10/17/10 - St. Jerome's Creek

After reading many posts on fishing St. Jerome's Creek i decided to give it a shot. I got on the water around 1:00 PM and paddled out to the inlet. I had a dog (chocolate Lab) jump from a pier and swim out towards me with its owner yelling at it the whole time. That dog was determined to chase me away from its pier. It was growling and swimming. What a great guard dog. I talked to the owner and he said the House with the red roof has been on fire at dawn and dusk.

After a 30 min paddle i was at the inlet. It looked very fishy. I had a 4" gulp swimming mullet on one rod and a 3" gulp grub and spinner on the other. I started with the 4" Gulp and jigged the channel in the inlet. I made several drifts with no action.

I tried to troll the channel going towards point lookout with no success. It was very slow for me the whole day.

I had the new video camera on board today as well. I took loots of video of me paddling and aimlessly casting. Exciting stuff . The camera worked great though and with some experience it should be a good way to recap a trip.

Around 5:00 PM the boats started to arrive in front of the red roof inn and i made my way there. I tied on a black pop-R and joined the crowd. Several boats were catching. Looked like 20" to 26" from what i could see. I casted and casted and chugged and chugged with Nada.

Finally around 6:00 i had a explosion on the Popper. Fish - on. felt good a solid keeper and then the popper comes fling back at me.
Oh well it was not to be today. No fish but that's fine. I scoped out allot of new water today and it was an nice day on the water.

Oh

I decided to stick around at the inlet until around 7:30 PM. When it got nice and dark i decided to test my memory of the water. I found the small secondary inlet on the way back to Buzz's marina. Now here's where the fun begins. It was dark in that creek. I look around for landmarks i set aside on the paddle out and nothing. I paddled in the direction i thought was the marina but the closer i got the more unfamiliar it became. So i stopped playing the game and used the s-map on the Eagle Cuda. I was a good 1/4 mile off course.

I got back to the marina at 8:30. It was a fun adventure but i think i will avoid the game in the future and stick to the map in unfamiliar water. It was a nice paddle and a beautiful night though.

[ictalurus]

Nice report. I saw your video earlier and was waiting for the details. It's hard waiting to set the hook when a fish blows up on your lure.

The first time I fished St. Jerome's in the evening, I almost got really lost. I ended up finding the house with the huge tree where the creek forks and followed the shoreline back to the ramp. It was almost a really long night. Now when I get to the tiny little buoys on the way to the inlet, I position my yak at one of the buoys and take a bearing to the tree. From the house with the tree, my headlight illuminates the channel markers, or I can follow the shore. Once, it got foggy on the way back in, and having that bearing saved my butt.

If there's a lot of traffic by the inlet, head around the corner toward Point No Point. That whole area from the red roofed house to the pier with the big gazebo has been hot. Sometimes the pier area and riprap around the big mansion near the inlet is good, too, if the tide is high.

[mmanolis2001]

Thanks for the info. I tried to fish up bay from the red roof inn for a 30 mins or so. I just kept seeing fish caught by the house and my curiosity got the best of me.

[Grilled]

Nice report...thanks!