Where'd they go???

[dsiekman]

Fished with Polar Rock this morning in what seemed to be perfect conditions. Incoming tide, light winds, very little boat traffic. We marked lots of fish and bait, saw some surface action, but no takers. We barely avoided a skunk with two small WP and a schoolie about 8" long. What happened? Two weeks ago I was catching keeper sized fish. I did notice LOTS of grass both floating and on my rigs.

If nothing else, it was a beautiful morning with good company.

[J.A. Veil]

I put in 1.5 hours on Weems this morning before heading to the airport. The water continues to be an unpleasant brown color. The water level was quite low this morning. Today there was quite a bit of floating grass that made ultralight tackle trolling almost impossible. It also messed up casting and retrieving in some locations. I caught a 6" perch at the start of the trip -- that was it for the trip, even though I cast in many of my usual good spots.

I am discouraged by the persistence of the brown water. Usually off-color water gets refreshed in a week or two.

On the positive side, I saw my first 2 or 3 schools of peanut bunker for 2013. The schools were not large, but at least they were there. I can recall days last June when the peanut bunker were all over the place. The photo below shows peanut bunker from June 4 of last year.

001.jpg

As I paddled back to the Tucker St ramp, I saw a large light brown object out of the corner of my eye before it dove out of sight. I didn't see it for long, but I think it was a ray. I have never seen a ray in Weems before. This is pure speculation, but perhaps at least some of the floating grass was caused by rays rooting around. Who knows?

[FRED driver]

Try kent narrows bridge when the tide is moving. Got 10 or so last night, several decent size