Fishing with the road crew

This morning I got up while Reilly and Shawn were still sleeping and drove over to the Vinoy Basin for what I was sure would be some good catching. I even brought along my camera, ready to get some shots of my catches.


I started fishing the marina docks (to the right of the photo above) with a Gulp shrimp threaded on a 1/4oz red jig head. In a dozen casts I only had a few little bites--pinfish most likely--so I worked my way up to the neck of the channel to try my luck there. This was my fishing partner:

He wasn't catching anything either.

Desperate to drum up a catch, I tied on old faithful--a Yozuri Crystal Minnow. Cue uplifting music.

I fished the Yo-zuri in the channel and then along the seawall that borders the bay. The tide was low, but the water was still a good three feet deep. I worked that Yo-zuri every way imaginable: slow retreive, fast retrieve, patterned jerks, random jerks. I even tried to troll it by walking along the seawall with the lure trailing in the water behind me.

The smell of skunk was upon me, so I decided to switch out the Yo-zuri for the jig/Gulp combo and to change my venue as well.

I walked down past the Vinoy to the seawall that borders Straub Park. From there I could cast to the docks on the westermost side of the marina. There were some workers there laying new sidewalk, and a couple came over to chat me up. It turns out they were my good luck charms.

About three casts after they walked over, I got a nice hit on the lure and set the hook on what turned out to be a spotted trout. I wasn't too shy to pull out my tape measure and get his stats (12.5") but didn't want to take a picture of the fish with the guys there. They would have thought it was the first fish I ever caught.

Just as I tossed the trout back in the water, my phone rang. It was Shawn, who was bringing Reilly to meet me at Hooker Tea for breakfast. I packed up my gear, walked across the park to the tea house and met up with my girls:

Now that's a photo of a good catch!