Spring Warrior - 1/14/07

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Travis_McGee
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Spring Warrior - 1/14/07

Post by Travis_McGee »

Summary (since I went a little long with this): We put in at Spring Warrior Creek Fish Camp, went left at the mouth, and were moderately successful catching reds and trout around (really on) the oyster bars with redfin lure, pink & white grub, and gulp. Read on for the long version.


First time poster here, great site guys. I'll give a little background before getting into last weekend's fishing.

About this time last year, a friend of mine coaxed his wife into allowing him to buy two Hobie Mirage Drive fishing rigged kayaks, by making it sound like one of them was for her. Of course he knew her interest would wane and then he'd have an extra to loan to whatever fishing buddy was available when he wanted to go fishing. I had never seen one of these pedal powered deals at this time and was curious. So, living in Southwest Georgia, we took them to a local private pond for a test drive. After effortlessly rocketing across the pond, and particularly after being dragged around by a feisty largemouth, I was hooked.

My friend's motive behind buying the kayaks, was that they were the least expensive way to get into saltwater fishing. Both of us had some prior experience fishing in the Gulf and Atlantic with charters or experienced acquaintances, but not really any of the on our own/do it yourself variety. So for the past year we've taken any opportunity we could get to take the boats to the coast. We've fished as far west as the mangled pier at Navarre (trolling around for makerel), and have taken one Atlantic trip (Jeckyl Island where we primarily used the boats to run bait out beyond casting distance off the shore for sharks). But our bread and butter will be areas that we can reach from home in under 3 hours for day trips. This will span approximately from Carabelle to Steinhatchee.

With the exception of Wakulla Beach, everywhere that we've been, we've been the only people in kayaks. And I like this; so for purley selfish reasons I've been reluctant to share information on what we're figuring out along the way by trial and mostly error. But, we've gleaned a good bit of help from the web, mostly in the form of fishing reports and tips written by individuals. Our next trip will most likely come after we've found a report stating that species "X" is really biting bait "Y" at location "W", so I'll throw our meager results and many struggles into the information pool so that maybe karma will pay me back by giving me scoop that will send us towards our greatest catch ever on our next trip. So here goes.

We've been amazed at the mildness of this winter's weather, and as of early last week the weekend forecast was 70's with no real threat of rain.
So we planned to take a trip down to Wakulla Beach on Saturday to fish and camp. This would have been our 3rd trip to that area (put in once at the lighthouse and twice at Wakulla Beach). On none of these trips had either of us landed a redfish. This has been our one of our primary goals all along so we were equal parts frustrated, and optimistic at recent reports of reds being caught in the area creeks and rivers.

Well, middle of the week I was telling a friend about what we were up to, and he recommended we try putting in at Spring Warrior Creek, which I'd never even heard of. He made it sound cool, and has a vacant lot down there we could camp on, so we shifted destinations. We got into the water around 15:30 Saturday and paddled out to the mouth. Tide was lowish and incoming. We fished around the oyster bars bearing southeast and I soon caught my 1st career redfish. (Small, but still made my day). I ended up catching 3 undersized reds and an undersized trout. I think my buddy caught a small red or 2 (I understandably wasn't paying him much attention).

Have I mentioned yet that the weather was phenomenal? We did some bare-legged wading and were not remotely cold; I'd even go as far as to say quite comfortable. And get a decent afternoon workout like that, wax a bucket of KFC, knock back a few beers, and sleep in a tent in upper 50's temps....now that's a good night's sleep.

We pretty much repeated the same pattern Sunday morning. Tide was low as we went out and we worked the oyster areas. I caught small red early and then got a 22" trout while standing on an exposed oyster bar after I got out to stretch a little. He bit a redfin lure I was working around in very shallow water trying to catch a red (lucky than good). After a while I paddled out a ways to fish the grassy bottom flats area (probably 3-4 feet of water) to no success what-so-ever. Came back towards shore and then hooked into and caught my first ever keeper red (20"). Awesome fight. Caught him on a 1/4 oz. redhead jig with white & pink body. This lure was somewhat of a pain to fish (repeatedly jerking out of oysters) but was probably the most successful of what we tried all weekend. I caught fish on the redfin and the grub, and my buddy caught them on gulp shrimp primarily I think. We headed in around 13:30 expecting to see a bunch of people at the ramp with a bunch of fish, but not many boats had our red and 2 trout beat. Everyone said it was bad slow. So score one for the rookie yakers!

I was really impressed with Spring Warrior. It is the epitome of "Forgotten Coast". Absolutely nothing there but a few trailers, huts, and salt of the earth folks that like to fish. And unless the trout are out on the flats in the deeps, I think you have an advantage kayaking over motor boating. It is very shallow going out, and very oystery/rocky. The fish this time seemed to be mostly in very shallow water which enabled a couple of novices to out-catch some very experienced anglers.

My apologies for being longwinded. Happy fishing.
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Post by jsuber »

Nice report. In the future let us know your coming and you can join us for a little local knowledge. Some of us fish, the rest just wish.
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Thanks for the tip.

Post by Travis_McGee »

With my background being primarily in bass fishing, all my rigs are baitcasters (there's a really nice Pflueger reel/Shimano rod in the bottom of Goose Creek Bay right now that I must have knocked out of the kayak's rod holder with my paddle a few months ago. Grrrrrr). I really need to get a smallish spinning reel set up for fishing lighter baits - particularly when it's windy.

Do you guys ever use any kind of anchor system when you're fishing in windy conditions or swift-ish currents? If so, what do you use - traditional type anchors with rope, or have you tried a set up like this guy (see link).

http://www.captdick.net/StakeOutPole.htm
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Ah hah

Post by Travis_McGee »

nevermind on the anchor question. I found basically what I was looking for in the 'Accessories' forum. Gonna have to make one of those poles. Anchor rope seems to get in the way too often.
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Post by Reel-Fin-Addict »

good first report 8)
most of use feel the same way about posting reports on our catch. but shareing your report may help others as well a response to your post could help you catch more fish and or explore new spots.

hope to see you on the watersome time TIGHT LINES
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Post by jsuber »

Its good to have a 5th person who actually goes fishing and post reports.
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What a weekend

Post by Travis_McGee »

But some forecasts scream that you have a responsibility to fish:
This Weekend (Jan 13-14)
SATURDAY
SOUTHEAST WIND 5 TO 10 KNOTS. SEAS 3 TO 3 FEET.
PROTECTED WATERS SMOOTH.

SATURDAY NIGHT
EAST WIND AROUND 5 KNOTS. SEAS 2 TO 3 FEET.
PROTECTED WATERS SMOOTH.

SUNDAY
SOUTHEAST WIND 5 TO 10 KNOTS. SEAS 2 TO 3 FEET.
PROTECTED WATERS SMOOTH.

I still can't get over how absolutely gorgeous the conditions were this weekend. Finally today, January is rearing its head again, but it was nowhere to be seen Sat. & Sun. I need to figure out how to post pictures so I can show a picture of me casting into the setting sun Saturday afternoon. (Do they need to be on an existing web site, or is there a way to post them here straight off my computer?) Those who missed this opportunity may not see a weekend like it until late March. The bite wasn't on heavy, but good enough that I still filled my belly with blackened redfish and speckeled trout last night. Awesome. I'm having a hard time shifting gears back to working. Can't get fishing off the brain.
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Post by Travis_McGee »

it can't get cold enough quick enough for me to really catch fish
What do you do to keep your feet warm when you're kayaking in cold weather/water?
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Post by jsuber »

Breathable Waders and smartwool socks
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"Travis"

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"There are people -- young and old -- that I like, and people that I do not like. The former are always in short supply. I am turned off by humorless fanaticism, whether it's revolutionary mumbo-jumbo by a young one, or loud lessons from the scripture, by an old one. We are all comical, touching, slapstick animals, walking on hind legs, trying to make it a noble journey from womb to tomb, and the people who can't see it all that way bore the hell out of me." - John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee



I've read all 21 of those books, and am getting close enough to forgetting them that I'm starting look forward to reading them again. Good stuff.
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