So This is Catching and Not Fishing!

12.2.11

Tide:  Out going

My neighbor Taff said he would take me fishing in his home waters around Spring Creek when I could get in the boat.

I saw him earlier in the week and told him I was boat ready after fishing over Thanksgiving and not feeling too bad.

We went out Friday morning and as we approached the creek after a 15 minute boat ride, birds dropping down and feeding everywhere.

Its always a good sign that the birds have found the buffet open.

As we worked our way back into the creek by various maneuvers, we finally reached our first hole on a cool morning.

As I reached down to get my rod ready I realized my bail was broken on my Shimano.

So as I was rerigging my other rod, Taff put a whoopin' on the fish.  Three keeper reds, a pup and a sheepshead in five straight casts.  He looked at me and said, "We aint' fish in' today we're catching'!"

Man, was he right with that statement.

After I got my gear assembled again, we hit the next hole and I got some action as we brought aboard a few more keeper reds and probably 5 more pups.

We then went to the very back of the creek to the last hole.

We fished there for at least an hour, and caught well over 20 keeper reds and at least 30 pups.  I have never seen this before.  EVERY cast was a bite and we had many doubles and lines crossed.

We were tallying how many spots each red had.  Taff was winning with a five spot red until I caught a seven spot red.  Crummy picture below.

We finally decided to quit catching and run around and show me the sites of Spring Creek.

I watched as Taff pulled up to oyster bars to grab some treats.

Check out the size of the oysters he grabs!

This tour included the viewing of the 12 boils in Spring Creek, two alligators and a few small trout along the way.

Wow, this is what you call fishing (catching) paradise!

I couldn't ask for a better trip and a more educational trip than I received today.

Thanks Taff!

Up and Att'em

11-23-11 Through 11-28-11
Thanksgiving Weekend

Tides:  Crazy low to high

Finally!
I am able to get up and go out on the boat and fish.

In Front Of Panacea Harbor Marina

Had a big crew in for the holiday.
Patty and Willie from Sautee.  Doug and Mom in from Macedonia and Crystal River.  And Hunter was in from Charleston.  This visit kept the gas prices from going down.

Patty and Willie nailed them every other day while they were  fishing out of their canoe.

For me and whoever was unfortunate enough to go out with me, not so much.

Fish were caught around Panacea Harbor Marina and the oyster bars at the mouth of the Ochlockonee River.

Hunter, Doug and I fished up the Wakulla River for bass and only had a small flounder for our efforts.

Patty and Willie had much better luck.

Patty told me to mention that these fish were all caught by her and that Willie is just holding them!

All in all a very nice Thanksgiving visit.

This Is Gonna Take A While

10.26.11

Got back from the doc and she says I can lift 25 lbs. in three weeks.  Well, there goes pulling anchor.

Stay tuned, I'll be back in a month!

Post Operative Dock Trash with Hunter

10.16.11

Well, decided to walk like a 84 year old guy down to the dock and fish a little with Hunter who is in on fall break.

The surgery knocked me for a loop, but I gotta get around and Hunter and I figured we would try a few casts.

We caught a few reds, little trout and a flounder broke me off at the dock.

Fun being out with Hunter, when he leaves I will be able to rest my wounds.  He about killed me laughing at his stories and sly wit.

Dock Trash

10.8.11

It has been really, really windy the past few days.

So, I was banished to fish off the dock today, good ol' dock trash.  That's better than bank trash here.  It keeps you away from the bugs.

I ended up catching 5 little reds, two little trout and a lady.

Miette had fun watching the fish come in.  She really wanted to kill some saltwater fish today.  But, she had to be an onlooker.

Great Vitamin D Trips, Fishing Not So Great

9-30,10-2-2011

Windy, hot on 9-20
Cool, windy 10-2

With my upcoming hospital stay, I'm trying to get out and get on the grouper, unfortunately, all I'm getting is a good vitamin D infusion from the sun.

Nancy and I went down to Lanark to try some grouping in their pretty water.

The wind was quite brisk early, we got out about 4 miles and decided to turn the Nan Z around and head downwind of St. George Island.

We marked good live bottom on some new GPS numbers we got, but all we could put in the boat was a flounder and a bunch or black sea bass.

We didn't even get a good tug from a grouper.

A cool front came in Saturday and created small craft advisories.

We went out in front of Panacea Harbor late on Sunday to try and catch some sand trout.

We put a few in the boat, which Nancy is frying in panko as we speak.

But, the trip was still relatively slow, except for Nancy spanking the sharks!

Sea Bass Run

9.25.11

Air. Hot, heat index 102 deg.
wind very calm
water 86-88 deg.
Tide: low to high

We wanted to get out and try the open gag grouper season.  So we loaded up the Nan Z and headed out on a very hot calm morning.

We went to the last spot we caught some nice red grouper on when Patty and Willie were down.  Nothing.

Kept banging from spot to spot out toward 24 with nothing to show for it but a 18" red grouper and a few grunts.

But, the black sea bass are sure out there, and they are nice ones.  My graph kept lighting up when traveling from spot to spot.  We would drop down and get eaten up with the bass.

We kept enough to get 14 filets, but you could have loaded the boat if you wanted too.

So, while we were disappointed with the grouper catch, at least we got some groceries.

Check out the slick calm.  It was hot, hot, hot!!!