1-23-2008
I decided to fish St. Joseph Sound this morning just because I had a few ideas that I wanted to try. I got a late start however because my trailer lights weren't working. I tried for an hour to get them to work and when sun up came, I just rolled out with them working as best I could get them to.
The scene at the boat ramp was not indicative of what was to come once I ventured a little ways from shore. It was foggy. Not terrible but still a little unnerving as I ran 9 miles South of the ramp. Also, just for a heads up, don't trust your GPS maps too much in the fog. Mine was about 500 yards off on an island and I came within 25 yards of planting my boat into the island's North shore before I saw it. My GPS said I was 500+ yards east of the island.
Once I reached my first stretch of shoreline, it didn't take long to realize that that this was going to be a great "catching" day. In the first ten minutes I saw two schools of redfish and several fish tailing. It wasn't 5 minutes after the visual confirmations of fish that the situation turned into physical catching of fish. I caught 5 reds in the first 20 minutes using my trusty Exude RT Slug on a weightless Mustad Powerlock hook. Only this time I was trying out a new color that I picked up at Fisherman's World in Tarpon Springs. The new (to me) color is called Croaker Shad. It's kind of a tan color with silver and green flash in it. I picked it up because I thought it looked like a good imitation of several kinds of baitfish that are abundant in the winter months here. The redfish seemed to agree with my logic.
After I caught several fish, including 3 trout over 20", I decided that I just had to get some of these aggressive fish to hit a top water plug. On the third cast the water exploded underneath my plug. Unfortunately the fish missed all 6 hooks hanging from the bottom of my lure. In fact, the next 10 strikes I got on top water all came up blank. Then I finally hit pay dirt with a nice 24" red on my Mirr-O-Lure He-Dog plug. The bite lasted until well into the incoming tide and then it shut off around 10:30am.
Once the bite shut down the fog really set in. I had thought that the sun would burn it off but I was wrong. By noon I couldn't see more than 30 yards. I decided to head home instead waiting to see if the fog would burn off. Being on the water in the fog is kind of eerie because you lose your sense of direction and you can hear other boats whizzing by you but you can't see them or the direction they are heading. I just took my time and kept my head on a swivel and made it home in about 45 minute.
It wasn't a bad day at all. I could have done without the fog but the bite today made it worth it.
Tampa Bay Fishing
Captain Clay Eavenson
813-300-2147
http://www.captainclay.com/
gofishing@captainclay.com
