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St. Jerome's Creek, 10/10

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  • St. Jerome's Creek, 10/10

    I couldn't get away to join everyone at CHSP (sorry, I missed it), but I was able to get out Sunday afternoon/evening. I had puppy drum on my mind, and it was tough choosing between PLO and St. Jerome's, but I opted for St. Jerome's because I haven't been there in a while, and a keeper redfish was caught there recently.

    I chatted with Mike for a bit, and he said there have been breakers not far from the creek mouth lately. So my plan was to fish the mouth hard for reds and specks, then take advantage of the evening topwater bite.

    I fished from about 2:45 to 7:45, which was from max flood to early ebb. I started off working likely redfish spots near the mouth using chartreuse Gulp grubs, Joe's salt and pepper shad tail bass assassin on a gold spinner arm, and an opening night shad tail assassin. I worked each area over with each lure, but the only thing I caught was a 2" spot I foul hooked. At least the skunk was off.

    I jigged a bucktail Gulp combo for flounder and had two big hits on the first two drops, but the fish came unbuttoned both times. I think it might've been the same fish. Anyway, I couldn't find it again, I didn't have any more hits, so I headed out toward the spot Mike suggested around 5. There were tons of menhaden at the creek mouth, and I trolled a shallow Bomber through there with no hits. I switched to a #15 Tony spoon and headed to the spot without any luck.

    I forgot to ask Mike how deep the fish were breaking, so I sat around a while in 7-10ft, then headed out toward 20 while trolling the spoon. I ate my dinner at the 20ft line and waited. I started working my way back to the creek, and I saw breakers back in shallow water. There were several boats there, and the breakers didn't stay long. I sprinted back, and they popped up right in front of me but disappeared after 1 cast.

    It was getting to be close to 6, so I started trolling the Bomber minnow back toward the creek. As I got almost to the house with the red roof, my rod doubled over so hard I thought I hit a crab pot. I looked over my shoulder and saw a horizontally-oriented striper levitate vertically out of the water with a mighty splash and roll around on the surface a couple times before diving. I thought that was really weird. As I got it to the boat, I saw that I had foul hooked it perfectly in the side. It probably didn't even strike at the lure. I guess that's a benefit of sharp hooks. Anyway, it was 21":



    There were lots of boats around the red-roofed house and the creek mouth. I worked my way back and forth and had a knock down in the really turbulent water at the creek mouth, but it didn't stick. There were too many boats there for my liking, so I headed back to where I caught the first one. There was a nice sunset, though.



    Fish were starting to feed on the surface, and I hooked a fat one in the low to mid 20s on my popper/bucktail combo, but it got away when I tried to horse it in the boat. I had two fish strike at the popper instead of the fly, which hasn't happened before. I finally got another keeper, which was 22":



    I called it a night when it got dark a little while later. Depending on where I was, the water temperature was 68-69*.

    Having a GPS is really cool. I covered 10.3 miles, had a top speed of 5.9mph sprinting into the current, and cruised at 3.8mph (at the end of the night into the ebbing current in the creek) to 4.4mph. Going into the wind and waves, I was only about to maintain 3mph. Following my track back made navigating the creek much faster than usual, and I made it back to the ramp in about the same amount of time that it took me to get to the mouth. Even though I didn't catch any reds or specks, it was a pretty awesome outing.
    Yellow Hobie Revo Rube Goldberg
    Yellow Tarpon 120

  • #2
    Awesome report. Thanks

    I Think I'm going to hit St Jerome's creek next Sunday. Its been on my next to fish list for weeks. I'm gonna have to pull a lite spinning combo out of the closet this time. I just cant fish the lite jigs properly with my lite bait casting setup.

    And

    I broke the tip and first guide off the sucker on Saturday
    I had a green blue in the boat still hooked. disengage the spool and placed the rod in the holder. Well the line was wrapped around the first guide and mister Blue went nuts. I didn't realise the tip was gone until i casted it and i saw 3" of the blank fly with the jig.

    Its a good thing though. The tip was very lite on that blank and i like the action better now missing the top 3 inches. Just gotta put a new tip on there and I'm good to go. I think I'm also going to take 3" off the butt. I made the handle too long on this rod and it in the way of my belly.

    I'm also putting the bait away next trip and getting back to artificial's. I have not spent enough time lately fishing them and I'm losing my touch. Time to go to Dicks and stock up.

    Comment


    • #3
      If you hit St. Jerome's next weekend, I highly recommend fishing it in the evening, if you can. Even Mike, the marina owner, says he has more luck in the evenings than in the mornings. Also, Sundays tend to be less crowded than Saturdays. This past Saturday, Mike said there were around 30 boats near the mouth of the creek. I've found that the area inside the creek near the mouth doesn't get as much pressure as the area outside the mouth--probably because of the limited channel inside the creek. I've had almost as much luck fishing the inside area, though, despite it being shallow. Just something to keep in mind in case it's crowded.

      I'm surprised I haven't broken a rod the way you mentioned. I've had some close calls, though. If it's a fish I'm going to keep, I usually squash it with my legs pretty quickly to keep it from spazzing around so much. However, doing that with blues or treble hooks is asking for trouble.
      Yellow Hobie Revo Rube Goldberg
      Yellow Tarpon 120

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      • #4
        Awesome report!
        Hobie Revolution 13
        Hobie Fishing Team

        Comment


        • #5
          Was out there the day before and did pretty well also 1 keeper @ 21 inches and a few small speck trout
          '12 Ocean Kayak Prowler trident 13 Orange
          '09 Wilderness Systems Ride 135 Red
          Kayak Fishing Mafia

          -Both fish and men are often caught with artificial's-

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          • #6
            Nice!

            I almost went today but decided to go bay bridge because I hadn't seen any reports from St Jerome's for any other species besides Striper and blues.
            I wanted to target Flounder, reds, or specks. It just sounds like flounder
            sucks this year at PLO/St Jerome's.

            Comment


            • #7
              This has been a weird year for me. I haven't caught a single spot big enough to eat, barely any flounder (none over 14"), no bluefish over 18", no redfish at all, and only a few perch big enough to eat. Based on how this year was stacking up, I figured it would be a killer redfish and flounder year.

              On the upside, I've caught more big croaker than I have in years (including my personal best), and I've been catching keeper stripers nearly every time I fish for them, even in the middle of the summer. Usually, I can't buy a striper until September.
              Yellow Hobie Revo Rube Goldberg
              Yellow Tarpon 120

              Comment


              • #8
                One way to prevent the rod breakage or from yourself being hooked when a fish is flopping around is to use a fish lip gripper. I use the plastic type that looks like a visegrip. It only costs about $12, comes in bright orange or glow in the dark white. They work really well. Most of the kayak fishing supply companies carry this item. Using the fish gripper helps to keep your hands away from treble hooks. It is also a good way to keep fish and hooks from puncturing dry pants in cooler weather.

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