Keaton Report 3/22,23/19

What a difference a few days make?

Well, I fished Monday, mostly to catch the first pinfish of the year, for my trip Tuesday, as I have been using plugs and plastic or shrimp in some cases.

I caught about 75 then decided that I needed to go throw a plug a while.The water temperature of the Gulf had dropped ten degrees down to 62 from 71 degrees over the weekend.

I had a Northeast kick of 12 – 15 K and so I just ran in as shallow as I dared and started throwing the old GS (Walmart) Renegade ( marketed as a magnum lazer minnow)

My third cast I had a 19” trout; then three cast later an 18 incher. I finished with five trout including another 19’' fish, a 21” and a 16” to spoil the average. This took just an hour and ten minutes. it took longer to idle back up to the starting point than to drift and catch the fish.

Well, I had a trip Tuesday and when we pulled around the jetty the water was 59.6 degrees with a promise of “Mostly Sunny”. I don’t know who “Mostly” is but he didn’t show.

The Northeast 12 – 15 Knot breeze saw to it we couldn’t drift ; so we just crabbed sideways most of the day and as the tide was neutralized by that opposing w-i-n-d the fish were missing their oxygen mask .

Did I mention the w-i-n-d held the tide back so that we couldn’t get near an oyster bar, rock pile or a creek. That combined with the lack of sunlight and it was 3:00 p.m. before the water made it up to 61 degrees.

If I need any more excuses let’s just say the keeper trout out on the Gulf just didn’t want to bite. We managed 7 trout, six on live shrimp under Back Bay Thunders and the balance, despite I threw a bunch of different plugs and plastic; just one keeper on the same renegade which I caught them on the day before. 8 hours, 7 trout, long day. Yeah we threw back a couple dozen shorts maybe more I never count shorts anyway.

here’s a report from David Bosch of Tifton, Ga.

“Fished 3/16-3/17 with Chris and Carter Norman of Tifton and a crew of his family from Columbus, GA. Chris's uncle has a new boat and we were trying to familiarize him with the area. Had a good day on 3/16 catching fish from 9 am until around 2 pm through the rise and the first of the fall. That day we picked up fish in 3-5', with the most action in 3.5-4. 3/17 was slower with a later tide and a drop in the water temps. Again, most of our fish were in 3.5-4. The water temps held steady at 67 on 3/16 but dropped down to 62 on 3/17. All in all a great trip. We caught the sea trout on shrimp, pin fish, plastics, and a few on plugs.”

Quick Note: The South Georgia Saltwater Seminars were well received. We had 32 attendees in Thomasville last weekend and from the comments and emails it seemed folks enjoyed the talks and learned a bunch. Mike and I appreciate all the attendees and also want to thank all our sponsors. Bass Assassin, TrikFish, STAR Rods, MirrOlure, Cajun Thunder, Fish Bites, Flying Fisherman, Mikes Marine Supply, American Angler, Woods ‘N Water Magazine, Lure Lock
Big Bend Marine , & Sea Tow.