1642 Jack Minchey of Eatonton, Ga. with a fine 23″ trout
1650 Prietz of Marianna Fl. with a nice red taken 5/2/2017
1641 Bill Emerich with a nice red taken 4 28 2017
keaton beach report June 2017 bend cam
Trout have been on Fire as of this week (full moon in May) with trout taking live pinfish under Back Bays and Assassin 5″ shads under the Original Cajun Thunder from 4 – 5.5 feet on the second half of the rising tide. We had 14 trout for Abe Whitfield of Perry, Florida who along with his daughter Sarah Whitfield (now from Gainesville, Fl.) brought in 14 trout with me which weighed a whopping 27.2 pounds! We caught our three over 20″ including a 24″ fish for Abe. We caught these fish on May 11 one day after the full Moon.
These larger females haven’t spawned yet which really surprises me, but the upside of that is we should see many of them spawn in June. This means the larger egg-laden Gator trout will be feeding heavily, pre-spawn, right up until they have the egg laying ritual with the males one night in June; probably the Full Moon. Fish 4′ – 4.5′ of water to find this group of fish.
The heavily stained reddish tannic water, which still persists all the way south to Dekle Beach, has limited some of the shallow water topwater tossers fun, as well as shifted the redfish off the hill (water too fresh?) back out 1/2 to a mile from shore. This means you should expect to be ambushed by some nice slot redfish while you are drifting for trout. They are taking the same pinfish under Back Bay rigs as the trout.
We had a nice 25″ red on the Hex Intruder II Copper spoon this week and released a 29″ over slot fish the same day. I expect as the water clears a bit and the tannic stain disperses our reds will be back nearer the hill and take Thunder-Spins, Sleighs and Intruder spoons near the bars and creek mouths in June