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Date: Five Gallon Bucket of Trout
Title:
Date: 15 May 2005
Time: 22:18:02 -0400
Five gallon bucket Trout Trout are biting in Steinhatchee. They are biting left of the river. They are biting right of the river. They are biting pink grubs, candy corn grubs, electric chicken grubs, white with pink swimmy tail grubs, Catch 2000 plugs, Top Dog, Jr. baits, live pin fish, ‘shiner tails’, live shrimp, dead shrimp, shrimp gumbo, shrimp scampi, boiled shrimp, grilled shrimp, shrimp omelets, shrimp burgers…Sorry, I got a little carried away. But, judging by the number of trout I’ve seen being carried up the dock in five gallon buckets, if you happen to see a five gallon bucket floating in the Gulf, fish around it. It’s holding trout. Capt. Steve Kroll brought in a trout earlier this week that had more than half its’ body jutting above the rim of the five gallon bucket. The fish weighed eight and half pounds. It took a pink five inch Salt Water Assassin over some rocks south of the river. Capt. Steve pointed out exactly where the fellow should cast the jig. The fish hit before the lure got good and damp. At first, he thought the fellow had a redfish, but when it wallowed on the surface Steve thought small cobia. Near the boat, it flashed showing the specks and the net began to shake in Steve’s hands. When the fish was brought aboard, the fellow was nonchalant about the catch. He was a ‘newbee’ to the saltwater game. It was the fish of a life-time and he had to be informed of that. Capt. Steve took several pictures of the fish, one picture weighed a pound and half. Now I know there are some old timers out there saying, “we used to cull fish that size back in the day”. But, grandpa it’s 2005 and it seems to me God stopped making those models in the early 70’s. Great catch Capt. Steve Kroll running Pepperfish Guide Service. Redfish are biting mighty fine on the skinny water rocks. Gold spoons and jigs popped over them during the rising tide are putting arches on the outfits. The dogged fight of a red fish is well worth the effort of working for them. Grouper are taking frozen and live offerings from 40 feet on out. Start in short water, work your way out and end in short water to eliminate the long boat ride in. Trolling is picking up a number of grouper and some king fish are whacking testing the drags on occasion. For me, I like catching fish several different ways. When the grouper are hitting the bottom baits, as well as, the troll gear, I love it. And then you get a good king fish as a bonus… count me in. In some areas, amberjack are hoarded up like wild dogs. We’ve been using single hook top water and fat shallow darting plugs for some action I’d love to film for ESPN Saturdays. Free-lined live baits are a guaranteed belly grunt for the anglers. If you’ve never enjoyed eating one of our Steinhatchee AJ’s, you’re missing a treat. They are fantastic table fare regardless of the way you cook them. Keep what you’ll eat and toss the rest back for the next kid. Thanks for taking the time to read. Take care of yourself and the tackle. Capt. B Fishing makes us less the hostages of the horrors of making a living. JIM HARRISON (1978)