Skunked at the secret spot, I headed over to Coffee Pot. I tried both a Yo-zuri and a Gulp on a 1/8oz red jighead, but the result was the same: skunked.
Finally, drove over to the Vinoy Basin to try my luck. I opted for the Yo-zuri (green top/gold sides) and on my first cast, had two bumps. I made the same cast again and hooked up with a 8 inch trout. Not a keeper, but at least I got the skunk off my pole.
I released the trout back into the water and cast out again. This time I had a huge hit, and from the bend in my rod, I figured I had caught a ladyfish, but as the fish came to the surface, I realized I had hooked a huge trout!
You can imagine how excited I was to see a keeper trout on the other end of the line. Unfortunately, I was not the only one who saw a free dinner. As the trout thrashed on the surface, it caught the attention of a nearby pelican, who made a B-line for my struggling trout. I panicked and tried to horse the trout out of the water, but the hook pulled and neither the bird nor I got our trout dinner.
I was dejected, and let fly a string of curses at the pelican, but if you read yesterday's entry, you know who really is to blame. I can't fault the pelican for going after my fish when I was feeding the pelicans all the pinfish that Reilly caught yesterday. He was just doing what I taught him!
Of course, after all that excitement, the bite turned all the way off, and subsequent casts netted zero.
As as side note, I will say that the gold body/yellow top Yo-zuri Crystal Minnow in the 1/4 size is my best producer. Spotted trout rarely hit a hard-body artificial lure, so today's excitement was a testament to the lure. In fact, the last keeper trout I lost (before I started this blog) I caught on the same Crystal Minnow.
So, the elusive keeper trout continues to elude me, and I've got another "big one that got away" story to add to my fishing lore. Though I am frustrated at losing the trout, it's stories like these that keep fishing interesting.
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