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Fish and Fog
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.
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