

Oh, I saw the alligator picture of the big lizard in the canal on the east side of the lake across from the house we were staying.  Mamas don't let yer babies go swimmin'!