It's been too cold for too long here in sunny? Florida. We've had about four days of nice weather so I figured that the fish might want to start eating. My fishing buddy (in the dark blue shirt) and I heading out of the Chassowitska River ramp with the tide about 3/4 low. The temp awas about 72 with the wind out of the NE, which tends to blow the water of of the creeks. Perfect conditions for the kind of fishing we do down her in the airboat.

We used live shrimp and DOA plastic shrimp in 1/4 oz rootbeer color. While the fish weren't really stacked up in any one place, we did manage to catch some real nice redfish and about 15 speckled trout up to about 24". Trout are out of season so they went back. The reds went back too.
The last stop of the day was in a spring fed creek. The water in the creek is about 10 degrees warmer than in the bay. We generally see tons of big snook, reds and mullet in the s[pring creeks when the weather is cold like this. This time, all we saw were mullet and lots of ladyfish. We caught ladyfsih until we got tired and headed for the truck. Hope you enjoy the pics....V/R

George

16 Ft Dixson Twister, Stage One B&S, Three Blade IVO, Stainless riggin by Ned, Engineering by Chuck

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George,

It's nice to see that all of the changes to the boat haven't seemed to spook the fish. ;thumb;

Duane

Duane,

That would have been a real pain if the shiny new stainless cage scared away all the fish!! The biggest problem I have now is that with the new motor and prop and the increased power and thrust that go with them, I have to remember that if I get stuck waay back where I fish, I'm really stuck either waiting for the tide to come in or until I can get her unstuck! It's easy to get cocky and not remember that this boat won't go everywhere. I'm really enjoying her more and more each trip. This weekend I've been invited by the Florida Airboat Association and Tampa Bay Watch to participate in a derelict crab trap removal program. I'll have two volunteers on board pulling traps and trying not to fall overboard.

V/R

George

Hey George, That's a good cause to use your boat for. Glad you can find time to help. You will get to meet some good airboaters.
Thanks, Chuck

George,

I bet you'll have a good time on the crab trap round-up, and like Chuck said, meet some nice folks. Let us know how it goes.

One thing that I keep reminding myself is that (once I get my boat ready ;bawl; ) I'll need to be careful where I go. If I get too far back into the shallows, it'd be a cold day in hell before another airboat came along, here in NC. ;garfield;

Duane

How big are those crab traps down there anyway? On TV I see those crab boats using them out of Alaska, and they look big. ;peek; I think one or two would sink the average Airboat. ;rasta;

Dave

Dave,

LOL :&&:

Southern Crab traps ain't THAT big. They're very small compared to the ones you're thinking about.

On the other hand, Southern Crabs ain't that big either. ;thumb;

But they are more tasty. ;garfield;

If you've never had a soft shell crab sandwich, you don't know what you've been missing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft-shell_crab

http://www.bluecrab.info/frying_softs.htm

I feel bad for you nauthernors. ;thumb; ;thumb; ;thumb;

Duane

Duane,

Those crabs do look good in the pictures. I'll be sure to give em a try if I get down there someday ;thumb;

Dave

Dave,

If you enjoy shellfish, you'll love it.

As a general rule, Oysters are in season in months that have an "R", and softshell crabs are in season in months that do NOT have an "R". There are exceptions, but that seems to be the general rule.

I had NEVER had a softshell crab until I moved from GA to NC. And then it took me a couple of years to get the timing figured out. They are SOME kind of GOOD.

Duane