Fishing Report, Specks-Palm Coast 1-19-13

Target Species: Crappie (Specks) Method: Drifting with jigs

Location: local canal, Palm Coast, Fl.

Catch: (21) Specks (kept),      (10) Bass,    -Kept (16) Specks

Today was not one of those days you wake up looking forward to. One of my long time and valued friends, Charlie McCraney past away unexpectedly early Wednesday morning and today was the day he was to be returned to the earth. It was a difficult morning.

I have known Charlie for over a quarter of a century and his company will missed.

I decided the best way for me to shake off the depressing gloom was to go put the kayak in the water and try to get lost in catching a few fish.

I made a plan with a friend to meet at a new location that we had been wanting to fish and by 3:00 we were launched and fishing.

We were targeting speckled perch again and fishing with artificial jigs of various colors and types. No one particular color seemed to out produce  today.

The specks were averaging pretty small today also. Most were just big enough to be worthwhile keeping. We ended up keeping (16) and turning back about (5) for a total of about (21). The bass bite was doing a little better today and we ended up catching about (10) of those guys. They were running small also but then, we were fishing with very small baits, 1/8″ to 1/4″ jigs.

We employed our standard trolling technique of paddling backwards with (2) spinning rods trolling back about 25′ With this method you can watch your rods and fight the fish from in front of you. Also, the kayak don’t spin around and tangle your lines. We probably paddled about 3 miles and most of that was backwards! It sounds weird but actually works great. I will get some video posted as soon as I can.

The pressure has been trending up since the front that passed by a day or so ago. The bite was not great but we did o.k. and the trip got my mind off Charlie’s passing , if only for a while.

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See ya on the water!

Larry S.