Nothing Really To Report

7.25.16

Water Temp.  89

Should been something happening, but just two little sharks offered today.

The Seacraft is running well as we made the jaunt down to the bridge.  Wanted to bump into a tarpon, but stopped along the way looking....nothing to be seen.

As the tide switched to incoming, a school of jack crevalle started tearing it up, but I was unprepared to toss a bait into the frenzy.  And then..it was gone.

Nice morning, but hotter than hades cleaning the boat.

Great Day On The Water....Finally

7.18.16

Water Temp.  88 degrees

We decided to get the boat in the water.  I wanted to keep the two stroke running.  I have been real negative on going out in this miserable SC heat.

The water was so black and nasty the last few times we dropped the boats in the water, but the water had cleared and I figured if we got up early maybe we could catch a fish, but at least the carbon would be blown out of the ol' mere on the tin boat.

I have been wanting to fish a large island in the Broad River on an incoming tide, the high tide was scheduled for around nine.  So, when we hit the water at 6:30 AM I figured we would hit it right.

And we did.

About the fifth cast on a Walmart special that Doug had given me, I flushed some bait out of some weeds.  The next cast a 17" trout decided he wanted the Walmart special and surprised the heck out of me.

Nancy then got it the action when a 14" flounder grabbed her tourist rig with a gulp shrimp dangling on a jig head.

I was watching an otter play in the submerged grass and enjoying the morning, when I saw something large swimming up the other side of the island.

Low and behold it was a BIG manatee with her babies.  They swam right across the bow of the boat.

This video quickly shows them.  I came home and checked to see if they are a common sight in SC.  The SCDNR has a form to fill out if you did indeed see one.  So, while not rare, we were happy to be a part of something that a lot of folks don't see here in the low country.

After settling down from the manatee siting, I flipped the trout trick to the edge of the grass near the spot Nancy caught her flounder and felt the familiar thump.

A nice 16" flounder came aboard.

We followed the incoming tide up to our home.

Nancy picked up a few small trout at our trout hole, and I had one eat the Walmart special there too.

Our next stop was a new oyster bed we wanted to check out.  While we didn't get any bites, we were entertained by some quail that were talking on the island that Clarendon plantation owns.  I haven't heard the call of "bob white" since we left the farm in Georgia.  

We wanted to fish the redfish hole at high tide and were greeted by a huge alligator guarding the creek just past the hole.

While we we're watching him cruise back and forth, I managed a puppy drum and a pretty 19" trout taken on a trout trick.

We had one more high tide trout hole to try near the old railroad crossing, but all we could manage was a puppy drum.

So, with the sweat rolling and the F 35's making their practice runs we decided to get off the water at 10:30.

It was one of the more enjoyable 4 hours I have had since the heat wave began here in Beaufort.