66 degrees=Jerkbaits

12.11.12

Very Swift Incoming Tide

I was surprised when we dumped the tin boat in at Mashes Sands when my temp gauge registered 66 degrees.

The past few times out the water had dipped to 60 degrees.

I still had my Mega Bait jerk bait tied on and couldn't wait to chuck it in the swift incoming tide at the middle bar.

The third cast had a small trout to the boat.

The fourth cast a 19" speck nailed the bait, and jumped like a largemouth.  He put up quite a battle in the swift water.

We eased back and forth along the back side of the bar and caught 12 trout there.  Nancy got a real nice 18" speckled trout on a gulp.

I caught some on a new color Gulp I found while in Charleston visiting Hunter, Disco Prawn.

We eased over to Chaires Creek and we added two more trout to the total.

We fished about 2 1/2 hours and caught 14 total specks, a pretty good day for mid December.

Clear Cool Water

11.25.12

Water:  60 degrees

Air:  59 degrees

Fishing for us has slowed a little between working more and holidays.

We did manage a couple of quick trips recently.

Doug and I did a quick pre Thanksgiving feast trip in Elmore Cove.

We saw lots of reds and trout, but due to the extremely clear water, we were flushing them and not catching them.

Nancy and I went out for a fast afternoon trip on the coolest day of the year and hit Chaires Creek, where she caught a small trout and we hit the white bar and caught this flounder.

He got to go free as I was feeling lazy and didn't want to clean him for dinner.

Time to start looking for the fish in warmer water as it looks like winter fishing is upon us.

More Trout

11.6.12

Having our fill of trout catching yesterday, we wanted to catch a big bull red today.

So off we went with some cut mullet and some ideas where to catch the reds.

Tried the mouth of Tide Creek, the white bar, the clam bar, and the assorted oyster bars in front of OR.

The only thing we could catch were trout, trout, trout.  Speckled and white.

Lots Of This Happening Today

Probably caught another 20 or so and wasn't even trying.  Also had some whiting mixed in.

No reds, but another beautiful day on the water.

Whack Fest

11.05.12

Water: 66 degrees

Last half of out going tide

We fianlly got out on the pond after weeks of visiting, fog, wind, work, fog, wind, etc., etc.

A beautiful fall day and the fish were biting as we set down at our favorite oyster bar in the OR.

The water was falling nice and a north wind was blowing against the tide and was setting up a good chop where we wanted to cast our lines.

We were rewarded with trout after trout that came aboard the tin boat.  Every cast was greeted with a solid strike that produced a nice trout or a trout the got quick released due to the quick tide.

I was throwing a megabass jerkbait and Nancy was floating live shrimp.

Nancy caught the only non-trout when this sheep head decided it wanted a shrimp cocktail.

We got back in time to load the boat on the trailer before the bottom of the tide fell out.

I cleaned the boat and the fish and headed to Stacey's and she produced the final product.

Blackened trout, YUM!!

Raging Tide

10.16.12

We went out for an afternoon trip at the mouth of the OR.

We had a negative tide this morning and the afternoon tide is a 4 footer, so the water is flying in and out of the river.

The water had clouds of silt drifting past the boat and I didn't have high expectations after viewing it.

We tried the mouth or the river and the clam bar, just to be entertained by the dolphin hammering the mullet.

Our last stop was the white oyster bar and I caught 4 trout off one rock there, (one was a quick release and as usual it was the biggest one).  They ate a jig head with a gulp fluke.  The others were just keepers and we had some fish in the freezer so they got to survive for another day.

A beautiful day, but tough fishing.

It's October and It's Rattlesnake Time!

10.10.12

I was going out to buy some rum last evening and ran across this fellow soaking up the heat from the asphalt.

Last October I saw a bigger rattler in the community.  They love crawling up on the asphalt when it starts cooling down.

I notified the neighbors since we are all a bunch of dog walkers.  Hopefully these snakes will be seen and not heard!

Small Fish Small Post

10.9.12

Nancy and I went out for a quick trip Tuesday.  Didn't hit the tide quite right.  We wanted to go out to Shell Point Reef, but the wind was blowing too hard for the little Nan to go out there.

We eased over in front of Piney Island and caught two small sea trout and a small flounder and of course a pooping lady fish.

Eased back into the Panacea Harbor and caught a couple of sand trout for dinner.  Even they were tough to come by on the slack low tide.  But, they tasted good in Panko!