After Action Report: 4-2-11

The weatherman is a filthy tramp and a liar. I was promised a high in the 50′s and showers in the morning followed by sun. To me, that sounds like a great day of fishing. But, as usual, an Indiana meteorologist guessed wrong. And that’s exactly what Indiana weather is, a guess. Which makes meteorologists here very much like referees in that their job is nearly impossible, they screw it up a lot (although less than you or I would), and they are very unpopular because of circumstances outside their control. But that doesn’t change the fact that I was supposed to have a great day of fishing!

Instead of the weather I was promised and looked forward to greatly, I got low 40′s temps with winds up to 30 mph. That makes the temperature feel more like 30, and makes for a hard day of casting. And I haven’t even mentioned yet that we don’t have any boats in the water yet (because no one is willing to get in that freezing water and put the pier in, myself included), which makes finding the bass nearly impossible. But if you’re interested in what I tried this weekend and how frustrating it was to hardly catch any weeds, just follow me!

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After Action Report: 3-19-11

Hey guys, sorry about the long hiatus. Along with working during the day and school at night, the wife and I have been doing some house hunting in the evenings when we are free. But all excuses aside, I’m hoping to get more opportunities to post here in the future.

Unfortunately this After Action Report is more along the lines of an After Wasting My Time Report. But I felt I should let you all know that I went fishing (despite the fact that it was nearly two weekends ago), and a trip with no catches is still a trip. So if you love Indiana weather, just take the jump with me! Heyo!

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SUCCESS!

Just a quick update post:

1. Back from Detroit, had a blast, nearly froze to death.

2. The water temperatures in this part of the Gulf of Mexico are now into the acceptable range for most species.

3. Since #2 happened, I went fishing today (3-22-11) at Bald Point State Park. Caught four (4) Whiting and one (1) Spanish Mackerel, all on dead shrimp fished on the bottom in a channel running through the oyster bars and right up to the beach.

4. After Action Report, pictures, and recipes for/cooking of the fish caught are inbound over the next few days. I am thinking about pan frying the Whiting and doing a simple bake for the Spanish Mackerel.

 

AWESOMESAUCE!

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Spring Fever…Literally

I apologize for the lack of updates, posts and After Action Reports. I have been sick for past few days and it got worse after my decision to attempt to fish the Bottoms.

About that fishing “trip”: I caught two small stingrays and a sand trout in 5 hours of fishing. Yay? I guess the water is still too cold inshore for me to catch anything worthwhile. Cold is also affecting Collin, as it is keeping him off the lakes up in Indiana.

Hopefully I can get to feeling better and get a more detailed report of my day at the coast out after my midterm exam tomorrow.

In the meantime, I am going to see Pat McGriff speak tonight about flats fishing.

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The Bottoms

I am now in Mid-Term exam/paper week here at Florida State University and I have to admit, I am worn out. Not so much worn out physically, though the late nights of studying and paper writing are getting to me, but I am just mentally done with school right now. I have one more exam, on Friday and then its the what used to be awesome holiday:

SPRING BREAK!

Except, since I am going to Detroit on March 17th, I will be sitting at home for most of the break, conserving money and sleeping.

But today, oh today, I need a break to recoup and be outside for more than 5 minutes a day. Therefore, I have decided to try my luck at a location known as “The Bottoms” (check out the map at the bottom for exact location). I know its a bit early in the year to be fishing this location, but I figure since there is deep water right next to shore, just down from the boat ramp, I might find some whiting or slot Redfish. Also, trout season opens up today here in NorthWest Florida, so catching one of those tasty buggers would be very nice.

At least the yellow flies won’t be out and about this time of year…I hope.



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The Forums

Here at CatchingDinner.com we not only have the main site and all associated goodies (up to and including future goodies that have yet to be revealed) but an online Forum as well. This is the best place to talk to staffers here, discuss rod and reel selection (as in this thread), talk about boats, football, and general randomness the Internet seems to find amusing.

Eventually the site will be automatically creating a new thread in the forum for every After Action Report, Recipe, and Gear review that is posted to the main page. This feature has not yet been implemented mainly due to funding and time constraints placed on staff by their Real Jobs and school.

There are Rules for the forums with the first and foremost being: NO POLITICS. Followed by NO POLITICS.  The rest are pretty self explanatory: no nudity, no illegal activity and don’t feed the trolls.

Hope to see some new faces in the threads, so head on over to the Forums, register, and let us know who you are in the “Introduce Yourself” section of the forums!

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The February Dilemma

See, the weather here in Tallahassee and the surrounding areas has been absolutely fantastic: uppers 70s to low 80s during the day, mid 40s to mid 50s at night. PERFECT.

Except for fishing.

The water is still too cold in the Gulf of Mexico for my usual beach fishing fare: Spanish Mackerel, Florida Pompano, Redfish, Spotted Sea Trout, Flounder and Cobia. Oh, you can catch plenty of fish right now (except trout, the season is still closed) if you have a boat or a house with a dock on one of the rivers around here, but you cannot catch anything from most of the public access areas along the coast. Water needs to warm up about 10 degrees more, and stay there, for the previously mentioned species to take up residence in the shallows.

Almost the same thing is happening for freshwater fishing as well, though that should pick up quite nicely in the coming weeks with the panfish and bass spawning season about to kick off. I really don’t care for freshwater fishing: the fish are smaller, don’t fight all that hard and, to me, don’t taste as good. I am going to leave the freshwater mostly to Collin and Jake from here on out as thats what they know and are comfortable with doing.

Now you see my dilemma based on the weather. Great weather, but it hasn’t been around long enough to warm up the water enough for the migratory and shallow water species to show up.

On another note, I am going to Detroit for the Icrontic.com St. Patrick’s Day bonanza March 17-20 in Warren, Michigan. Any readers who want to meet up while I am up there should get a hold of me in the forums. When I get back things should really be kickin fishing wise and expect to see at least one After Action Report each week from me, probably more.

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