Last Monday, I woke up at 5 am. Had a cup of tea and a Lara bar, loaded up my kayak and fishing gear and headed to Saint Augustine for a quick fishing expedition.
I stopped by Avid Angler for some mud minnows and got to the boat ramp just before 8 am.
I had been in desperate need of some “reel therapy” since I hadn’t been on the water in a month in a half, and today looked promising since I was going to be able to fish the last hour and half of the out going tide.
So I drop the kayak on to the ramp, park the truck and carry my two rods, tackle box, life jacket, bait bucket, and fish bag down to the kayak and get set up to take off.
Just before I got into the kayak, an elderly gentleman pulls up to the ramp with his boat and offers to give me a push off the ramp. Knowing I could handle it and not wanting to trouble him, I thank him and tell him “I’ve got it” and scootch my way back and forth until I slide off the ramp into water, giving the man quite the chuckle. I smile and tell him it’s my workout for the day. We say good luck and I’m off to find my spot to hopefully catch some fish.
It was sunny, and temps were in the 50’s, so I bundled up. Low tide was at 9:30. I paddled out to a spot that had produced small trout for me before and was hoping those trout may have grown some since last time. Oysters line the banks on both sides of the water on a creek that dumps out into the Intracoastal and I can see a few splashes here and there, like something making a meal of those oysters.
I put a mud minnow on a jig head, cast, then BAM!
16 inch redfish.
Alright! And we’re off to a good start! Not a keeper, but it’s catching!
So I get a picture, send the little guy on his way, fish out another mud minnow from the bucket, put him on a jig head and cast again.
And BAM!
A 17 inch red this time.
We’re getting warmer!
Cast again, and BAM!
And there it was…
A personal best that had me jumping for joy, well not jumping, but hallering like a lunatic and had anyone heard, they would have thought me mad!
A 20 inch speckled sea trout!
And yessir, that’s dinner!
I could have gone home happy at that point, but hey! The fish were biting!
I kept catching under size reds for a day’s total of 5 and even a little Jack Crevalle. One red was 17 1/2 inches, just under size, but they all were great fighters, and it made for a great day of fishing.
This was the last one.
Around 10, the bite stopped and the wind started to pick up. And that was my cue to paddle back to the ramp and call it a day.
It was refreshing to have such a great day fishing after not fishing for such a long time.
And it was tasty to fry that trout up for dinner!
Eat. Fish. Ride. 
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